DS Year 6 - Way below average

[stellsie]

Last week had parents evening with DS teacher. He is in Year 6 at a middle school (we have the 3 tier system where we live). His teacher started with some positives; 'tries his very best', 'very polite, helpful', 'happy and sociable boy'. So me and DH very pleased! However, he then went onto say that DS is way below average in pretty much every subject He said 'if this is a row of children and at this end is a very academic child, DS would be right at the other end'. (if I'd been feeling sensitive I could have sobbed but I held it together!) I then asked 'are you saying he is thick?' - and he said 'no, he shows signs of being bright'. ??!

He went on to say that DS's memory is very poor, and this will affect him for every subject. He is very good at reading, but if the teacher asks him to tell him something about what he has just read, he struggles and cannot remember what he has read.

Does anyone have any idea of how we can help our DS? He is a lovely boy and when we came home we praised him highly for all the positives but said he needs to work on concentrating more in class and trying to remember what he's learnt.

By the way, he is 10 -not 11 till July so one of the youngest.

Thanks

As others have said the levels you have been given suggest that your ds is a bit behind in English and Science, but seriously behind in maths. This ties in with poor memory as I generally find that those with memory problems (both working and long-term) struggle more with maths as it often requires them to draw on knowledge that isn't in front of their eyes.

I know others have suggested asking for a break down year by year of levels to identify where problems first occurred, but I'm not sure it is that helpful. Your ds is at a new school now who at least seem to be more up-front with his difficulties, and I think looking to how he can improve from here is the place to put your energies. Go back to his class teacher and ask for specific information on how they are going to support him, and in particular ask for assessment from the SENCO. Depending on how the school is you may need to keep pushing for this but don't give up. It is clear that your ds has specific difficulties that either haven't been addressed or haven't been communicated to you. and he does deserve to get appropriate support so that he can try to overcome them and do better than he currently is.

Thank you all so much for your replies, it has been really helpful, and I have emailed the school the following:

Many thanks for the reply and for letting me know DS's levels.

In light of this, and following on from our meeting with you at DS?s parent consultation, I would like to request a meeting as I am very concerned to learn that according to his Maths level, DS is some 3 years behind. In addition, I understand that he is at least 1 year behind with the other main subjects. This is the first time I have been made aware by the school that DS is so far behind and obviously I am keen to discuss what help the school are able to provide DS with, in order for him to start catching up.

I would like to meet with yourself; the SENCO and perhaps the leader of Year 6. My husband would also like to be present at the meeting; he is away until Friday 18th so if I let you know dates we can do, perhaps you would be able to arrange the meeting for us with the relevant people in school. Monday 21st, Tuesday 22nd and Thursday 24th November after 3:30 pm would all be convenient for us.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible,

Kind regards,

Hopefully the school will be helpful and will be able to provide some support for my DS, he obviously is going to need it. One of your replies mentioned about not worrying if he is 'average' with regards his school work, I totally agree, I just want him to be happy and enjoy life - however he is clearly well below average specifically with maths, and the school needs to help him!

I will let you all know how I get on when I hear back from his teacher. Many, many thanks again - mumsnet is absolutely fantastic, it has helped me in so many ways!

Your letter sounds great - good luck with it all.

I am quite horrified though that it's got to the stage it has without extra intervention/an IEP/a more formal discussion with you.

The school website might have a link to a SEN policy (sometimes called an Inclusion Policy) - might be worth a read before you meet. If not on the website, ask in teh office. If you're not happy with the outcome of the meeting, insist on talking to the Head. And then find out who the Governor who covers Inclusion/SEN is and talk to them.

Sounds a very reasonable request - only point is that the head of Year 6 may not be very relevant (depending on the school structure). I am a head of year 6 and wouldn't be able to add much to this sort of meeting, it is far better to discuss the issues with just the classteacher and SENCO, but if your ds's school operates a more secondary style of management then it may be appropriate.

do you have his annual school reports to hand from prev years to compare levels? If not then yes, email school for each years levels

post them here if you need help interpreting

poor wee chap, I feel school has failed him by not flagging up issues/not putting extra support in (in whatever form)

Thought I would give an update on the situation
After waiting almost a week for a reply to my email to DS's teacher he eventually replied and the meeting was due to happen on Tuesday (ie 2 days ago). However, I emailed the teacher that morning to double check that the SENCO was going to be at the meeting, and he replied saying "I'm sure you can appreciate the difficulty in getting more than one person at a meeting, I will report back to the SENCO after our meeting and will let you know what she said." !! So as I was at work DH phoned the teacher to tell him that we had asked for a meeting with him and the SENCO, and would not be attending the meeting. What was the point when we had only seen him 2 weeks before at the parent's evening?! Anyway, he then changed his tune a bit and said he would get back to us that afternoon. He phoned later and the meeting is now arranged for Tues 6th Dec in the afternoon - DH is away next week and we couldnt do a meeting before.

Sorry it's taken me so long just to tell all that we havent even had a meeting but I was wondering if anyone has any pointers for the meeting? I have spoken to the SENCO at the school I work in, she is lovely and very helpful, she said we must push for the standardised tests - she said the school may try to slip out of it and might suggest other ways of helping DS, but she said we should stay strong and insist DS is tested.

Thanks all, again!

The school should have been giving detailed feedback about your DS's levels throughout KS2, and information on what those levels mean compared to national and local norms.
In addition they should have had in place tracking data which highlights those children who are not on target. So even if they have been giving you information and you've misunderstood, they should have flagged him up for intervention stratgies, particularly in maths, way before now. And you should have been made aware of him attending those support groups.
It must have been very hard to hear this current teacher speaking in those terms about your lovely boy - but he may have done you a favour in a way if you can all get going on finding ways to help him.
But I'd have some serious questions to ask of the Head about what the hell the previous teachers have been doing for him, and why the Head hasn't been on their case.
Good luck.