Parent's night advice

[Anice]

I'd appreciate advice from someone who knows how schools work in practice on how to handle parents night this week?

DS2 is in year 2 and his teacher is a NQT. She's very sweet, I think she wants to do a good job, the little girls love her, BUT my son isn't making any progress under her (and other parents are privately saying the same to me about their children). One issue is class discipline - its a really noisy class although it wasn't last year when they were in year one. Several of the boys are quite boisterous, although my son is not. He is clever though and he entered the year at level 2b in numeracy and literacy. He finished the reading schemes a year ago and he is still only one of four children (out of 30) who have advanced this far.

If I am honest, I don't blame the teacher because I think she tries her best but I do blame the head for not giving her more help.

I looked at what my son could do this weekend and I was shocked at how little he has improved since he left year 1. he doesn't even know how to answer in sentences and he has never seen any sort of reading comprehension exercise. In maths, he is able to do his big brother's year 4 homework faster and more accurately than DS1 (and DS1 is in the top set) but the work DS2 is given at school is so basic that he barely tries. The teacher knows what he is capable of, but she has said to me before that she is unwilling to give him work that would take him beyond year 2. We discussed the maths last term and she was very defensive. She just says that the work is challenging and that is that. She also said that the class is not noisy but she backtracked when I pointed out that I help out regularly in school with reading (and now she shuts the door is she realises that i am working nearby). DS2 no longer seems to enjoy school and tries to pretend illness most days now whereas he wanted to go there last year.
Is it worth having another go at getting my son an education this year - we are only half way through after all - or should I just write ti off? If I do raise these issues, what can I say that won't result in a childish "is", "isn't", "is" battle. I don't see the point unless I can realistically hope to achieve something.
Any advice or insight would be good as to how to handle this?? Please!

bump

Think about what you would like her to do - what possitive steps do you think she could take to help your son? IME, schools respond better when you say "I think ds has an issue - what would you think of doing this to resolve it" than if you just say "there is a problem - solve it".

ok. thanks. The schools approach last term was to ask me to wait a while. Typically they ask for six weeks with the hint that my concerns will go away in that time. Then six weeks later, they ask for six weeks again. I gave up the second time.

Really what I want to do is ask the HT for help. However, I don't want to go over the teachers head. As far as i know, there is no head of year and the deputy head has a class of her own, so its a fairly flat management structure.

Tell her the problems have not gone away so now you need to formulate a plan - then set out your ideas. Tell her you are really very concerned so you would like to arrange another meeting for say 4 weeks time with the head so you can see if things have improved and discuss what you can do next.

I think you do need to be assertive - your DS deserves a good education all the time, not just whatever years he happens to have a wonderful teacher. :)

the problem is the teacher's approach is just deny, deny, deny.
She asks me "how do you know this?". The answer is that its not rocket science and you don't have to be qualified to see that my child has mastered the work set. As an example, the school uses a maths website which corresponds to the work done in class. On that website, my son works with 99% accuracy and has answered 22,000 questions correctly since October.

We have a similar problem with my son's year 1 class. Another NQT this year and tbh its not good enough that she's learning on the job.

She is so defensive that it actually puts you off talking to her as you get no-where, just fobbed off. A couple of mums have seen the KS1 manager and got on great and changes are about to happen I hear. Maybe have a word with KS1 manager or the head.

This is a really hard one.

If your son is capable of doing Y4 maths in Y2 I think it is not unreasonable for him to be on some sort of IEP (Individual Education Plan) to address that. They can be called diff names, in my school they are called High Achievers Plan) - also can be part of G & T. You should def ask if he is on the G & T register, and what extra work he is giving him as part of that...

(G & T is no longer compulsory, so they may say they don't do it...)

But basically this will set out what extension work he will be given....

I think there is no way to comment on the behaviour / noise without getting everyone's backs up.

Also ask what his predicted grades for the end of the year are. In Y2 he should make a full level of progress, so if he was a 2b end of year 1 he should be a 3b.

If he's on target to reach those grades, you have no reason to complain. If he is not on target then it is very reasonable to ask what are they going to do to help him reach his targetted level.....

our school only looks for 2 sub-levels improvement per year for all children. so instead of 3b they have set 3c for DS.

There isn't any G&T type scheme (I know because I already asked for details of it back in the autumn). Also the schools SATS result reflect this:- about 80% of children reach the govt. set target but only 10% exceed it. So, as the school tells me that the govt set target is 2b for year 2, then DS will be in the 10% who are exceeding it.

Well, if he's on target to make his 2 sub levels, then he is fine and he is making progress.

Sure, it's not as much as you would hope. But if you have reason to think next year's teacher will be better, I wouldn't worry at all.

Entering the juniors with a full set of level 3s will stand him in good stead. And he will then be targeted to leave Year 6 with a full set of 5s.....

Anice, I would say it sounds like a bigger problem than the teacher. Can you move schools? I would ask for an individual plan, and if they can't give one, then take it to the head. I assume there is a class TA. Can you have a meeting with head, teacher and TA outside parent's evening to talk through what you see as the issues. This way, you are not going behind teacher's back, but also the head is involved from the start. Try not to undermine the teacher eg. the class is noisy. It will be noisier with an NQT. The teacher's confidence is so important in maintaining discipline and things which undermine this will actually make things worse.

Point out specific issues such as progress in certain areas etc. for your child (Don't generalise about other kids, sounds like the parents have been 'talking' then). You and other parent's need to see the teacher getting more support if they are not happy with specific things and I think this would be a reasonable expecatation. At the same time, the teacher does need a bit of slack if she is brand new in a job. How long had his yr1 teacher been teaching?

Sorry, bit waffly there. Didn't make it clear that I wouldn't address all this at parents evening, but would set up a separate meeting. Usually the slots are short and you don't want to get into a big discussion. But you could bring up that you would like the meeting.

I understand that there are no grounds for complaint if he is making progress. But I don't think he is.

I can see no improvement whatsoever in english. In maths, he has learned things but I don't think he learned anything in school - its just that they had not acknowledged that he could do things like his 2X,5X and 10X tables and now I think they do. However, he is equally proficient at 3X,4X,6X,7X,8X and 9X but the school hasn't acknowledged this, or even checked whether he knows these (and they wouldn't take my word for it back in November).

This making progress thing is really complicated....

There are about 8 APP points for each subject. So 'numbers' is only one area of mathematics that they are learning.

(You can download it all from the DFES website)

So he may have made loads of progress in other areas.....

Do you think he has been assessed at the wrong level now? Or that he was assessed at the wrong level end of last year?

Same with English. School can quite rightly claim DS is making progress even though it doesn't appear so to you.... But, it is perfectly reasonable (if a bit confrontational) for you to ask for evidence that he has made progress.

I think if you don't trust the school and their assessments then you have no option really but to move schools.....

just back from the meetings. The HT sat in on my meeting so they were perhaps expecting it to be difficult.

According to what the teacher's own assessment, DS2 has made no improvement in his level of attainment from the end of year 1 until last Christmas.
The teacher explained (in front of the head) that many children in the class were not secure in their maths knowledge and so DS2 had sat through the work being done again and done it again himself.
I showed her evidence of the 23,000 correct answers thing and she said that he clearly knew it but he wasn't showing enough workings. By this she means when asked to demonstrate that 3+8 =11 he had to draw 3 dots and circle them and then draw eight dots and circle them and then draw an = sign and finally draw 11 dots and circle them.
By contrast, last week at home, DS2 read on the back of a ketchup bottle that the company was founded in 1876 and he told me that this means that it has been making sauce for 135 years (I didn't ask him to do it he just worked it out in his head as you or I would).
In the end, the HT suggested that I meet on another date to discuss the situation.

sorry just to be clear.. the teachers assessment is that DS22 has made no improvement in ANY subject since leaving year 1.

maybe I should add that i have a degree in pure maths so I do know about the other areas of maths, although at this age it is really just arithmetic and geometry isn't it?

speak to head

your child is getting inappropriate teaching you have concerns you don't have to put up with this

You are rightly annoyed. As a DHT, I can tell you that the first thing the HT/DHT should be asking the Teacher is 'Why hasn't ... made any progress?' Not waiting for you to ask. I think you need to be going in and demanding to know what is going on and why he isn't making progress. Discuss with them what they're going to put in place to ensure that he does. I'd be careful about saying what he can do at home, as that will just lead to the 'pushy parent' comments from the teacher or something along those lines.

As for the 'children were not secure' argument, that is ridiculous! If they were properly assessed in Year One and achived the level, then they had to be 'secure'. It's even part of the levelling criteria now, to stipulate whether a child was 'High/Low or Secure' within a level.

For the noise level thing, I'd ignore it. When I teach I let the children be noisy but this doesn't stop the progress. The children are allowed to be noisy as it can actually help improve their learning, not stop it.

I was wondering if there is some way i can have him independently assessed that the school would be obliged to accept the assessment?
But suppose I proved that he is in level 3 somewhere, would there be any point i.e. would the school still be able to refuse to teach him something that he can't already do blind-folded?

Independent assessment isn't going to change anything.

I think you are actually in a good position in that they actually admitted he has made no progress.

I think the HT will be having a word with the teacher without you there, and questioning her.

So now you need to follow up on this. Make an appointment to see the HT ASAP. And ask how they are going to ensure he makes progress the rest of the year.

Use magic words like 'adequate progress' and ask how the work will be 'differentiated'....

I had a follow up meeting with the Ht this morning. She approached me in the playground and asked me to meet with her there and then but she warned that the meeting should take no more than 10 minutes.

(This is a common tactic of hers - she gives you a time slot, encourages you to speak for the first five minutes and then seizes on some minor point. Then she turns the discussion to that and fills the next five minutes with something unimportant. Then tells you your time is up and later sends a letter to say that she is glad that everything has now been resolved.)

In the end the meeting lasted three minutes. She said she was happy with the teaching and that if I am unhappy then I should bring a complaint to the governors and that she would stop me from helping with reading in the school.

The meeting was in no way conciliatory and yes, I was far from meek from the moment she said that she was happy with the teaching onwards.

After three minutes, she declared the meeting over and she escorted me to the door. There is a button on the wall which releases the outside door. Until now I have been helping in school regularly and along with the other parent helpers I always just press the button and open the door. However as I raised my hand to do this today the HT, shouted behind me "that is my button. its my school and I will press it, not you!". (seriously!!)
I went through into the public area and as I put my hand out to open the outside door I turned and asked her if she would prefer to push this door open too? Those were the last words.

I was not annoyed yesterday - the situation was only a little worse than I had been expecting but I am absolutely livid now.

Wow!

You really have no option now but to move schools. This situation is not resolvable.

Ring up the LEA and find out which local schools have places, then look round them and make your decision....

The whole process need only take a day or two...

I understand everything you're saying. You clearly have justifiable concerns about progress. Has the relationship with the class teacher deteriorated or have your dealings with her been confrontational from the start? However you feel, however understandably angry and concerned you feel, you might need another approach, or to seek an alternative. The head has made it very strongly clear that your relationship with the school has deteriorated-being escorted out in that way is a clear sign. Harsh as it sounds, if that's going to be your son's school long term you might need to consider a gentler approach.

My relationship with the teacher has never been a problem. Generally i have little to do with her and we have only ever exchanged civil words. I was a graduate trainee once myself and even though it was 20 years ago I still remember how it felt. So I have empathy for her situation and I have no wish to make her life harder.

Now here is the problem... there are no other schools with places. I looked already.