Son and maths (year 3)

[ThePartyArtist]

My son is in Year 3 and has always been exceptionally good at maths.

In the past year or so he's gone from loving it to saying he hates it because it's really boring. Ie. He is not being challenged enough.

Since Year 1 at parents evening we've been told he will get extra challenges but they haven't been sufficient. This year (year 3) the teacher told me he's the brightest at maths he's ever taught. I reiterated that he doesn't find the challenges to be challenging. The teacher says he will bear in mind that extra challenges are wanted. However several weeks later, the challenges are still under challenging for him.

I do understand this is hard for the teacher, whose focus is probably on those who struggle with maths. I understand that a child who's excelling at the subject isn't a priority, and that they can only give him what's on the year 3 curriculum not anything more advanced. I know the school will have other learning needs to deal with and this isn't a top priority so I've not taken it any further.

But it's also sad to see my son go from loving the subject to bored by it.

Should we be approaching the school? And if so what do we say to avoid a repeat of the conversation we've been having since year 1?

I think you need to give him extra more interesting maths outside of school. They will try and challenge him but it will still be within the scope of the curriculum for his age group so isn't going to stretch him if he's as far ahead as you say.

I agree with @Stirrednshaken that it'd be a good idea to do some fun and challenging maths with him outside school. Maths Playground, NRICH Maths and Parallels are all worth looking at.

At school, if the teacher doesn't have time to stretch him, can he set himself some challenges? For example, when he has finished the school work, can he set himself some harder questions and answer them?

Also, whilst it is not ideal, could he bring in a challenging maths workbook and would the teacher allow him to get on with that once he has finished the class work?

If you have a very bright child you need to challenge them outside of school. Schools can only do so much and whilst they must offer challenge if your child is truly exceptional then the teacher is unlikely to be able to cater for them. You need to get them involved in things that show the application of maths, things like Royal Institute lectures in person or online, maths masterclasses, maths competitions, remote maths workshops.

It is worth knowing that he may well hit hurdles along the way, my DD is fantastic at maths, is doing Further Maths and not even finding it challenging - she still can't reliably tell you the time on a 24 HR clocks and often uses her fingers for simple mental arithmetic but can complete very complicated written maths without a blink..

1. Ask for an assessment. Either by ed psych through LA, or Keymath3 can be administered by teachers. if they refuse / wont pay for either, there are online assessments which will give you an idea of what level he's capable of eg. mathswhizz and ixl both have inbuilt adaptive assessments. Without a proper assessment, efforts to "challenge" may miss the mark by years.
2. Request that he be allowed to work on maths matching his attainment by computer instruction. mathswhizz and conquermaths both follow the uk curriculum. Beast Academy is a US curriculum designed for mathematically gifted primary students, and is superb. Alternative advanced work should be instead of, not as well as, the work done by his age peers.
3. Get a copy of "Developing math talent", 2nd ed, by Assouline & Shoplik - it's the best single source of info, notwithstanding that it's from a US perspective.

Same year here and similar issue. Ask for his standardised scores to check he's 135 or above (top 1-2%) and if so, demand something beyond standard extension work which is aimed at the top 10.
Our school won't give additional written work in class because it differentiates from peers and they are keen to avoid (My husband was a Maths Olympiad Champion, 3-4 years ahead and he agrees with the approach). We get Nrich problems set at home and thankfully my husband can assist where required because frankly, it's above my head. They also do Maths Ninja problems at school and they can slip him something harder, a year or two above and the "hard" level without it being obvious.

Otherwise, things like Chess and Coding. TTRS works on speed and accuracy and preps for the Year 4 national tests.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'm also a bit unsure about how to approach. I don't want to be 'that' parent who tells school their child is a genius and the school isn't good enough for them! Not that we would approach like that- but I mean how to strike the balance between being assertive about the need and not being too demanding?

Leave school to do their best.
Widen his maths experience at home - there are lots of great suggestions above I won't duplicate. Rubix, suduko, and other such similar puzzles may well also entertain him for a bit. Don't teach him more, just find wider applications for Mathematical brains.

School maths is such a small part of the day, just leave them to it and supplement at home. If you go in as 'that' parent nothing good will come of it and they teach so many different concepts that although he may catch on quickly he still needs to be taught how to do things using the processes the school uses as that is what more complex maths is bolted on to later.

It is quite handy to get him assessed though to see where his particular skills lay and where any weaknesses may hide. A WISC V is a good start then that will help you explore appropriately at home too, you'll need to privately make an appointment with an ed psych to complete it. Personally I actually found it more practical help than DDs autism assessment as it showed where her exceptional areas were and flagged up weaknesses her ability covered like processing speed and working memory which is why she finds mental arithmetic relatively hard whereas complex written tasks are easy.

We have a similar situation. I don't think the answer is to give our kids entirely different work as sometimes the class might be learning a method that our DC will need for working out more complex sums in future. DD missed the lesson on column addition/subtraction and how to use that method. When given an assessment on column work she didn't know or really care how it functions as she can just work the sums all out in her head. I have to make quite an effort to make sure she's engaged enough to make sure she doesn't miss learning the method as being able to demonstrate understanding of these ways of working is important too.

Hi op,

don’t approach the school and provide the fun yourself.

good luck 👌🏼

As pp, I wouldn't approach school and just stretch at home.

Type in what your son is like in words into ChatGPT, get it to give your son some challenging questions and get him to work on them.