Can't differentiate enough

[KATTT]

I have a child in year 2 who's very good at maths. She can easily do year 5 stuff.

The teacher has said she can't differentiate enough to keep child interested ('she has to teach the curriculum') and can't send her up to other classes for maths as they do it at different times.

This must happen quite often - any suggestions?

Feenie

I'll try that tack with teacher - see what she says ;)

DD's could do all of those - she's at the stage where she can convert percentages to fractions and decimals. Work out improper fractions, angles on a straight line - that sort of thing. I think it's around year 5.

I really don't know what the answer is. The school's not bad but it's not some utopian place where the teacher's are brilliant and are going to whisk her off to do extra lessons or build lessons round dd. It's a normal school where they are mainly worried about getting everyone to Level 2. Different years do maths at different times so timetabling precludes her moving up for maths.

Honestly, Kattt, it's more normal to find teachers who know damn well that they have to differentiate properly. And if she can't, then she should be asking for help from the Maths coordinator or the SENCO. They can't just shrug helplessly at you!

Squidgy - I'm not a teacher and I've no talent in that area. When I went to school it was all chalk and talk - so what's the point of the marshmallows?

(Great thing about nrich site is the teacher's notes - it tells you why they're doing it!)

Squidgy - I thought you were a teacher! please do explain, I'm interested.

Feenie - this lovely teacher sat in front of me, smiling, saying she couldn't. Praised dd to the hilt, said she was wonderful, knew she was bored... but..and shrugged helplessly.

That's appalling - she should be ashamed. As I said, if she can't, she needs to look for help - she can't just write your dd off.

sooner or later she'll use her to teach the class instead. . in fact, that's how the current teacher claims to be differentiating maths for ds1.

look, it isn't good enough. go and see the ht. explain that the class teacher has said she can't teach dd. ask for someone that can. it isn't that difficult, really.

they should be creating an iep which explains how they are going to meet her needs.

how they are going to MEET her needs.

not ignore them.

insist they do so.

or call the lea and ask for a statement on the grounds that the state school can't meet your daughters educational needs. according to her teacher.

i bet they work out damn fast how they can cope with her then.

he who shouts loudest, etc etc.

OK this has helped me decide what to do.

1. I'm not good at teaching maths and I have no idea how children learn - so I can't do it.
2. I'm not going to fight the school - done that before (I have a SN child) fighting a school is like knocking over a house with your forehead - painful and pointless (even with a statement).
3. I am going to get a tutor for her and make it part of the brief that she/he will set two hours work a week for dd and she can do that in school.

Sorted.

Thanks squidgy :)

KATT, let us know how you get on with the school. I don't think any of DS teachers so far would have been happy for him to spend maths lessons "doing his own thing". However, I never had the guts to take your approach, partly because DS is not that far ahead, and partly because every teacher has insisted that they do differentiate.
He could do Year 6 work in Y1, and now he is in Y5, doing Y6 work along with the top half of his year. (assessed as a Level 5b last term, on a paper that apparently could only go to level 5b)
He finds it easy, and can do more challenging work at home (only when he wants), but I do wonder how good his maths would be if he hadn't spent 5 hours a week, (plus 5 minutes homework) for the last 6 years, doing stuff that he had already worked out for himself.
I also wonder if he would be better at literacy work, if he didn't think that all schoolwork should be p*ss easy.

choccyp1g
I don't think there'll be a problem - for the past few days I've been sending in a folder with nrich stuff and the teacher said that was wonderful. Hopefully if I get someone qualified I'll make sure the work is targeted and useful rather than just my random choosings.

I think I prefer your schools approach to ours, at least your school is being honest, and letting you help (at your own expense), rather than denying there is a problem, as my school has done.

Though actually there isn't really a problem for DS, as he is quite lazy, and happy to just relax (and chat) and gaze out of the window when he's finished his work...

Also got DS in yr2 strong at maths but not as advanced as OP's DD. Teacher at parents eve said he was coasting in class so gave us Brain Academy missions book (NACE) for him to do at home but for her to check / discuss with him. He is liking it so far.

Thanks for the tip for those Brain Academy books, I was looking for something to help my daughter who is good at maths (not as good as the OP's daughter I don't think though) and need extending, but I am not great at maths myself (I have done it to a high level but it really doesn't come naturally to me and all Squidgy's ideas sounds brilliant but I can't teach that stuff myself). I think an hour or two tutoring a week is a great idea if everything else is fine at the school.