Poor SATS results Year 2

[ElsieMc]

I have been worried about DS's reading and writing for some time and have been into the school twice with my concerns. On each occasion I have been reassured there was nothing at all wrong and the headteacher, who is also a classroom teacher, told me he would achieve a 2a. I went in again to see his other teacher and she told me he would be a 2b and again I had nothing to worry about.
Around this time the school had a bad OFSTED highlighting poor standards in reading and writing and the Head Governor informed some parents that the school had just "scraped through" their ofsted inspection.
I have now had DS's results and they are a 2 (c) and I have been told he will have to go into a separate classroom next term as he now is a child who needs assistance.
I just knew there were problems and cannot understand why the school misled me. His teacher even told me that he had been moved up to the stop set in English and reading.
His maths is good at 2a, and he only gets one hour of maths a week at the school. He hasnt been taught any tables there and my husband has spent considerable time with him on this which may account for his result.
Sorry this is so long winded, but I wondered if anyone could offer me any advice on how to try and improve matters for him before the autumn term. Im willing to put the time in - any advice?

Is this a particularly high-achieving school?

It's just that 2c is, as far as I understand it, within the expected level of achievement for the end of year 2. Slightly below average (which would be 2b), but still at the expected level for a 7 year old. And 2a for maths is great!

I can understand that you are confused why they told you he would achieve 2a for reading/writing as well - and I would want to ask why they got their prediction wrong. But 2c is by no means a "poor" result.

Try and see it as a positive thing that they are going to make sure he does some small group work to help him improve. My children's school has loads of different groups going on - there is no stigma whatsoever. And by all means do some reading and writing over the holidays, but I wouldn't push it. He's going to be fine!

Does he really only get one hour of maths a week? I find this hard to believe under the NC literacy and numeracy strategies.

I am confused, too.
The outcome you describe only makes sense if the 2c is the result of the formal one-off test in May, not if they were assessing him constantly before and after that.

fwiw, teachers are always assessing DS1 far higher than his actual single test results. He just isn't that good at exams.

I think if he was targeted to receive a 2a and he only received a 2c then this is very poor and you should be concerned.

Although a 2c itself is not that poor - it's not achieving expected progress which would concern me.

It is good news that he will be in a targeted group next year. It should help..

What you can do about it though is a more difficult question. Obviously doing 10 mins a day reading / writing over the holidays is a good start, but what should do in these 10 mins?

What are his specific weaknesses? Reading? Spelling? Writing sentences? Comprehension? Or does he actually seem fine to you?

Are you sure about the one hour of maths a week? An hour a day is more normal! An hour a week would be odd to the point of negligent - unless they are doing maths in so many other guises that the children don't realise they are doing it

And DD1 didn't start doing times tables in any formal sense until Year 3. They did some counting in 2s, 5s and 10s before then, but not actual times tables. She got a level 3a for maths at the end of year 3 - ahead of expectations for her age - so she's no slouch!

Yes, it is unbelievable but true about the maths. There are three teachers in year 1/2. They are all meant to teach what they are good at. The headteacher taught 1.5 days per week and she taught the maths. She left under a cloud earlier in the year and was not replaced as a teacher. One of the other teachers said she is doing maths on a Friday but was evasive when pressed about this as its clear she does like doing maths.
My husband has been working with DS for some time on his maths.
There have been complaints made about the quality of teaching in year 1/2 and I have received an apology from the acting head to the points I have raised and he has made no denials so I can assume what I put to him about maths was correct.

Is this a state school in England and Wales, what LEA are you in?

Sounds like your DS is doing brilliantly at maths in those circumstances!

I can see why you are concerned about his reading/writing being lower than expectations, against that sort of background. It does sound chaotic.