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Primary education

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Loss of confidence academically.

4 replies

crazygracieuk · 12/01/2011 09:57

Dd is in Y3.
She has always been top groups in literacy and maths and got 3s for all her SATs. She is no genius so not G&T or anything like that.

She's now in juniors and is really hard on herself academically. She is a free reader, gets her weekly spellings all right and can do her maths homework unaided but often says how stupid she is.

In previous years, tables were based on academic ability but this year, the teacher has mixed ability tables except for guided reading and spellings. Dd has worked this out by herself.

She works hard at school and is very popular but has lost lots of confidence academically. We've been to see the teacher and the teacher has said to dd directly that she is a hard worker who produces great work but dd is not convinced. Her teacher has only been a teacher for a couple of years but oozes warmth and kindness and is the sort of teacher that I'd pick for dd. I have an older child at the school and know some TAs out of schol so if this teacher was a dragon then I'd know so I don't think it's the teacher.

What can I do to make her believe in herself? The school is a normal state one so is not pushy about academics. Is she like this because of the change to juniors? Or could it be a pre-puberty thing? She seems to be quite sad but shows no sign on anger- she is as sweet and loving as ever.

OP posts:
IndigoBell · 12/01/2011 10:16

Do you praise her for effort or attainment?

Long term praising for attainment not effort can cause what you describe....

Goingspare · 12/01/2011 10:33

My DDs' year 3 teacher used to say it could be quite a big transition from KS1 to KS2. Is your DD having to stretch herself a bit more now and is she mistaking this for not being so clever?

crazygracieuk · 12/01/2011 11:00

Indigobell- I don't get much information or feedback from school with regards to attainment so school related praise tends to be for effort For example she doesn't have to be told to do homework, she knows that if she has a spelling test on Friday then she needs to practice her spellings on Wednesday or Thursday. On the other hand, I don't know about school but they reward things like "sitting nicely" which makes dd Hmm because it's the sort of thing that has been praised since Reception.

Goingspare- Maybe it's part of the transition process?

OP posts:
Yoursmartchildnow · 13/02/2011 17:13

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