Home learning in T4

[Cattitudes]

Does anyone know if we have to follow the school's learning plans at home when schools are shut? Not sure if ds is officially g&t but he is really bored academically at school. He is yr6 state primary, going to a superselective secondary grammar. The school have said that they will not and cannot differentiate for him. He completed yr6 curriculum in English and Maths for exam prep. He essentially just goes to school to socialise. In last lockdown he gave up with the school provision- did enrichment and 11 plus work. School were not happy. He refuses to do any homework because it is boring. He also gets anxious whenever he uses online platform. He has v strong home/school boundaries any homework demands are met with arguments and strong resistance. Most homework is set to lowest standard in class which considering the last lockdown is still around yr5 level. He will do homework at school and school begrudgingly accept this. At secondary he plans to go to homework club after school and at lunchtime (as his sisters did). Hopefully when the work is more challenging he will enjoy it more. He sees no point in pretending to learn to spell using two different techniques a word that he was already spelling correctly in yr3.

What happens if we ditch the school work? As the rest of us are all busy working the plan is for him to help older dc with their revision (testing on topics, them teaching him maths to consolidate their learning etc.), play piano, start on some of the mfl at new school, do some history, learn some programming, reading, watching Ted talks, maybe some Oak Academy. He will do this without fuss and hassle free. I know that we are in a lucky position (which is why I posted here) and I do support the school in needing to concentrate the work on those who need to get up to speed, I don't expect or want them to tailor work to his level, I just want them not to bug us like they did last year to do the home learning. The school is fully aware of his abilities and support his future school plans.

That is odd that they have said that they will not differentiate for him. I would have thought that he could at least follow the topics but do higher level study on them. Do they have a Gifted and Talented policy?

It will be up to the school how they respond to him not doing the work they set. They'll probably have a procedure for monitoring what is being completed. I work in secondary but we have to report on who is not submitting the work we set, and then the heads of year follow it up by ringing home.

The teacher was very clear at parents evening that she would not do it, we specifically asked. Pre covid there was the odd enrichment day etc. Also we did no tutoring or any home learning before yr5 simply because he does pick up concepts easily so although in yr4 he would understand maths concepts on the first pass, as it was all new to him he wasn't as bored.

They have said that they will be contacting those who don't engage with home learning but I am just wondering what they can legally do. We don't want him going in. We don't want to deregister him as he wants to do the fun leavers stuff (assuming they are able to at that stage). We just want him to be quiet and not disturb us be happy and enjoy some enrichment learning. We would happily feedback on what he has done.

There isn't anything legally as such to force him to complete class work set by them. You do have a legal duty to provide him with an education; but it does not have to be from a school.

As an extreme measure the only power they would have would be to exclude him but then I'm not sure why they would do that, or what that would achieve. There certainly aren't any fines or anything like that.

Thank you, that is reassuring. I think that I will let the school know our plan and see what happens.

I have one in y10 and one in y9 - my y9 DS is quite similar in his behaviour to your DS with home learning and also very bright as is year 10 DD.

Lockdown last year both keen to learn but issues with home learning. I could get DS to do half of it with me and had to alter / adjust the rest. I did provide updates to school and as DS is on SN register (suspected ASD) they were fine and just glad he was learning. DD in y10 is NT and the work was only half the normal lessons and very low level (set at average) so she also did adjusted work. The school weren't keen on that, kept sending you are lazy to her / you are a rubbish parents generic letters to me which was quite distressing for me / DD just found it amusing but ultimately did nothing in consequences. On return to y10 her grades had gone up and predicted all 9s so academically it was a good move. It also taught her to self-teach and be more independent and she's learned skills you normally wouldn't need to learn until university. She also said her love of learning came back.

I think this time the school maybe more tolerant although we need to be more careful as y10 is part of GCSEs and it may go to teacher assessment last minute if covid continues so will get her to do all school stuff even if it seems pointless.

So I would adjust, let school know what you are doing and don't take the you are a rubbish parent / your child is lazy thing to heart, its just a tick box exercise and you know your childs needs best.

Thank you Silkiechickscat it is the constant hassle that he should be doing the set work that is frustrating. There is a change in SMT and teacher so maybe it will be different this time. Hopefully for your daughter too being in yr10 the work will be prioritised by the school. We both work full time (from home) so just need the path of least resistance.

Like you I also feel for my dc it has been an opportunity to develop essential life and study skills which will really help at university.

If hes very bright cant you persuade him to whizz through the work set then spend the rest of the time completing year 7 or 8 work? Theres loads of resources on line. Its rubbish, but if the works too easy he should be able to complete quickly then do some more challenging stuff.

It seems like you do have plans in place for him to do other things of value. Maybe he could share some of his work each week with his teacher, with no expectation that it will be marked? An extended project something like this? www.thewarrinerschool.co.uk/ks3extendedproject It seems to be based on the EPQ that schools can do with A Level students??

Hopefully the new teacher will be more willing to take an interest in pushing your son on and supporting you with ideas of things he could do, even if they don't feel secure enough in the secondary curriculum (which is fair enough really).

@Diverseduvet

If hes very bright cant you persuade him to whizz through the work set then spend the rest of the time completing year 7 or 8 work? Theres loads of resources on line. Its rubbish, but if the works too easy he should be able to complete quickly then do some more challenging stuff.

I wish I could but he just won't. He would rather spend three hours arguing about not doing it and achieving nothing rather than do the five minute tasks set for him. Part of it is anxiety and school impinging on home life. He will do school work at school even though he finds it boring. I will look into that EPQ option, he does have some areas he is really interested in.

Oh I see OP. Maybe he feels a bit insulted? If you cant get him to do the work then I'd leave it for now and find stuff that will challenge him. If the school complains say he needs more differentiation which the teacher has refused to do. Differentiation is a big part of a teachers job!

I don't think he is insulted, the school are clear that he is doing well but that they can't differentiate. He just finds it really hard to do school work at home. In his new school he can do work at school, plus hopefully with a change of school he will find the work more interesting.

Can you get in touch with his new school and see if they could let him watch some of the online lessons in a subject if his choice? I think it's unfortunate that he's in the last year of primary because most primary schools teachers, especially in maths, really don't have the ability to teach the secondary curriculum. My son is in year 1 and lockdown has in a small way been good because he's able to do mostly year 4 work. Like your son, though, he went almost entirely for the socialising and it's hardly great.

Have you thought about getting him to learn to code? I have a friend (in early 20s) who taught himself, designed a load of apps as a child/ teenager and was working for Apple in California by 19 (he left university after a year). Not that that's necessarily a desirable thing, but from the way he speaks it can be very engaging for a bored clever child.