Tutor/Kumon/something or someone else?

[MovingBack]

Hi, we recently moved from abroad and have children in Year 3 and Year 5. Although we moved from an English speaking country, they were in a totally different education system before. Hence I'm a little concerned that there may be gaps in their English and Maths knowledge. Could any parent or teacher advise as to how I can ensure that they have covered the necessary concepts in English and Maths please? They are not amenable to my 'helping' (especially the youngest) so it would have to be done by a third party ;-)

Thank you

Firstly I'd ask their new teachers for advice. Y3 (first year of KS2) & Y5 are both in key stage 2 so why not get a revision for KS2 and have a look. Most topics are repeated during the key stage so I wouldn't worry about Y3 at all. Y5 & Y6 especially go over everything in preparation for the SATs. You could get some practice SATs papers from amazon or download them off a free website and test your older child yourself. Then you will be able to see any weaknesses and address those. Kumon is super repetitive and I would avoid but I would recommend a tutor to address specific areas.

Yes I would second what nostress said about Kumon. Both of my DDs did it in year 3 and year 5 respectively. It was good for learning their times tables but was super-repetitive. We plodded on for about 9 months but none of us could take it any more - including me who had to do all of the marking.

Thanks very much for your advice - great suggestions and very much appreciated. I'm off to have a look on Amazon at workbooks/revision guides etc now. Thanks again

I'm back and baffled!!!!

Any recommendations for books would be great as there seem to be so many - perhaps I need to go to an actual shop instead of looking on the internet :-)

Speak to their teachers. Of course, the accuracy of their assessment of your children will depend on how long they've been in their new classes, but the teacher will be able to tell you if anything's stood out particularly.

Personally I like the CGP books because they're clear, easy to follow and above all cheap!!

You could get the level 3 & 4 CGP Maths books and start to work your way through them.

Thank you so much - I like the look of the CGP books and I'll see their teachers next week to double check. Cheers