advice needed, please

[rumncoke]

Was not going to post but need some genuine honest advice. Have parents eve in the next couple of weeks and need to speak to teacher about ds1 and the work in class. The problem i have is, in yr 1 my son was doing the yr 2 maths and was in a mixed yr1/2 class which was fine and he just just loved it and ended up with a very good report and teaching said how bright he was and just got things, especially maths. Now in yr 2, they seem to be covering the work he did last year and he is getting really deflated. The problem mostly is the maths, i helped in the class the other day and saw for myself how bored him and few of his friends ,(who had also been in mixed last year) they were doing number bonds to 10 and 20 for 45 minutes and honestly i just wanted to take the handful of kids to another table to get them to do something else!
The mixed abilities in the class is quite unbelievable, i totally understand the having to make sure all children are at a certain level but feel soooooooo let down by the school and teacher for not giving my ds1 the work at HIS level.
Why is it always,(it appears), if children need extra support wether its phonics or maths or reading they get it but if a child has achieved all for that yr nothing is done.
How hard is it honestly to give harder work? does he really have to coast through the whole year with the risk of getting lazy?? how would you approach this? help............

No they should not be coasting for the year.

Ask (1) How the work is differentiated to meet the needs of all groups of pupils, (2) How does school stretch more able students (extension work, groups)

Your DS should not be bored in any class.

bump. Any more advice on how to appriach this, as teacher can be very defensive. tia

My dds work in y1 was very clearly differentiated and stretched her. I think that to do it as tactfully as possible you need to try not to suggest that he is bored or that the work differentiation is not as good as last year as that may well put her on the defensive (though it shouldn't!), a good teacher should
always be able to differentiate and offer appropriate work at all levels and if yours is not doing that then you need to stay on top of her (involve the Head if necessary) and ensure that she does.
That said, it's easier said than done, maybe mention that he's not enjoying maths as much as last year, that he really enjoys the meatier tests and challenges and quiz her on what work his table can do over and above the others

Hi rumcoke:

I'd raise that you are concerned to hear from your son that he's finding maths a bit boring this year. Ask if the teacher is currently 'levelling' his/ her class and gently raise the question of whether he/ she is providing differentiated work for your DS and/or extension work to keep him engaged, whilst others in the class are working.

Having had 2 DDs go through Y2 (one way behind where she should be and one way ahead) my impression is that Y2 is entirely about getting the vast majority up to that magic NC Level 2b and at times, they do let the more able pupils coast. To be fair to those teachers, they are under a lot of pressure to get the whole class over that standard.

If you are concerned to keep his interest in maths alive and progressing, you may want to investigate maths games here:

Woodlands Junior School: www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/

BBC Learning KS1 Maths: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/keystage_1/topics/maths_ks1.shtml

BBC Bitesize KS1 Maths: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/maths/

Mumsnet learning pages recently set up a link to Maths Champs from their home learning zone www.mumsnet.com/learning/learning-zone/learning-zone-introduction here: www.mathschamps.co.uk/

If you find that you are very unhappy with his tuition at school - several here (myself included I fear) have posted about our success with various on-line maths schools: mathletics www.mathletics.co.uk/, maths whizz www.whizz.com/ and/or Maths Factor themathsfactor.com/. All of these offer free trial periods I think - so worth an explore if you get very frustrated with the school.

HTH