Supplementary home learning for G&T 9yo

[DumSpiroSpero]

Bit of background:

DD is in Year 4 at our local primary and considered G&T in English and borderline in maths.

The school has just been placed in special measures.

As a parent governor I have a 'behind the scenes' perspective and feel the judgment is on the harsh side, but there's definitely some failings and unfortunately many seen to be relevant to Yrs 5 & 6 and the extension of more able pupils.

I'm not in a position to home ed f/t (need to work unfortuntely ) and I don't want to change schools - DD is doing 'well enough' but it is clear that I am going to need to provide a fair bit of support at home if she is going to achieve her full potential by Yr6.

So, long story short, can anyone give me some pointers on what kind of things I should be doing with her, websites, books etc. I'm a writer myself so fairly confident I can do it but none too sure where to start!

Our DCs' primary school was placed in special measures when DS was in year 5, I think. It was fantastic! The Head resigned ('retired') almost immediately and we got a really great interim head who later took on the role permanently. The school got loads of attention, extra funding, leadership energy. Lots and lots of checking that the more able children were being stretched. By the time DS did his SATs in Year 6 the results were amazing.

Special Measures is the thing that spurs the school to improve. Don't panic.

Tbf our Head is very good (IMO if not Ofsteds!) - the school was merger of a first & second school about 18 months before DD started and the Head was previously at the first school which was outstanding.

The middle school end has always been weaker, and when we applied we felt there were a few years to improve before DD reached that stage but unfortunately it hasn't happened as quickly as we'd hoped.

DD would be devastated if the Head left - she actually does take quite an interest in her writing & development which is lovely, but she's got another 600 or so kids to think about and DD's class teacher this year is not the greatest and prioritises maths above everything else it seems.

I probably was panicking a bit the other day though - feeling a bit conflicted between parent governor and parent of my DD iykwim?

It's really encouraging to hear such a success story - we have high hopes that we'll be able to turn things round asap so fingers crossed .

I cannot see anything wrong with helping a child and not to leave everything to her/school. One friend recommended Galore Park-books used in her dd private school, they've got web site where you can preview the books and see contents and description.

I steer clear of 'academic' books/textbooks. They are still young. Do fun things like cooking, experiments, visits to places of interest, science fairs etc and then chat about them. Play games such as Scrabble, cards, chess. There are lots of options that do not involve sitting with a pen in hand.

Have you tried parents in touch?

Excellent resource for sheets, advice and fun stuff. Plus they do competitions. I subscribe and have found it a fast, efficient way to get all sorts of educational material.

So she's about 8? Make sure she knows her times tables. Do spellings at home with her. Have her read to you every night. Read to her in bed. You probably already do that. Perhaps learn the piano and another instrument.

Most of all just talk to her and have fun. Our 5 went to academically selective schools from age 5 but we certainly did those things above. If you're a writer you know how important reading is. Word games may be like scrabble and perhaps get her into chess.

That's encouraging Laura as we do most of those things already.

I probably should read with her more - have left her to get on.with it for the last year or so as we don't get much time and she wants to read ahead so I end up losing the plot, literally!

Am going to give her some more challenging spellings as the ones she gets.from.school are ridiculous. Scrabble is a great idea and DH can play chess.

She was doing piano and had passed her Grade 1 but unfortunately that has had to go for various reasons. FIL has started to teach her the.ukelele now!

She's doing the Romans next term and luckily we are near a couple of well known sites/museums so planning to go to a reenactment weekend in.June & Science museum in the Easter hols.

It's just difficult to know what level to pitch it at - don't want to.go.too far.ahead so she's bored in the future, but she certainly needs more challenge than she's getting at the moment.

Thanks for all the great.suggestions - I will do some more.research next week when I'm no longer drowning in school governor paperwork!