how to handle new school

[gameface]

hi, i just signed up to mumsnet, this is my first post

i'm mum to a lovely little boy of 8 who i believe to fall into the G&T category, and i just needed some advice on how to ensure he's getting all he needs at school.

this year he has moved up to a junior school. his infant school was excellent at recognising his abilities and needs, and throughout year one and year two he was set additional challenging work, which was brilliant, and most importantly he enjoyed this. he left year two easily achieving at level 3 standards. (sorry, i don't actually know what that MEANS off the top of my head, just that children were mostly expected to reach level 2)

last september he moved up to the linked junior school and i was surprised at how little his homework seemed to reflect on his capabilities: having received spellings at a level of 'exacerbate' and 'conscientious' throughout year two he was now bringing home 'sit', 'sitting' etc - things he could have done several years earlier.

at first i thought it may be a way to ease the transition, perhaps the kids were being given easy work for a few weeks to improve their confidence. but it carried on at this level, so at parents evening i did question this and the teacher was kindly and politely dismissive, explaining that the words were chosen as they represented certain rules of spelling. this was a fair point, but i would have thought this could be done AND more challenging work could also be set...

we are now into the second term and have just had another parents evening. once again i tried to raise this issue (this weeks spellings being 'dog', 'doggy', 'fog', 'foggy' etc) . i tried to be very diplomatic as i do think the teacher is a good teacher in general and my son seems happy at school.

i asked if the infant school had let her know the work he was doing before and offered to show her a list of words he had been learning (and comprehending/understanding) last year. she did not even want to see the list, and looked a bit cross that i had suggested it (which made me feel rubbish). please don't get me wrong - i'm not just obsessed with my son learning long and pointless words, this was just an easy indicator of the level of work he could manage.

To be fair she was amenable to offering extra work in terms of comprehension, but i did not really come away feeling any sense of reassurance that my child is being stretched. it could be that the work he is doing IN school is more challenging, but i do have my doubts.

this should also be viewed in a context where the ofsted report states that this junior school is not doing its best to stretch its more gifted children. the school has also noted that children who start year 3 at level 3 achievement often seem to plateau at this level or even dip back to a level 2, which does suggest to me that the more able children may not be having their needs met...?

so having given that long laborious rundown of the situation, here are my questions:

1. should i just deal with this by doing the extra work at home? if so, any suggestions for where to find suitable materials. my son reads tremendous amounts but are there other resources available to supplement this?

2. how would people deal with approaching the school? WOULD people approach the school or am i worrying about nothing? it's a new school to me and my son, i don't want to be seen as a pushy parent, i'm just not sure how to approach this without sounding critical and maybe getting on the wrong side of my son's teacher/ headteacher...

hope someone is able to offer some advice. i don't know where to turn with this.

omg i've just read one of the other recent posts and i'm now TERRIFIED that i'm going to be given a grilling about why i think my son is gifted

i don't want to go down that road, please just take my word for it - he's no mozart but he is very smart and i'm not wearing rose-tinted glasses! i'm sure there are far cleverer children out there but he's definitely in the top 5% of his yeargroup - one of 3 kids out of 90 getting set additional work... hope that's good enough to be allowed into this discussion group...

anyway, my concern is broader, coz there will be a whole bunch of kids at the school who may be being failed here, not just my little teefal-head

so hope someone has some experience on how to diplomatically challenge schools on this stuff, or not, if it's not deemed necessary?

be nice to a newbie, guys xxx

I'm also a newbie - you may have seen my post about my 4 yr old ds too?

Don't feel like you have to justify why you want advice for your son. I got quite upset after reading some of my responses as they seemed to be quite defensive/aggressive however you want to put it. It's frustrating trying to find somewhere to go for advice for this type of thing because people either think you are just a proud parent if you don't list your child's abilities, or, if you do list them, that you are just bragging. I know there is a National Association of Gifted Children forum for parents, but I personally can't afford the £35 needed to become a member!

My situation is a bit different because my son has only just started school - but if your son has already had his abilities recognised then you definately need to press his teacher further. Can you make an appointment with the headteacher and his class teacher to talk about it? I can't see that there is much point him being in school if he isn't learning anything?! Maybe you could ask his yr 1 or yr 2 teacher to write a letter for his current teacher? Maybe she would take it better from a colleague.

Hope you get it sorted x

thank you

i know what you mean about needing somewhere to talk about this - we were probably both deciding against the £35 forum at the same time this morning i have lovely friends at the school gates but i worry about sounding like i'm boasting when in reality i'm just stating very real facts/ concerns...

i think what i'm going to do is wait a week or two to see if anything i said at parents evening did indeed sink in, and if the additional homework materialises. that might be all that's needed. in any case i think i need to wait a week or so just because (and this sounds utterly ridiculous)this issue has suddenly shocked me - i was kind of rolling with it until the parents evening and now all of a sudden it's hit me that maybe we have a problem brewing and i feel quite upset and panicky... i think if i spoke to anyone at the school this week i'd be too emotional

on a more positive note, i emailed my partner earlier (kind of funny that i posted on a forum before talking to him!! don't get the wrong idea, we spoke about it last night in person too!) and he said he thinks we'll have to just bite the bullet and go the extra mile by ourselves. so i'm channeling my frustrations into trying to think of creative/ stimulating stuff he can do outside the school (but in the home, not clubs) to compensate for what he's possibly no longer doing in there...

thanks again for sharing your thoughts leela xxx

This is a really difficult issue. It is almost as if every new school and in some cases each new teacher needs to be convinced if a childs abilities. If the schools are linked, then information shouls have been passed on. However, it does seem that sometimes teachers feel the need to make their own assessments.

There is also quite a big leap in terms of expectations from infants to juniors. Level 3 at key stage 2 is harder to achieve than level 3 at key stage 1 because of different assessment criteria, so it may not be that chilren are 'plateauing'.

However, this is not to down play your frustration. I think you have yourself identified the approach - diplomatic! Your ds will have another 4 years of juniors and it really does help to have the school on side. In my caes my ds's school has been great (eventually) but it took from Year R untill he got to Year 2 for them to fully realise his abilities. In our case, he is in the same school until Year 6, so now we have a productive dialogue. However, at the beginning of each year I still sense a bit of reluctance on the part of each new teacher to recognise ds's ability untill they have 'seen it for themselves' (he is mathematically gifted). It's very trying. I can only suggest patience, communication, lots of out of school,activities like music, sport, drama, whatever he likes, and a willingness to demonstrate to the school that you are supporting them!
Good luck.

thank you kammy, i shall indeed keep being pragmatic - think the long term gains outweigh the short term benefit of rushing in and making things worse

you are totally right about feeling the need to prove things at the start of every year. i suppose i just have to trust that it will come, with time, as it has in other years...

although the schools are linked, they are totally separate so not much is getting passed across, but apparently this is something the two schools are hoping to change, so maybe things will be easier for future children... here's hoping.

interestingly, i was looking at the ofsted reports this morning. it backs up my concerns, saying the junior school is satisfactory but is not stretching its brighter pupils, especially those lower down the school (year 3 and 4). meanwhile, the infant school was rated as good at this - maybe i've just had it too good to start with and now it's back down to earth with a bump...

hey ho, we'll live with it, and maybe things will improve slowly but surely if we do keep that dialogue going with the school - really must get over my drama of not wanting to seem pushy though .. thanks again for the advice kammy.

The SEN contact at your school will deal with G&T children. I would arrange a meeting with her to start putting together an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for your child. A G&T child needs more than additional homework, their learning has to be personalised and made challenging to keep them interested.

thanx ballet, i'll do that. at least i know they have a SEN worker, not sure they even have g&t

hi gameface, very interesting thread, with lots of erudite comments. I think you've got the right attitude - just think long term, think diplomatic, and eventually your g&t kid will be fine! (Occasional panicking allowed )

Just thought I'd mention G&T is NOT VOLUNTARY - it's meant to be a compulsory assessment system all national curriculum schools have to do. Perhaps the school has a g&t policy you could ask to see?

If you are thinking of extra things to do outside of school (as well as seeing what the school can/will do) then it might be worth a look at the Home Ed forum to see what people there do to follow their child's interests and keep them stimulated.

"There is also quite a big leap in terms of expectations from infants to juniors. Level 3 at key stage 2 is harder to achieve than level 3 at key stage 1 because of different assessment criteria, so it may not be that chilren are 'plateauing'."

Sorry, but this isn't actually true any more. It used to be, when KS1 assessment relied on tests - a child could easily 'squeak' a 3 and then the child would be deemed a level 3, even when the class teacher knew they were in no way working solidly at this level.

Similarly, a level 3 in the Y3 optional SATs is harder to achieve, because the tests are timed, and the ones in KS1 are not. So the two levels used to be very different.

Now, however, KS1 assessment relies on teacher assessment - a wealth of evidence will have been accumalated to back up the op's ds's level 3. A very small part of this evidence would be the tests.

The assessment criteria should be exactly the same. It's harder to get judgements EXACTLY right between infant and junior schools because whole school moderation can't take place, but LEA moderation will, and the results wouldn't be vastly different.

Year 3 should also follow this good practice and not rely on a one off timed test result to assess children, and usually do nowadays.

Op, I wouldn't worry too much about homework - I make sure I stretch and challenge all my children, but I rarely set homework, other that reading and tables. I do think, however, that you are entitled to enquire about the progress your child is making - your child should most definitely not 'plateau' or fall behind, and I am [shocked] at the notion he might in year 3!

accumulated

thanks so much guys - i will ask about the g&t policy (when i pluck up courage) and the home ed forum is a brilliant idea - i'm new here and hadn't even realised it existed.

in a way the fact that ofsed have picked up on problems gives me an 'in' to go and chat to the head about the g&t subject without looking like it's a personal problem with my son's teacher or anything... liking this approach

i'm so pleased i have found this forum. yesterday i was getting myself so upset about all this - it's great to receive such wonderful advice from such kind people. hopefully, in time i'll be able to give back to the forum too xx