Need parents in Scotland and/or teachers advice on Maths in new Curriculum for Excellence.

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Will try to be brief. Moved to Scotland 3 yrs ago. DS2 started in P1 even thought had done a year in England. Moved son last Feb as needed to line him up with RC secondary school his brother goes to. There was also a bullying issues with particular child at last school. DS is in P5 now.

DS2 arrived at new school in Feb of P4 with Level C Reading, Level C Maths and Level B language.

My first question is this. Now we are all doing curriculum for excellence, should he be doing Level D (or equivilent) work?

I am seeing his teacher tomorrow as the Maths he has been coming home with has been really easy. They are following a whole class, non differentiated approach as laid out by the Improving Primary Maths scheme. Clackmannanshire (where we live) and West Lothian were only Scottish counties to use this teaching scheme outside England.

Does this sound reasonable of the school or should I be insisting his prior learning is taken account of?

I think if they are doing a whole class non-differentiated maths curriculum then you will not be able to insist that they do something different for your son. Why not ask the teacher how they take account of different abilities and prior experience, and what scope they have for making sure they are all working at their best?

I would imagine, if your DS is in primary 5 he would be at the start of the Second Level in Curriculum for Excellence.

I don't know the maths scheme at all as I work in a different authority but I do know that CfE takes a very different approach to learning and teaching.

Learning and Teaching Scotland has an excellent web site with all the 'Experiences and Outcomes' for each curricular area which you may find quite interesting.

Thanks all. I have had a look through L+T Scotland (easier to read than the 5 - 14 stuff it replaces) but still wonder if whole class teaching with no account of prior learning is in tune with CforE. Will wait and see what teacher says to DH and I this evening.