Year 5 dd struggling - Maths tutor?

[Mowgli1970]

Has anyone hired a tutor to help a primary aged child? My dd is struggling with Maths and has fallen behind quite a lot. I'm cross with her school for not flagging it up to me - she's always described as near to top or top group. The level she was given at the end of year 5, however, is far below where an average child should be.
Does anyone have experience of tutors? Did they help?

She was given a level 3c. Average children are meant to leave year 6 with 4b so that means one academic year to go up a level and a third!

Four of the eleven yr 6 children in my current class started the year on a 3C and by the end of the year three finished on 4B's, one finished on a 4A so there is still plenty of time ( although we all worked bloody hard, including me!) I would agree with PixieOnaleaf, speak to your childs teacher tomorrow, if the school used Optional SAts papers as part of their assessment ask if you can have those over the summer to look at and identify week areas, a good, cheap book to buy is Maths on Target for yr 5 which has work at different levels with a brief explanation of how the different areas should be tackled, we use it as homework to reinforce the topica as we cover them

Children are 'supposed' to progress by one and a half sublevels a year in KS2 to meet expected levels.

Y2 - 2b
Y3 - Between 2a and 3c
Y4 - 3b
Y5 - Between 3a and 4c
Y6 - 4b

The oft quoted (on MN, anyway) 2 sublevels per year in KS2 gives accelerated/good progress and would see a 2b child achieve a 5c in Y6.

And I don't know where your 1 sublevel per year comes from, Pixie!

Mowgli, how was the 3c arrived at - was in the Y5 optional test or a day to day where-she's-at-now teacher assessment?

What are they going to do to help her? I am sending up 2 3c children and they will both receive extra help in Y6.

I agree with primarymum - having taught Y6 for several years previously, it is do-able with lots of hard work.

I'm not sure how the 3c was given. Dd just told me that her teacher had informally told the children who asked what levels they had! It wasn't included on her report and I haven't got the chance to ask now as I found out on Friday and the school has broken up for Summer holiday! I feel awful because I always assumed she was doing ok. It's worse because I'm a teacher! Dd dislikes sharing homework with me though, so I normally let her get on with it and only help her if she asks. Then I'll look at it when she's finished. Not any more!!!
I'm now very concerned because at no point have we been told that she's under attaining for her peer group. I'm going to use Maths Whizz to work with her over the Summer, then see her teacher in the first week back to ensure dd is supported and pushed to achieve more. It doesn't help that in a class of 29, 21 are boys and 13 children are on an IEP! I feel like a really crap Mum.

I got a tutor for dd2 at this stage (also 3c) because she just didn't 'get' how numbers worked eg fractions, decimals, multiplication etc. It was frustrating for her as well as us! After six weeks (6 hrs) with a tutor something clicked. She went on to get a 4a in sats - just one mark off 5c according to her teacher. I thought it was money well spent especially at the back of my mind was her possibly languishing in the bottom sets at secondary and never learning anything. She has consistently performed well, in the top 3 sets out of 7 and is on target to get a B for GCSE next year.

my son is having a tutor - just for a couple of sessions in the summer holidays for his writing. What area are you? I live in Northampton and would recommend my sons tutor.

I'm in South Wales, so a bit far to travel
Thanks for that hocuspontas, that made me feel better!

I wouldn't hesitate to hire a good tutor for Maths - imo poor performance in Maths leads to lack of enjoyments and confidence which will get worse as time goes on unless you do something to boost their learning.
When I started teaching my dc and I realised how little he knew and how little he carried through till the next session I thought the job was too big for a complete novice, but we persevered and it worked. Through a combination of me teaching him and Maths Whizz he moved up 4 levels in one year and what's more, because he finally understood what was happening in class, he paid more attention and started to really enjoy the problem solving aspect of the subject.

I don't think it matters who supports your child - you, a tutor or the school, as long they they get the help they need - you take what you can get, you do what you can and if you can't do anything else and you have the money you pay for a tutor.
Good luck - I'm a big fan of Maths Whizz and so is my dc.

My DS has been doing maths at Kip McGrath (franchises I think) for a year, and has made huge progress. They do 80 mins per week and it really drills the basics into them.

DS seems to enjoy it too - that could be the crisps they give him though!

Tutors can be very helpful as said above, especially if they give you practice material for the week.
If a tutor cost is too costly, and a parent wants to do the job, a very good Direct Instruction maths programme for older primary is Elementary Maths Mastery by Rhonda Farkota. It covers all the maths strands, in sets of 20 questions,and has 140 lessons, so it takes about a year to get through. By the end students are ready for secondary maths.

The books costs about $100.00 (dollars that is)from SRA?McGraw Hill, plus you need a notebook and a whiteboard.

Just to reiterate what others have said,
Yes you can do it yourself, use workbooks, online programmes, worksheets. Try to keep each session short (10-15 mins) and start with easy work in order to fill in any gaps.
Hiring a tutor can be a good back up but make sure you communicate with the tutor as to what you need (your DD to be on target for Level 4) and ask how they intend doing it (what resources, how often, what method) There's an interview with a maths tutor on my website which has further advice.