DD's Y1 Maths level waaaay lower than expected - advice re speaking to teacher please

[LorenSorenson]

DD (Y1, Aug bday 5 yo) has just had her report and got a 1c for Maths.

I was very shocked. At parents evening in April, we were told DD was receiving extra help for Maths but this was more because she doesn't ask for help when she is stuck more than there being an issue.

DD takes a while to grasp concepts but we've been doing number bonds to 10, adding to 20, subtracting small numbers, doubles etc and she has been doing fine - at home.

Yet in her report she has below standard for place value on a number line to 20, which I find utterly baffling as she is fine with this at home, and has been given a 1c, when we were told at parents evening she was working towards at least a 1a.

I am going to speak to her teacher this afternoon but would really appreciate some pointers about how to approach this.

The only thing I can think is for whatever reason she is not demonstrating her knowledge at school, or that the teacher ( 1st year, mat leave cover ) has been especially harsh.

It may, or may not be relevant to mention that her target for ordering the seasons and months of the year was marked as not achieved and yet when I tested her on it three times yesterday (the day we were told she hadn't achieved it ) she got it spot on each time.

Bump? Would really appreciate advice as seeing teacher at 3.15pm.

Firstly, remember that the reports were written a while ago, so more recent "skills" may not be picked up. Also, that the child needs to display the skill independently several times, so being able to do it when specifically asked by an adult won't be good enough for the purposes of having it "ticked off".

The main worry (for me) is the conflicting reports you've had. I'd mention that you were surprised by your DD's level as you'd been led to believe that she was working towards 1a. Then I'd ask about specific areas that she needs to work on and how you can support this. You might also want to ask about she will be supported in Y2.

No point saying anything today (last day of term?). Work through some of those whsmith books or similar over the holidays and speak to y2 teacher v. early in the term re: available support.Really, the new teacher is far far better placed to help than the old one, and dd may well already be on their radar as a result of this assessment and handover conversations.

Yes thanks redsky.

I have on my list to ask about support for Y2. I am very sad that we have had no feedback about the problem since parents evening, as we could have done something between April and now to get her level up.

I am now very worried she won't make 2b by end of Y2. 4 sublevels is a big ask for any child.

We don't finish school until next Tues, yellowvan.

I take your point about the new teacher being the person I need to speak to, prob at beginning of next term, but I really need to understand from this teacher why she has assessed DD as 1c when we thought she was at 1a, and where the gaps are.

And, tbh, why she thinks she may be performing at home but not at school.

Performing better at home at this age(calm, focussed, 1-1 with you, no distractions) is very very common, in fact is prob true of most Y1/Y2s. Teacher should award the level which will benefit the dc the most, ie, if child showing some elements of higher level but not totally secure, and not enough 'evidence' in books etc then the lower level will be what they are awarded, because that will access them the support they need to move on. Please believe teacher is not trying to diss your dds work in any way, s/he will have had to collect lots of evidence for the level given. it will have been moderated with colleagues, (more colleagues if borderline as well), so not just one person's view. I hope you get the answers you want.

I would want to speak to the teacher before the summer holidays too - to clarify that the level is correct, and to ask why you had been led to believe that she was working towards 1a, and to ask whether there are any specific areas of weakness that you could work on over the summer (also it would gnaw at me all summer unless I did!).

IME I don't think it's at all unusual for a child to perform well at home, in a familiar environment, with a parent, in a 1-1 situation, and then fluff it at school though.

Then do some work with her over the holidays, just 5mins a day, little and often, to get the basics learned and to boost her confidence.

Her Y2 teacher will probably see a big improvement in September, but I would also go in and talk to him/her about how your DD is doing in numeracy, what her Y2 target level is, and how she will be supported if it becomes clear that she needs help.

Just ask whether you can check the levels are correct as you are surprised as you thought she was working towards a 1a, and what can you do to help over the hols

Just checked ds2's writing score and it was a typo so it can happen

Just ask whether you can check the levels are correct as you are surprised as you thought she was working towards a 1a, and what can you do to help over the hols

Just checked ds2's writing score and it was a typo so it can happen

Thats really helpful thank you all.

I am heartened by your comment esp yellowvan about her being awarded the level that will access her the best support.

She isn't that focused at school, her report comments on this. I can see that she can be much more focused at home, so this may go some way to explaining the seeming disparity.

I am hoping it will come with age as she's still just 5.

Thanks again will update once spoken with teacher this afternoon.

What exactly did she say about "working towards a 1a"? I never had any levels out of ours at year 1 level.

Did they say "she should be on for a 1a at the end of year 1"? Or did they perhaps say something like "easily get a 1a at KS1" (ie at the end of year 2) Or perhaps "working below but does understand some concepts working towards 1a". Often if levels are mentioned, we as parents, tend to hear the levels more than the bit around them, perhaps because they're an absolute value so we feel we can grasp it.

Ime the extra help for stuff often does mean that they're struggling, if it's just that she won't ask for help, then they need to check she's understood it, which I'd expect them to do with any child who is either not getting on with the work, or getting upset, or getting lots wrong. I wouldn't expect that could count as extra help really. It does sound like more than won't ask for help, did they say what the extra help consisted of?

It's possible they gave them something like a worksheet to do for the levels, like a SATS test. She got to question (say) 4 and couldn't do it, so stayed sitting there staring at it, not knowing she could do questions 5-12 easily.

For talking to the teacher: I'd start off by expressing concern that she hadn't achieved "average" and ask why she is below average. Hopefully they will say something that you can work on. It's perfectly reasonable to say to the teacher that they are doing it fine at home, but you can't expect the teacher to mark it on what they do at home iyswim.

I would then, assuming they don't say "whoops, I made a mistake on the levels" say something along the lines of "I got the impression at parents' evening that she was aiming for a 1a by now, so I was a bit surprised to find her 2 levels down. We'd been working at the maths." See what they say. It may be that somewhere miscommunication gave you the wrong impression, it may be they said 1a meaning 1b.

Then ask if the extra help will be continuing next year. Express concern that she's not at "average" and hope that she will have the extra help to help her "reach her potential".

Hope it goes well.

DeWe - she said " all children that are in this support group are working towards and should achieve a level 1a by the end of Year One."

There are comments in her report about her working well in the support group but not concentrating or losing focus in the whole class teaching part.

I don't expect the teacher to amend her score based on what I see at home. I would like to explain to the teacher what we do see at home though and ask her why she thinks there may be such a discrepnacy and where the gaps are so we can fcous on the right areas over the summer holidays.

Thanks again!

Oh and she was put in the support group, supposedly not because she had issues but because she didn't ask for help when she needed it.

DD is shy and quiet and doesn't like to make a fuss. She is in a class with many many girls who are the opposite so I think she was getting forgotten before she went into the support group.

Is it possible to be typo mistake?, teacher wanting to award 1b or 1a instead, it does happen.
Taking in account the way your DD works at home(months of year in order, + and - up to ten and twenty) and presuming she is able to replicate similar standard of work in the classroom I would think that would amount to more then 1c.
My dd same is age as yours is very good with sums and some time tables 2,3,4,5, and 10, but can not put months in order and only knows whole hour and half on the clock has been given considerably more then 1c, I agree it is vital you talk to the y2 teacher at the beginning of the next academic year it may well be, after initial assessment by new teacher you DD will score higher, good luck.

My friend was horrified by her ds's report, as he seemed not to have progressed at all in a year.

The teacher has taken the data from old documents, and it was incorrect.

Something like this may have happened.

It is normal for a child to perform to a lower level in a class room situation than they dod one to oneat home with a parent, it may just be that.

OP - it might seem like 'a big ask' but it IS quite possible for a child to make 4 sublevels of progress between Y1 and Y2. I have a late summer born DS who finished Y1 on 1B for numeracy. A year later in the KS1 SATS he achieved level 2A in both the 'formal' test and teacher assessment, i,e, 4 sublevels of progress. So your DD may well achieve 2B quite comfortably. In my experience Y2 was one of quite dramatic progress for DS both academically and just generally in terms of confidence/maturity and I do think that, in his case, he was just far more ready to learn, if that makes sense.

It is probably worth doing some numeracy work with her - little and often, as others have said - over the summer, but please don't panic about the level she achieved. She is very young in her year and I am sure a lot of the concerns that you have will iron themselves out as she matures. DS is a different child now (just finished Y3) to the one who struggled his way through Y1.

I understand your worries as i find it very confusing labelling them so early.

My eldest just done year 1 and was told matchs was great last year
this year 2nd parents evening was told maths a problem
reading was a problem but they had extra support group for literacy but not numeracy.

her readinsg much better than her numbers.

yet she scored 1b for everything which teacher says is avarage but school website says its below and she should be 1a.

its stressed me a bit as conflicting info

i too then feel pressure is on year 2 as needs to climb more sub levels and has sats next year.

we just going to try and do more over summer and bit more outside school which is hard as she gets loads of homework and has clubs she enjoys very tiring for such young kids.

hope you get good answer.