Thinking about Maths Tutor in year 6 - please tell me everything I need to know

[BarkingHarriet]

Hi, Dd1 is behind with maths, so we're thinking about having a tutor for her next year to try to bring her up a bit before she goes to secondary.

Is this a good idea? How do I find a tutor? How much does it cost?

Thanks

How far behind is she? Do you know what her levels are?

School will be very keen that she gets a level 4, and will probably do heaps of 'booster' sessions and stuff for her anyway next year......

Tutor rates vary by where you live. But it's going to add up to a lot. Say £25ph for 20 weeks, which equals £500...........

But whether you should get one or not is a more difficult question. What does she feel about her maths? Would she be pleased to get some extra help or would she resent it?

My child has just completed year 6 and the school did run booster groups and some individual tuition for children who were still at level 3 to make sure that as many as possible reach level 4.

Secondary school maths is very different and lots of kids suddenly improve then!
If there are real issues you could try the "power of 2" books. I'm using them with my kids of various ages; including to just improve confidence.

Here are my 3 suggestions:

1. Go ahead with finding a tutor; ask your daughter's teacher, ask other parents, google "maths tutor 'your city' Once you've found one help them out by identifying your daughter's particular areas of weaikness more tips here

2. Sign up for an online maths program - I'm a fan of Maths-Whizz . That link will give you a free trial and a maths age assessment.

3. Do it yourself. Grab some Bond or WHSmith books one for you daughter's age and one for one year younger. Start with the easier work and do 15 mins each day. Send her to You Tube or www.khanacademy.org to get explanations for harder topics

Hope this helps!

Hi there. I work as a tutor. The other posters are correct in saying that there will be a lot of booster work in school next year, however I would say that particularly if your dd is the sort that gets anxious or panicky about maths or has decided that she is "no good" at it, a sympathetic tutor could be very helpful.
You can try Caroline's good suggestions for finding a tutor near you and you could also try The Association of Tutors who will try and match you with a local tutor for free www.tutor.co.uk/aot.htm They have a pretty rigorous vetting procedure for membership.

A lot of tutors work through agencies and many of these are great. Be aware however that they will take a cut of the fee for every lesson the tutor teaches. I'd always go for local agencies rather than national ones. Be very cautious if any of the following happen:
They send someone out to assess your dd who is not the person who will be teaching her.
They put any pressure on you to sign a contract committing you to a long time of lessons. Most reputable tutors will agree to a trial period of 2 or 3 lessons to see if they and dd click.

Hi I'm a tutor too and do all by word of mouth. Ask around existing Year 6 mums as you'll probably find some already have them. If she is really behind the school will make a point of working hard to get her a level 4 but I agree with all the previous posters talk to school and find out where she's at (might not suggest a tutor as some schools feel this is your saying the school is failing), but IME one to one tuition is hugely beneficial from a confidence point of view - she may be fine with the maths just feeling that she can't do it may be preventing her from getting on. Some schools will still provide one-to-one , the government scheme has finished but schools are having extra funding for some pupils and might be using it for that.
Talk to DD too and see how she feels, it won't be hugely productive without her on board too.

Hi BarkingHariet:

In addition to suggestions from Carolinemaths - I would sincerely suggest Mathsfactor - this is what Carol Vorderman did after countdown let her go (the fools!).

My daughter was seriously behind with maths by mid-point Y2 - could barely subtract and Mathsfactor gave her the space/ support/ practice opportunties that simply weren't there at school. She's doing great now and is growing in confidence.

I can't recommend this highly enough. The beauty of it - is they can do it at home - as and when they feel like it and you can participate as much or as little as you like. My kids are quite young so I help a lot - it kind of depends on how confident they are with typing in numbers. Give it a try - just type in Mathsfactor on google.

Thank for all your replies, I'll look into it.

We moved school late last year, and having previously had no worries about her (she got 3's in her yr2 SAT's), we were called in to see her teacher who told us she was behind. The teacher sent home a work book, which we've been doing, and she's had 10 hours of 1-1 with a teacher at school, so I'll wait and see how she's doing at this terms parents evening. But if she's still behind, I'd like to get extra tuition for her before she goes to secondary as I don't want her to end up in the bottom set at secondary if I can help it, as I don't want her having a "I can't do maths" attitude when she obviously used to be able to IYSWIM?

Sorry just re-read that and it's really garbled

Also a maths tutor, I just wanted to respond to your comment about not being in bottom set. I dont know your daughter and what she is capable of, but to be tutored for a year will improve her current attainment but as soon as you stop tutoring she will stop making that level of progress. If tutoring gets her a falsely high level then she will probably struggle to continue to work at that level. You either have to continue tutoring or watch her slide down theists which could be demoralising for her.

She needs number skills. Play countdown and other number games on the Internet, do measuring when cooking. How many times do i need to fill this cup to fill this saucepan etc. I am not convinced tutoring will get you what you want long term.

If she achieved a level 3 in KS1 then the school will need her to achieve a level 5 in KS2 - so behind might actually mean she's doing average and on track for a level 4 but behind the level she personally was expected to get.

So I think it's very likely that she's 'middle set' not 'bottom set', but school need (for their league tables / statistics) for her to be doing better than that.........

Mmm good points. Perhaps I should wait for parents evening before worrying further - as long as she's a 4 of some description by this time next year when she leaves then that's fine by me.

We have a tutor for DS2 for English - he is in yr6 now.

I could not believe how hard it was trying to get one. Luckily one of the other children in his class uses the same one (they are neighbours). She couldn't fit us in as often as we would like, but it has certainly helped him.

She has now put us in touch with a secondary school teacher friend of hers who is going to take him on from September - £20 per hour.

The need for one came about at parents evening.