extension work for yr6

[numptymark1]

DD has been a high achiever all the way through school (no boasting, stealth or otherwise)

right the way through they have been really good at mixing age grous of children to provide her with more challenge

but now she is the oldest in the school they have a problem

they have now arranged for a high school teacher to come in for 2 hours per week to work with her

I'm not sure how I feel about this

I don't want her to be covering high school syllabus as I feel it's storing up an issue for high school
they don't sit GCSEs early, so that is not an option, is she just going to spend her maths lessons coasting because she did it in primary?

I work full time so have very little contact with school, I don't know what the HS teacher will be doing but I think I would prefer if she is applying the maths she already has to problem solving to extend her sideways rather than carrying on teaching her HS syllabus

also don't really want to complain about them trying to go the extra mile for for her

what do I do???

If I may ask - why do you not want her to start on the high school syllabus? My DDs have both done it/are doing it, and there's always more/further/deeper. DD2 is in Yr5 and is working at the level of an able Yr7. DD1 is now in Yr 7, but last year was working through the Yr 9 maths syllabus and was learning a lot of English writing skills at that level as well. If your local secondary is any good they will know how to deal with very able pupils all the way up to A level standard.

You are right in that your DD should be extending sideways too, not just ploughing forwards, but it isn't a zero-sum game - she should be able to have both.

You are also right in that your DD should not take early GCSEs unless she has a realistic shot at top marks - that is certainly the tack I will be taking with DD1 and the way it looks now with DD2 as well.

And I've always worked full time, but a good school will let you make an appointment outside of parent evenings to discuss things in more depth. You may need to take a morning's leave (I did) but it's worth it.

the high school doesn't have a sixth form and is a 6 form entry so I'm not confident that they will carry on with the more able but it realistically the only option for high school -it's a good school though, so not disappointed by the lack of choice, but it is caped at GCSE

I'm pleased there will be continuity because one of the maths teachers will obviously know her but I'm not convinced when there are so many children in the year that she won't get lost

I think that the school are obviously tying very hard to fulfill your dd needs. What else would you like them to do? if they have taken this step of essentially providing your dd with two hours of private tuition then they obviously feel they cannot extend her anymore without an additional teaching input. most schools would not trouble themselves to provide this tuition so personally I would say thank you, that's great!

I don't actually know what I want them to do and I'm not ungrateful as I know of DCs at other schools that feel like the school's attitude is 'there are 29 the children, yours is doing fine so we'll leave them to it'

so I'm really pleased that the school is doing anything, but I feel uncomfortable about her getting too far ahead of her peers

When I was at primary school I did a lot of extension work into the secondary syllabus - covered everything in the first 3 years of secondary school, along with stuff some people didn't cover until A-levels e.g. converting decimal into binary and hexadecimal etc. But the secondary school were well equipped for extension work with much more breadth, once I had covered the basics. By the time I was in my first GCSE year, I was quite happily teaching myself stuff in maths lessons that was on the A-level syllabus along with stuff that wasn't ever in the maths curriculum. I didn't do any exams early - just took pleasure in making sure that I got 100% in my GCSE exams and finishing them with hours to spare.
I think she will probably be fine (as long as the secondary school is good). At least if the maths teacher is coming from the secondary they will be aware that she is already ahead when she joins the school.
If she is enjoying it I'd let her get on with it. I still do maths as a hobby .

I think this is always going to be the issue with children who are more able. Personally I would be happy with her doing what everyone else is doing and take the pressure off knowing that she is obviously going to do well, but many parents are unhappy with this and want extension work. I guess you have to decide which option you want, extension work will mean she is way ahead of her peers.if you don't want this then say so.