Year 2 DD is struggling at academically but school not helping.

[mamatothreebunnies]

dd is currently in year 2. She’s been struggling with school work since year 1 where we were told (in April of year 1) she is slow with her pace in class and tends to be quiet during lesson as a result of not fully engaging and understanding the work. They failed to provide any solution for their observation. Just waited for time to go by.

in year 2 I made sure to engage her teachers early in the year to ask for updates and ask for their observations. They sent back the same comments as year 1, with some sub standard solutions such as “we will provide regular check ins during lesson to see if she is ok”

I’ve gone into school multiple occasions for face to face meetings, demanding solutions or some customised lesson plans for her. They’ve failed to provide any.

my question is what do I do now? I’m already having to supplement her school learning at home to help her catch up but shouldn’t it be school who help her in class? Her confidence is shattered in class as she simply isn’t able to keep up. They’ve not suggested she may need SEN assessments for things like dyslexia etc but should this be my next course of action ?
i appreciate any help or suggestions.

I would do as much as you can with her in the form of rhymes, stories, songs act as you can. Reading and comprehension are also about speaking and listening skills so whilst you will also get her to practice reading and spellings there is so much value in you reading to her and developing a love of stories etc. for maths I would look at getting some resources of your own, work with her with ten frames to help her understand the value of ten. This article explains what I mean https://nrich.maths.org/10738

I made a deal with myself that if ds was still behind in year 9, and not predicted at least grade 4s in his English and maths than I would hire a tutor for him, however he's predicted a 7 in English and 6 in maths with still 18months to go.
Basically what I am saying is don't worry about it at this age. Just make sure you are really positive and full of praise over what she can do. She will get there

My child was underachieving at that age and I started doing English/ math work with him every weekend and after a year he was so much more confident. I think if I relied on the school he wouldn't be were he is now (grammar school). That's not me picking faults with the school, it was just that my child was easily distracted and needed 1 to 1. Sometimes kids need more help to find their feet and not feel like a failure - once that confidence is there its amazing.

Ever since he started high school he has never once relied on me and has learnt to look on YouTube/ Corbett maths / ask teachers and predicted 9/8s next year for gcses.

There is hope to catch up and rebuild their confidence in learning, it can just be 10 minutes a day / 30 minutes at a weekend.

@Globetrote this is incredible and I’m so pleased to hear the support provided for your child. I don’t think I’m asking for too much for them to provide even half of the above you’ve listed. I am happy to help at home as well but we need direction and guidance and support IN school during lessons. So glad I’m not going bananas with my expectations having heard your schools support. Thank you.

A school wouldn't be expected to provide customised learning plans for a child. A good teacher can pitch a lesson to all levels of ability in their class.

If she is SEN she might have an individual education plan.

If she is low ability, then the teacher should be planning differentiated activities for her group, she may have support from a TA (if the class even has one) or she may be come out of class for targeted group or 1-1 interventions.

Do you know what level she is working at?

My dd was saying she didn't understand the work and asking me to explain it at home. But because she didn't understand she couldn't tell me what they had covered. Getting the information out of school was like blood from a stone. I just wanted the learning objectives so I knew what she was asking me about. I asked and asked and asked they said they can't give that info out. Eventually my dd started stealing the stickers with the LO they stick in their book. Then she had a head injury at school on a week dd was anxious to go in and the staff left her to sort herself out. I sent her dad (violent nasty man) a photo of her head and asked him to speak with school about how unhappy dd is at school. Had a grovelling phone call from school the same day and because they knew they fucked up with the head injury they agreed I could send in a notebook and dd can bring the LO stickers home. It infuriates me that I had to catch them out in not dealing with a head injury and set an angry agressive man on them just to get the LO. Schools should be working with parents not against them. I still have to teach everything to dd myself but she knows she just doesn't understand how her teacher has taught it and it's not her because mummy will find a video to teach it or mummy will explain the way she understands so her self esteem has drastically improved. So from experience I'd say make a big fuss until you get the LOs. Schools are full of under supported SEND kids (my other child is very high needs send and I really feel for mainstream teachers who are forced to manage kids like him until there is a Sen school place available). Based on my dd description of the behaviour in her class I know the teacher won't have time to help her as my dd is well behaved and not significantly fat behind (I know if kids in mainstream 3 years behind being told not behind enough for semd support!!). So yeah basically kick up a fuss to get the information you need to support her learning at home then take on the responsibility of helping her because school can't they are probably drowning in send and/or behaviour issues they are not staffed to deal with.

@DiaryOfaTTCer no we don’t. That’s our frustration. We know nothing other than “she’s struggling”. I feel more confident after this thread to speak to school and ask for specifics of what she is struggling with.

Can I ask, would it make a difference if the school was private? Could I expect better support if I was paying for the education? If class sizes were smaller and in theory more attention per child?

it has crossed our mind if that would make any difference to her support.

Does her report from last year not break down her ability level, at least for maths and eng?

It should say something like working towards / working at expected level / working at greater depth (schools use varied terminology)

When I taught primary I had to provide assessment data to the head every half term for each child, so they will have that info.

I'd say first step is to ask for an informal meeting with the teacher so you know what level she is working at.

If you want to do some work at home try Twinkl (you have to pay but there's so good stuff on there, all aligned to the national curriculum)

Is dd summer born?

My child is in year 13 so things might have been different then but he had very specific targets for writing. Eg “Make sure that letters like g and y go under the line” or “Use commas and question marks correctly” (I have no idea if these are appropriate year 1 targets because I’m not a teacher and made them up) When he could achieve those regularly then he was given new targets.

Remember that the system is designed for x% to not achieve age expected and that education is a marathon rather than a sprint. Keep plugging at it at home too. For example at home she can use glittery gel pens and fun paper to write. It doesn’t have to be formal writing either. My dd used to make registers for fun then play schools and mark the registers. Practicing during school holidays is also helpful so she doesn’t go back to school having forgotten what she’s learned. (The summer slide)

My personal view is you don't get a better quality of teacher in private schools, but they are far better resourced. They are businesses so in my opinion they are more accountable to parents. Which is wrong - why shouldn't state schools be equally as accountable?

@DiaryOfaTTCer working toward for maths and writing. Reading secure.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7db9e9e5274a5eaea65f58/Masterfinallnationalcurriculumm28_Nov.pdf

This document details exactly what children are expected to learn in each year of primary. That is what they are teaching her and that will help you to plan any extra help at home.

No it doesnt
There are year group expectations in English, maths and Science.
The rest are key stage and very broad.

I think encourage her love of learning at home. Do lots of fun educational things - what are her interests? Encourage them like you have been. Work on her general self esteem and drill into her that everyone is different and have strengths and weaknesses.

Not trying to minimise your concerns but lots of children will be working towards. It doesn't mean they're doing terribly. If you think of a bell jar distribution representing attainment, quite a few children will be on the below average side.
From a school perspective, being WTS won't necessarily lead to intervention groups for several reasons.

1. there may well not be the staffing
2. there will be children who are working significantly below who will be prioritised (this is when you need to be concerned, if the school describe her as sig below or working pre-key stage)
3. children who are WTS are making progress and learning.

If she has particular gaps, these could be addressed at home (such as learning the number bonds). But in general, you can't make a child age related until they're ready and developmentally ready. The current primary curriculum is pitched stupidly high and is fact-laden, old fashioned and abstract. Not at all reflective of child development. You'll just make her miserable if you push too hard.
Individual lesson plans is ridiculous. Who's going to implement them for a start?
I would suggest supporting her as the school suggest, continue to support her reading and develop her interests (as you are already) out of school. You could get a tutor to give her confidence perhaps but really, I would try not to worry. WTS really isn't that bad.

It is worth hiring a private tutor, even for few sessions , they can assess her exact lack and achievement and help with the correct input. All our friends are teachers and tutors and just like you, I am very invested in the education of my daughter and if I was you, would be doing exactly the same - looking into ways how I can help her

The school has identified a problem and it's up to you to help her catch up. DC1 was behind in Year 1, and DH worked really hard with her on her maths and english. She finished primary meeting expectation. I think you can't blame the teacher. I know plenty of parents who put their kids into kumon maths or have private tutors.

If it's reading, then subscribe to something like reading chest and read and do comprehension with her. If it's phonics, there are phonics workbooks (it's too long ago I don't remember what we did). For maths, DH uses the singapore maths workbooks.

I agree. We hired a maths tutor for DD1 at a similar age as she was falling further and further behind (in both maths and writing), having started reception well ahead of expectations, and we couldn't work out why/school claimed it wasn't a concern. The tutor specialised in SEN and quickly picked up on a number of things we were able to go back to the school about. Without her observations and 1-2-1 tuition, I suspect DD would have fallen much further behind before school got on board and we would still be no closer to getting to the bottom of what was happening. She still goes to the tutor as, like a PP commented, it is hard to catch up and that's taken time. The gap is slowly closing though, the tutor's observations got the ball rolling towards DD's diagnoses that have in turn got school to make suitable adjustments, and it has increased DD's confidence hugely. DD loves going as it is kept 'fun' and relaxed. She doesn't class it as school work.

My other piece of advice, if you are not doing it already, is to havethis kind of conversation via email where possible. If it is a face to face meeting, email afterwards outlining what you understood from the meeting is happening/going to happen.

It would be normal progress for a child to be working towards at the start of the year and then working at expected level at the end of the year

Generally speaking though my 'working towards' children were my lower ability children and lessons were differentiated to three levels appropriately, sometimes with additional challenge task or separate class for SEN children. It's not unusual for a quarter or a third of the class to be working at this level

Best advice I can give is ask for a teacher meeting to discuss your child's individual targets, gaps in knowledge so you can work on them at home and to find out if they are going out for any 1-1 or group interventions

OP I am sure you have done this, but please, do make sure your DD is not having problems with her hearing and sight. I know it sounds trite, but a huge number of children fall through the net, particularly with hearing as hearing loss can be intermittent and easily missed.

OP how is your DD doing now?
My DD is similar, coming to end of year 2 and late summer born. She's keeping up mostly but really struggling with maths and I've had some really mixed messaging about it with means I haven't helped her at home as much as I should have.
After being very chill for the first three years because, as others on this thread have said, I'm suddenly really worried and wondering what to focus on.
She's also always really struggled with physical milestones and I'm thinking it is time to query dyspraxia.

@LostittoBostik didshe do the ks1 sats this year? If not give her a few of the practise papers so you can see where she is struggling.

She should be able to get almost all the maths correct.
Then work on cgp books etc over the summer.
Imagibe that the kids exceeding may be doing 10+ mins a day maths like you would reading

I would honestly start working with her.
Do not rely on the school. Even parents with children in private schools get their children tutored privately
The Summer holidays will be here soon.
Half an hour to 45 minutes a day of some structured work. So many resources on the internet. Make it fun and interesting.
My dd struggled in Year 2.
I went on MN and got some great advice from parents and teachers.
Did phonics, number work, times tables etc during the Summer holiday.
She went back after the Summer holiday a completely different child.