Ahead at maths, what will they do?

[suecy]

DS has just started Y3, teacher says he is working at Y6 level for maths and going through it fast.

What will they do with him for the next 3.5 years? Will they go into KS3 work? Just worried he will get bored and they wont have the correct resources to deal with it.

Hi suecy. My daughter is twelve now but has always been good at maths and was probably like your son is now. She was working ahead of the others in maths and eventually towards the end of primary the school could not find her anything else to do and she ended up helping other children from other classes. In year 5 she did have a very good maths teacher and also in year 6 who were printing her work from the web and it was high school stuff but this was still too easy. What was your son's sats like? My dd was level 4 in year 2 and from year 3 was a level 5 and she wasn't allowed to take anything higher. I was exactly the same as you thinking about boredom and whether she would be able to do the work in high school. She has just started year 8 and when she started year 7 she was on gsce maths and gained an A* and is now doing A level work. I think your son would probably be on the same sort of thing if his sats are a certain level by the time he goes to high school. Dd was on level 7a in year 7 and even now the work is quite easy and she has already done some of it before. Just mention it at parent consultation if you are worried or if you can, get some stuff off the web. There is loads on there he could have a go at. Good luck with it and best wishes.

try expanding sideways by doing maths investigations as well as going forwards. I don't know y6 work yet.. but for y2 worrk, dd has learnt about finding the difference between 2 two digit numbers in herr head, when the difference is a multiple of ten... and rather than now going on to the next thing (difference otherr than multiple of ten) we are going to try finding how many pairs of numbers have a difference of 20 or 30 etc.

that said, school needs to find work from somewhere. the maths coodinator might be able to help. some schools ask the linked secondary for work. it may be a case of pestering them until they put proper provision in place. you will probably have to have some ideas of your own though.

my daughter was assesed at NC6 last year in year 4

school does a maths club at lunch which she loves where they do maths in real life situations (apparently I should never play poker with her as she can card count!!!)
in her maths lessons they do alot of written maths questions where they have to work out which maths process they need to follow to work out the answer -this provides an ideal opportunity for the teacher to provide extension work for her
he is also giving her and another child who is working on the same level, extension work when they break off into groups so they are doing quite advanced algebra -the teacher says GCSE level

this year they are also taking part in a couple of maths challenges -the primary maths challenge, and another one which is being run by a local grammar school

she loves maths lol

DS gets problem solving algebra, which he likes (great as you can do lots of logic problems with it and have to think abit out side the box. eg "S gets 2 more presents than R, R get 4 more than J , O gets double what everyone else combined gets. If there are... sweets how many do they all get). There are other things that can be taught (set theories, counting in other bases, solving problems with nets for different shapes). GCSE maths is very shallow. It may introduce lots of concepts but they do not ask any difficult questions (they even give the few formulae needed on a sheet in the exam!). Old 11 + papers are far more difficult (require thought) they have fewer concepts but more depth. Your DS may really love these-they would help with maths challenges etc.

Ibiza girl does the standard of exams anger you (it does me). Your daughter is really bright yet will have the same grade (on a UCAS form) as others in her class when they leave school. I loathe the GCSE and A Level exam system . More universities are introducing their own entrance exams and the fact that they have to keep introducing new grades implies there is a real problem with grade depreciation. I think more will have to do Pre-U or STEP papers.

I feel the exceptional and skilled can no longer stand out and frequently get overtaken by more average candidates that are better all rounders (eg straight As but getting around 80% per exam, compared to a mix of A/A... but getting nearly 100% in all maths/sciences or languages etc) .

Wow I am so impressed at the level of opportunities all your children seem to be getting in maths! You are very lucky.

Get him a copy of "Alex's Adventures in Numberland" and a few KS3 or 4 textbooks, and leave him to it!

Looked up "Alex's Adventures in Numberland" bit worried it may not have many questions in it and DS is only just 6 so not sure he will enjoy much about the theory of maths.

Have yo asked the teacher what the ar goingbto do about you ds's Maths?

"I feel the exceptional and skilled can no longer stand out and frequently get overtaken by more average candidates that are better all rounders (eg straight As but getting around 80% per exam, compared to a mix of A/A... but getting nearly 100% in all maths/sciences or languages etc) .".

But isn't it a good idea for someone exceptional in q particular subject to extend sideways to be w brilliant all rounder? A for Maths is brilliant - but work qt trying as and as for everything else, then offntouniversity to fly away at the Maths again.

It doesn't have questions in it at all. What it does do is discuss mathematical concepts in a way that really brings them to life. It's a kind of sideways extension into love ogle the subject in the round, and generally mind expanding in terms of the way it looks at how numbers shape lives.

The more advanced text books will provide the practical arithmetical and problem solving mathematical challenge. But the context of "Numberland" brings it to life - I can remember being perfectly competent at calculus age 15, but not really seeing the point of it. A "Numberland" type book would have been invaluable then to show why it was exciting and why it mattered, nit just becoming more competent at sums.

The Royal Institution DVDs of Marcus de Sautnoy's Christmas Lectures from a couple of years ago would do similar.

Looks like the DVDs might have sold out. this link to other interactive content might interest you too.

scaevola the book sounds great for me and DH, I think it will be great for DS in a good few years, currently he just likes large numbers!

My son is 9. He has been expanding sideways for 3 years (whilst in Norway).
It has given him a really good grounding for "all things maths". He picks up any new concepts really easily, and just work through them. He is spending a lot of time on the bitesize wabsite, and mathletics at home. Even if she is not allowed to charge ahead, she may still have exciting maths ahead of her.

Seeker, Nope I have never asked Ds's teachers about what they are going to do about his maths. They're the teachers, they know best. Most importantly he is happy .

my son had a fab teacher in yr 4, she used the nrich site to pull off problems for him and a friend. His learning stamina was quite poor, but his friend's was very good. They got a lot out of maths that year.

Ds1 had extra lessons through from a secondary school maths teacher from year 5, along with a couple of other children.

My ds1 was doing L6 since y2. Gifted chldren are not developing according to weekly schedule(Something like a secondary came once a week for 45 mins.)Gifted children are not developing according to NC level arrangement.
I honestly think what he learned from school is next to nothing.
Early this year, i had a similar post : what should I expect (for DS1 moving to y3), I got the most answer: NOTHING!DIY!

A good maths teacher can do loads. Dd's maths teacher in Yr 6 did some lovely problem solving work with his top set, extending them sideways and giving them a deeper understanding of the relevance of maths.