Any experience of children getting bored in Year 6

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My child is not as gifted as some of the children I read about on this board, she is on the gifted and talented register for literacy (to be honest I am not sure what it all means) but we have always been told that she isworking ahead of her age group.

Her school has mixed classes, she is now in Yr 5 which is fine as she works with the current Year 6's

I am a little worried about how this will work when she is in Year 6- will she be working all on her own? Back in year 2 her then teacher assured us that she would not be allowed to coast.

Her teacher now, who will be her teacher next year is quite inexperienced

I am not sure how to broach it with the school and will it insult her teacher if I raise it

the teacher from Year 2 is the deputy head so maybe I could raise it with her

I apologise if my questions are a bit daft- I have no idea how schools deal with this and would welcome any advice

bumping

You will not insult teacher. Mine got some extra work and went to workshops etc however the funding for G&T has been cut so it up to school to provide, depends how your school views it. I have more of a problem with year 4 boy who already attained level 5 maths becoming disillusioned do a few extra bits at home if have time. Saying that all my kids have been deemed G&T where in reality they just bloody work hard and have a good work ethic... but that another post!

Hello. Yes my daughter was on G&T register but it did not mean anything. Just extra homework and helping other children when she had finished her own work. Year 2 teacher tried to move dd into year 6 but was unsuccessful. When she got to year 6 she was very bored. Work she had already done in previous classes. Only maths was high school work, but still not enough. So it was back to helping other children. I did actually mention whether dd should be classed as sen and was told that sen was for "problem" children. So thats a no then. No G&T at high school, although all set 1 are classed as g&t even though they are not "formally" on register.

Thank you both- nice to know that I am not imagining an issue that is not really there- I will ask the teacher and ask what the plan is and how we can help.

Do you know we had this debate at Uni if G&T should be SEN because it so is especially if very advanced like my ds. A school needs to meet their educational needs and this means their potential not some level at year 6. Interesting concept

When my 2 DDs were in year 6 I found the majority of the class were bored by Xmas! Mine did Kumon maths which at least kept some interest. Teacher at school only seemed interested in sats results which at that point were just to level 5. Interest in school was rekindled at High School! Sorry not to be more helpful.

It is helpful hellsbells! It is reassuring to know that it rekindled in high school

Hi, just joined mumsnet so hope its ok to resurrect this thread.

dd2 is in same situation as OP's, year 5 at mo and good at literacy. Her school does not do G&T and how she is challenged in class depends entirely on individual teacher. TBH the school has been hopeless.

I am dreading year 6 as I know she will be even more bored! Any suggestions welcome. I know secondary will be better but a year seems a very long time!

To an extent the dull months just have to be endured by our bright children in state schools.
You can daily bang on the staff room door asking for more stretching work but unless the teacher is very enthusiastic your unlikely to gain much more than some worksheets mailed over from the local secondary school.

My plan (for better or woarse !) is as follows :

1. • for child to be off sick rather a lot - term time holidays to places normally unaffordable, and more educational trips - museums and the like.
2. • to have self-directed projects on-going at home that do not relate to school work topics, (there was an interesting science course that mailed weekly experiments to you on another thread for example).
3. • to spend more money than I do now on resources generally to keep them "learning" in the broadest sense when they are not in school - lots of sports clubs, archeology club, junir historians club etc - and to let them stay home to follow through with home learning on days when they would benefit more than being at school.

Well that's the plan........

R&T
Love your ideas, esp taking 'sickies'!

Things have moved on now, out of the blue, dd has been offered a place in a more challenging school where the head has promised that year 6 will be jam packed with activities! i've started another thread on it, would love your advice.

My DDs are both like this, but they have been amazingly lucky in their fantastic teachers - I think it depends very much on the school's ethos. My DDs are both in schools that believe in teaching to potential, not target. So DD1 (yr6) has been working on the L6 curriculum for the last year in English and for the last 6 months in maths. Some of her writing has been sent over to the local secondary for benchmarking, it has come back as good enough to get a C at GCSE. She has not been allowed to coast, she and another girl on the same level have been given material that is appropriate to their ability and set standards in the same way.

DD2 is in Yr4 and to be honest she has had great teachers all the way through - but her current Yr4 teacher has been outstanding and has really put herself out. DD2 is working at L5c in reading and writing but the school seems completely unfazed by this and are very clear about what she needs to do to move on. She's been doing maths in a group of mixed Yr4 and Yr5 who are all working at the same level and is tackling stuff that I certainly wasn't anywhere near in Yr4.

It can be done - and a good school should do it. They are both in state schools, btw.