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What would you do if your year 6 child was a 3B in numeracy?

34 replies

satdown · 11/01/2012 16:53

Would you employ a tutor?
Coach them yourself?
Expect school to provide extra tuition?

Dont know the best way forward. As a bit of background she was 2a in year 2.

Thanks.

OP posts:
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seeker · 12/01/2012 14:35

So the school has been telling you for 3 years that they are dealing with it?

I would be hammering on the Head's door tomorrow- don't wait for her class teacher next week.

I know how hard it is- I used to work in education and I've been a parent for 16 years but I still find it difficult to confront teachers- I think it was so ingrained in us as children that we shouldn't that it makes it very hard for us now.
Have you got someone to go with you to help you keep on forceful track?If not, write down what you want to say and either read it out, or give it to the Head to read. You need action, and fast. Don't leave the room until you are happy with what they come up with.

cecinestpasunepipe · 13/01/2012 22:04

I would ask if she has been tested for dyscalculia - the school where I work has diagnostic software. Is the 3b from teacher assessment or from doing old SATs papers?
Good luck at the school.

PastSellByDate · 14/01/2012 17:44

Hi satdown:

I agree with many who have posted.

Talk to the school - Don't wait for the next parent/ teacher meeting, which may well not be for several weeks. Contact the teacher and say that you are concerned and arrange to discuss what they feel the reason is for slow progress. It may be what's holding your DC back is he/she never fully mastered the times tables to x10 (or x12) and so is strugglig to work out that calculation and then running out of time on these standardised tests. They may have some good ideas on what you can do.

Try looking into what you could do. A tutor may be too expensive but on-line tutorials may be a solution. Both Mathswhizz (www.whizz.com/) or Mathsfactor (www.themathsfactor.com/ - which we've used to great effect for DD1 started late Y2 and have carried on - now Y4 and in top maths group) are available.

If speed is the issue - I highly recommend a free open source computer game called Tux of Math Command (tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/tuxmath/). It's a bit like the old video game ASTEROIDS - the sums come down the screen and you blow them up by typing in the correct answer. You can select the ability level (easy to hard) and the type of problems to review.

Really look hard for what the issue may be. It could be that those number bonds (so understanding quickly that if 7 + 3 = 10, then 17 + 3 = 20 and 27 + 3 = 30 and so on. But also that in subtraction if you have 35 - 9 you can quickly do the work in two steps - so take away 5 to get 30 and then take away 4 to get the answer, which is 26 - again using those number bonds to get to work out 10s).

If your DD is now 3a - then he/she isn't too far off from the Level 4 national target for KS2 SATs - and it sounds like if you spent a few months really working on maths and investigating what the stumbling blocks are, you may be able to raise his/her attainment before the KS2 SATs. Certainly there is still time.

I think the way to look at it is that you DC sounds like they're doing fine in other areas - so a bit of extra time/ practice in maths can't hurt and it sounds like your DC isn't far off achieving the 'L4' on the KS2 SATs - and possibly if the problem is that fundamental understanding of number patterns and recall of number facts (multiplication tables/ simple number bonds/ etc...) isn't quite there, which is affecting the speed with which your DC is answering questions on timed tests. You may just find that speed is the issue rather than understanding how to 'do the maths'. To be fair to the school - if speed in answering questions is the issue, they may not have picked up on it in normal day to day lessons.

Hope that helps. Best of luck.

nmason · 18/01/2012 12:36

Just found this as I'm currently planning out the rest of the booster for maths at my school. It is a worry that your child has got 'stuck' at 3b after coming up as a 2a. Is it a junior school? I only ask because we 'suffer' from inflated infant levels and I work in a junior school. This may explain the 3c's in Y3 and Y4 (although no school will ever say that to you because that isn't politically correct). It is possible to get even a level 3 at KS1 by being just very good as shape, space and measures and age related in number. The level 3 curriculum hasn't been fully covered in Year 3 so it is hard to really say that the child is a level 3, Level 3 at ks1 is more they are very good at maths and 2a is they are good at maths (and sometimes this is due to the amount of support the parents have given in early childhood). As you know the concepts get trickier as the child move up the year groups and those children who had a lot of support early on suddenly start to feel challenged and learn the sense of failure. This can sometimes be the first time and this often hits their self esteem. It can happen in Year 2, there are studies/research that show girls in particular are prone to this and underachieve (level 3 not being achieved when it should have been). It does sound that your daughter does not have a positive attitude to maths and needs to have fun with it and learn it is ok to make mistakes. Is she in a boy dominant class by any chance? I've read lots of research that recommends girls working in small girl groups (within the larger class) so that they can talk and feel that their opinion is valued. Girls learn better through paired and group work.
I think it would be a good idea to have the school maths coordinator there. Also remember that the Year 6 teacher is the one putting on the wallpaper, the prior years are the ones who built the house. Having been a Year 6 teacher, I know what pressure that they are under to get the children to make the appropriate progress so I very much doubt that they are doing nothing. The progress from KS1 to KS2 is the thing that schools are judged by not the amount of Level 4s.
Hope that helps!

satdown · 18/01/2012 13:44

nmason You are spookily spot on with your post. Just a few points though, it is a primary school, not a junior school , so I don't think her year 2 level was over-inflated; she is good at shape/data handling etc and I know could have got a 2a without being particularly good at number work; She is in a male-dominated class and on a table with mainly boys - which she HATES!; She does have low-esteem when it comes to maths, we have got into a catch-22 situation with her - she struggles, switches off, we/school try to help, she thinks then she is even worse at maths and so on.

pastsellbydate and others who have posted with advice; thank you all but she will not comtemplate using the computer for maths games.

OP posts:
nmason · 21/01/2012 19:04

Is it possible to suggest girl only booster sessions? The only issue with that is manpower, I know we don't have enough people to run all the boosters and 1:1s we'd like. There just isn't enough time to do everything in school. Best wishes, let's hope she meets someone who will give her the confidence soon! I think the key thing is not to push her too much otherwise she'll go off it even more.

satdown · 01/05/2012 16:55

Good news; with extra help in school, an hour a week with a friend who is a maths teacher and her willingness to take her head out of the sand regarding maths she is now a solid 4c and well on the way to being a 4b, both in classwork and on tests ShockSmileSmile.

OP posts:
IndigoBell · 01/05/2012 17:21

Well done!

Good to hear. I know you've been worried all year.

bigTillyMint · 01/05/2012 17:27

That's great! Smile

We had a similar problem with DS - flagged up 2 weeks after being told he was doing fine at Parents EveShock
DH gave them a massive bollocking and the teachers pulled their fingers out, and we employed a tutor (despite being teachers ourselves....) - he has now made about a whole level of progress.

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