Is my Year 3C DS doing okay or should I get him tutor/kumon

[WineAndChocolate]

Hi all, dont come on here very often I'm afraid but I hope you dont mind me asking for some advice.

Just had parents evening and DS got a 4B in reading which I was really pleased about but his comprehension was only a 2B (although his teacher did say it was a new test and everyone in the class got a low mark in comprehension).

He is a 3C in maths. Is this okay or should I be thinking of getting him extra help?

He goes to a faith school which is very competitive and a lot of the children either have tutors or do kumon.

Why kumon? Do you know anything about it?

Only what some of the other mums have told me.

His teacher said that his weak point is mental arithmetic and Kumon is apparently supposed to be very good for improving this. Would welcome other views though.

Which year group?

Sorry he is in Year 3. Just realised my error in the title.

Then I wouldn't worry too much 3C is fine I certainly wouldn't go to Kumon

To be more precise a 3c is 6 months to a year ahead of the expected level for half way through year 3.

It's kind of scary that you can cone out of parents evening worried when your child is doing very well.

Why are you so against Kumon mrz if you dont mind me asking?

IndigoBell. Parent's evening was very rushed and she didnt say anything positive about him at all. She just said these are his marks and then practically ushered us out the door as she was running late. She didnt even say well done for getting 4B in reading. Nothing at all about other things like PE, art, music etc.

As I say, it is a very competitive school where most of the children are over-achieving. A lot of the children are tutoted into the local grammar schools as the local state schools are not brilliant.

In saying that, DS will almost certainly be going to one of the local state schools so if 3C is okay maybe I wont go down the kumon/tutor route after all.

Because all it teaches is how to fill in Kumon worksheets. You can teach quick recall of number bonds and times tables without paying Kumon (or anyone)

Any tips?!

Sorry, I am absolutely rubbish at maths myself. Is it just a matter of being repetitive?

It really is just rote learning with the aim of instant recall (no thinking time allowed)

if you wanted them to do worksheets, you could print them off yourself and do them at home!

3C is fine for Y3, but if you want to help him improve mental arithmetic, then do little games with him, going to and from school. Get him to add things up for you, or times tables, or count different types of objects and add them together (e.g. how many cars, lorries, and bicycles have you seen on way to school, how many of each)

DON'T DO KUMON, it will completely put your child off maths and 3c is the national average for end of year 3, so he is more than where he needs to be.

If you want to support him with his maths learning then this website has some really fun games in the maths zone. Learning and having fun!
www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/

How can he be a 4B in reading but only 2B in comprehension?? Aren't they one and the same? I very naively thought that reading level=direct correlation to reading band with DD1, but have since learnt that the comprehension tests that they do GIVES them their reading level
Or do you mean more of an actual standard word reading test? Can't think of the acronym . Whichever way it is, his reading/comprehension scores do not make sense to me.

How can he be a 4B in reading but only 2B in comprehension

You need to speak to your child's teacher as what you've written makes no sense whatsoever. Assessing reading is not about whether your child can say a word but whether they understand the text.

2b in year 3 is below age related expectations, 4b is significantly above. Tutoring benefits all children whatever their ability, however it does mean a financial outlay that can be significant.

3c absolutely fine. and agree with the others - you really don't need anything fancy to improve mental arithmetic, you could see if Waterstones/WHS have a cheap book, but really just encouraging him to play board games/add up the cost of toys/sweets/chocolate etc in his head should do the trick. I would be more concerned about the 2B in comprehension, I would be checking he understands his reading books etc.

Surely it depends on what he got at the end of ks1. If he was 2a or below then he's fine. Agreed I personally don't like cumin as I've known children who can do it but have learnt only how to do it when it set out a certain way and can't apply their knowledge. Practise number bonds, times tables by games but don't waste money and also precious free time with tutoring.

FRom teachers that I know they say you cannot tell who has been to Kumon and who hasn't .

I can tell. "Kumon kids" are those who can do pages of Tens & Units but have no idea how to apply their knowledge to a written problem.

You can definitely tell a child who has done Kumon ... they can't do maths

I think it is easy for a child to read well without actually understanding what they are reading. I wonder if that explains the difference? Ds is now a very good reader but the emphasis is on comprehension not just decoding.

We have parents' evening this week and I very much doubt ds's teacher will tell me what levels he's on. Poor ds is so worried about what she'll say that he didn't bring the form home for me to say I wanted to go to parents' evening.

Probably three quarters of my class were like that in September

mrz and clam

Right there with mrz - if you want to teach by rote do it yourself don't pay a lot of money to people with no teaching experience or training to do what you can do for free on the internet or with a book from Smiths .
If you look at the Kumon sales site you can see you have no need of any qualifications to set up Kumon. see here

His mark for reading at the end of Y2 sats was 2a.

She told us his marks as if reading and comprehension were marked separately. She said his reading is 4B however his comprehension is only 2B. She said it is a new test so maybe that's how they do it now?

It sounds as if the school has bought in a new test that is giving low results in It is foolish to report them if there is any doubt on their reliability.