Worried about who DS sits with

[kittykato]

Hi everyone,
I found out yesterday that my DS sits on a table that could be described as difficult. I'm under no disallusion about my son's behaviour but from what I know and hear from him I really can't see why his teacher would put him on this table. He is an able and competant yr 3 but I have noticed that he just does the bare minimum since starting school again and wonder if he sees this in other children and follows suit?

His teacher also set him homework of his X2 tables which concerned me somewhat as when he left in July he was up to X4/X6!!!

How do I diplomatically say I'd like him moved?!! It sounds really pompous but feel his behaviour/education may suffer being on this table!!!
Advice please X

Does he sit with these other children all the time?
Is it just for form time?
Does he sit with different ones if your school sets/streams them by ability?

I believe they do set by ability so for big literacy he sits with other children. I spoke to teacher today and asked if there's been issues regarding behaviour or attention which she said nothing of concern. SO will just watch the situation. I've also spoken to my son to say he has to be the best he can be. Just frustrating that I tell him at home he needs to put effort in when it may not be the case at school.

It comes across as a bit precious, OP. Somebody has to sit next to those disruptive children.

i am not sure you can automatically put his lack of effort down to those he sits with. I am sure the teacher thought about the seating arrangements and who would work well with each other. I would give it slightly longer and then see the teacher and find out whether she feels he is working hard and you could then ask if he is sitting with a good role model.

I don't mean to be rude or mean but do you think if he was putting in a bit more effort he might be put on a different table? You probably need to do more than watch the situation. I presume this is a table grouped by achievement. Possibly if your DS were to put in a bit more effort, his achievement would go up and his teacher might think about sitting him elsewhere? I do see your point about him being given easier work than he is capable of but maybe if he hasn't been trying very hard so far this year the teacher hasn't seen that he is capable of more?

Could you do some work with him at home or get him onto suitable educational websites at home (do a search here, there are tons) and hopefully get him into thinking of it as a bit more fun and worth bothering about?

Thanks for the replies eveyone. I realise that it's precious of me to groan at who he's sitting with and yes, someone does have to sit with them. I'm trying to see it from all angles, it is difficult when it is your child and I do feel I should 'fight his corner' as it were...

It's difficult to word in a PC way hence why I was after advice .

I spoken to my son to say he has to prove to his teacher that he does concentrate and put in the effort. I feel better having spoken to the teacher - at least she knows I'm aware of what's going on.

I'll look at the websites, we're doing handwriting and tables at home as well as any homework he's given. This also makes me feel guilty about putting too much on him at home but that's another story...

Thanks again.

Their normal tables I think are usuallymixed ability, and then they move for maths and reading.
She will just want to revise the easy tables with them after the break , I'm sure

Do not read too much into the timestables homework. Tables need to be revised regularly or they tend to get forgotten.