y4 slow progress

[lola01]

Basically i am worried about ds1 (9) who is in y4. i know end of year assessment levels aren't the be all and end all but i am worried about his lack of progress. In his report he got a 3a reading, 3b writing and 3b maths. i know these levels are national average, but he only progressed one sub level in all subjects from last year and failed to hit his targets of 4c in reading and 3 a in maths. His school is quite a high performing one by the way. i am worried that if he continues to make the one sub level progress per year then he will end up below national average in y6. i spoke to his teacher last week and he said that he was aware of his slow progress but that he may flourish in the next year. i am less than convinced.
he is also in the bottom set for maths (at the top end) and i have concerns that he isnt being pushed hard enough...i am doubtful if they have even been doing y4 work this year, their homework is very easy. Apparently there is no room in the middle set.
any advice would be gratefully received... thank in advance...x

I thought 1-2 sl progress per year was the target for everybody. And he's only just short of his targets, too. Maybe it's easy for me to be complacent because I come from a family of late bloomers.

I'd be more concerned about the "no room in the middle set" of maths part.. but... would it knock his confidence to be bottom of the middle set? There's a lot to be said against that. Do you have reason to think they'll keep the exact same sets in y5?

thanks for your reply ragged. He has only made 1 sub level progress per year since yr2. In maths from 2a (y2) 3c (y3) and 3b (y4). i would have been happier if it had been 1 sub level one year and 2 the next. I think i am just worried that he is slipping. I have mentioned it to his teacher more than once this year.

I am in 2 minds about him being in the middle set. Like you say it probably would knock his confidence being the bottom of the middle. But i also think he needs a push, and more to the point the bottom set are not covering much of the work that the middle set cover. In yr 2 he was in the middle set but got moved down because of lack of space. at the time i wondered if they were fobbing me off, but i am now having concerns over whether he is being pushed enough. I dont think the sets will change next year, there isn't usually a lot of movement.

i think im just worried that if he is allowed to plod on in the way he is ..he will fall short of his targets in y6.

OP; this sounds very familiar. DS1 (now 10; Y5) had a similar trajectory. End of Y4 he had 3A reading & science (no progress fom Y3), 3B maths and writing (up 1 sub-level). All the noises from the school were positive and he loved school so it was quite a shock when we saw the end of year report. In act, there were a few of the quieter well-behaved boys who mananged to slide off the newish teacher's radar. You need to take a deep breath, put this behind you both and look forward to Y5!

My DS1 - end Y5 now - this year got 4A in reading & maths and 4B in science & writing. He has had to work very hard this year and stay focussed (lots of the maths is repeated anyway). OK we may have over calibrated and 'cheated' as he has a tutor for his maths (retired headteacher, 1-2-1, 1 hour a week covering the topics in class and no extra homework); this has given him tremendous confidence. Also your DS will need to be very secure with his times tables to be working at a higher level - my boys have been doing the Carol Vorderman's "Maths Factor" online. DS1 and DS2 did the times tables maths module the last summer holidays to earn screen time - they only need to do 5 mins a day (both end of term reports state that are now secure in this area) - the programme lasted about 12 weeks. I would also recommend getting your DS to read aloud every night - I do this; DS1 started to get a bit of a lazy attitude to skimming through books - we have plenty of Horrible Histories, annuals and graphic novels/comics (enjoyable to re-read at bedtime to wind down) but when it came to a writing a proper book review, I thought what exactly HAVE you read then...? Books which help are, for example, 'Lion Boy' and 'The Hobbit' as these have good examples of characterisation, metaphors and similies which they learn in Y5. By the way, the Y5 teacher gave the class very specific feedback re what level they were working at for each piece of work and with greater maturity, the kids seem to be more motivated to do well.

I think that Y4 is a bit of an awkward year... DS2 ass en route next year, we've been warned!

aaah thank you so much Babelange, you have put it in context for me.

I am going to do some kind of online practice over the summer , either mathswhizz or carol vorderman.. and we are thinking about a tutor for next year. if you don't mind me asking, where did you find your tutor?

I really haven't rated his teacher this year at all, ds seems to have been allowed to slide. I am going to be more on the ball with this by the time ds2 (5) gets to this stage..in fact i might start him off on his times tables now!