Preparation to have a "difficult" chat with school

[buttlodge]

Hi
My daughter is in year 5 and doesn't appear to be getting enough challenges at school. She is in a very small school with only 2 classes and we have noticed that she often gets the same homework as younger children, and has been set the same spellings 2 years running.
I'm determined to speak to school about my concerns but I'm really struggling to find some information that will give me guidance about what she should be doing in Year 5. I've downloaded a useful document from the National Literacy Strategy that shows that she is not getting enough challenging spellings to learn, although where to I get similar information about maths attainment levels for year 5.
If any one could help that would be BRILLIANT!
I've already spoken to D of E, Ofsted, and QCDA with no real help.
Thanks

Do you know what her NC levels are?

If she's in Y5, she should be working at a L3, 4 or 5.

There is no Y5 syllabus is such - there's L3, 4 and 5 goals.

It really doesn't matter what spelling she's bringing home.

What you do want assurance on is that she's learning and moving up the levels.

About 20-30% of kids will leave Y6 with a L5, and about 60% of kids will get a L4.

I would ask what her current grades are, and what her predicted grades are for the end of Y6.

From now to the end of Y6 you should expect her to move up a full level.

This will give you some ideas about year 5 maths:

IXL Year 5

But it's not really what kids are taught in Y5. Because each kid needs to be taught what they don't know.......

If it helps DDs spellings ( yr 5) over the last couple of weeks are along the lines of:-
Encourage, concerned, circumstance, circumnavigate, concentrate

Freight, sprightly, fierce, knight, height, fiery etc.

They have 16 to learn each week.

Hi Indigobell
Thanks for the feedback, and the IXL site looks really useful.
Looking at the exercises for Year 5 it appears she is way behind - I don't think school has even mentioned long division yet - we certainly haven't seen it in homework or in her school books on open evenings.
I'm not at home at the moment and so I can't check the last report although she was in line with the national objectives.
One of my concerns is that the teacher is in charge of 4 age groups in a single class, although only fully qualified as a teacher last year. I would assume that to be able to juggle enough balls in the air to teach at 4 year levels and lots of ability levels would take quite a skilled teacher and not necessarily someone still learning themselves.
What I was hoping for was something like the National Literacy Framework which sets objectives for each term in each primary year so that I can benchmark what my daughter is being taught against what is seen as best practice.
Many thanks for your help

Thanks Downnotout
My daughter gets 6 spellings a week, and has to get them right 3 times before moving on to the next 6 - which means that she would get through 24 a term!
M's spellings last week were contribute, charity, alternative, necessary, different and difficult.
Thanks for your help.

Actually if they were getting the same homework in year 5 I'd be pissed off too. My dd used to bring home work that had been marked by a TA who had failed to pick up on mis-spellings and left no feedback at all. I took it up with the teacher and complained that if they expected parents to encourage children to sit and do homework after school, the least they could do is actually mark it themselves and give feedback. When he whinged about how he simply didn't have the time (he only took one class) I told him to send me the kids homework and I would give their work the consideration it deserved (I've an English degree and used to be a TA). He didn't take me up on the offer.

If you are concerned that your dd is not benefitting from her class then you have every right to raise those concerns. I would be asking about any targets set for her (every child should have achieveable targets set) and how far she has come from year 4. You want to see an improvement from last year and if you don't, you need to be asking serious questions about the teacher's ability to guide a mixed year group.

Certainly if they want her to do homework then they should at least take the time to set appropriate homework that is up to her level and not just the same guff they give all the kids to do.

<a class="break-all" href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110809091832/www.teachingandlearningresources.org.uk/primary" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">This might give you an idea of what levels she should be working at.

If she's 'in line with objectives' at end of Y4, that means she's a 3b.

And so now she should be covering L3 and L4 stuff.

The spread over 4 years isn't necessarily going to be more than the spread in 1 year.

She might have kids working from a L2 - to a L5, which is what a lot of Y6 classes will have.......

Here's the maths site you wanted:

www.mewan.net/curriculum/mathematics/index.php?category_id=5

If her spelling is very good and is age appropraite or above I really wouldn't worry about what spellings she is given. It isn't about getting harder words it's about knowing spelling patterns and rules. If she is already Ok with this, the list she has is a bit of a red herring. I would look at her levels and see if she is progressing and whether she enjoys school. If these are OK, it may be that you just don't have confidence in her teacher or the mixed age class system and will need to consider moving her so that you feel comfortable.

There's probably not much point taking documents from the National Literacy Strategy in to show them as evidence of what she should be doing. They got rid of that as it was a bit rubbish...

It could be that the teacher is being lazy with homework, and the homework doesn't reflect what they're doing in class. Why don't you go in and ask to see her books before making any hasty judgements?