Getting to Level 4 by end of Year 6.

[PeteCampbellsRecedingHairline]

DS1 is currently in Year 5. He has had issues this year relating to lack of concentration and disrupting the class. We do,however, have appeared to turn the corner.

I met with the Headteacher this week and he said DS1 is at 3c for numeracy and writing and 4c for reading.

What can I do at home to help him get to Level 4 by the end of next year? His Headteacher said if he scores lower than this in the Year 6 SATs then he will likely be placed in the bottom sets in Year 7 which would impact on his behaviour and concentration.

Ask his teacher what areas he needs help with.

There are free sats papers online you'd be able to find to practice as well.

Thanks Viva.

I asked the teacher and Head and they said creative writing and subtracting with a decimal point. There must be more to it than that though?

DS hates writing. His handwriting is awful and he rushes it so it rarely makes sense or is legible.

good site

Check out bbc bite size stuff as well.

Oh viva, that's a brilliant link

It is good isn't it!

Is this a Mumsnetter's website?

It looks great.

DS has a fab book for helping with his writing.

It is printed by usborne and called "write your own story book"

Thanks Simpson, I'll look that up.

I think that giving a child lots of SATs practice papers in year 5 will turn him off and make him nervous. To be honest many secondaries take little notice of SATs results. In our area many of the secondaries do CATs test which are an IQ test for setting purposes or the classes are mixed ablity for the first term.

If your son lacks academic ablity he will end up in the bottom sets as he will be unable to cope with the pace of work of higher sets. (Even if he does well in the year 6 SATs and starts off in a middle set then he will fail to keep pace with the other children.) Prehaps you need to look at what various secondary schools in your area to help children with educational special needs.

What is the school doing to help your son learn? Does he have an IEP? If you can afford it a tutor might help him learn basic skills. (Ie. a proper teacher not being bunged in front of a computer.)

He isn't academic. He enjoys reading but his strengths lie in art and sport and technology.

The school say he is capable of getting a Level 4 but he has to put the work in.

He doesn't have any special needs. He's been assessed by Ed Psych and a Paediatrician. They couldn't agree on anything and I was told he would never get a diagnosis.

At school he has TA support but not all of the time because they found he relied too much on them and his work was poorer. There are strategies in place for his behaviour which are working and we have seen CAMHS and are currently with Relate.

In regards to secondaries there is a choice between 2.

1 is very good but academic but would be better socially For him I think. Children feed in from lots of different schools and come from different backgrounds.

School 2 is our local school. The intake is from 1 or 2 schools and most children come from the local council estate where we live. They have more experience of dealing with SEN and offer vocational qualifications and more sports opportunities. However our concern would be the lack of variety socially.

The school want him to get a level 4 for their benefit. Not to be cynical about it, but they will push and push with every tactic they possess because otherwise he'll mess up their results.

If he's not a level 4 child, then I'd leave him to it as the parent. Saying that, I'm not a parent although I'm cooking a sprog but I know how schools are driven by SATs. Last year, our school cut loose the children who weren't going to get level 4s. They were left to be babysat by a TA, with no plans and no work set. Appalling, but data speaks.

Hi. my DD likes this website for both numeracy and literacy: www.arcademics.com/games/

For literacy, I let her read a short paragraph from a bit challenging book, answer a few comprehension questions and copy a part of the paragraph. After a few times of this, I make a little vocab test for new words just learned.

I think it is more than possible or very likely to progress from 3C to level 4 in a year time. Key is motivation, good teaching and hard working!

Just to encourage you...DS1 was level 3b at the end of year 5 and having just done his SATs is expected to come out with a level 5 for his writing. He just suddenly matured in his writing style and made huge progress in his first term in year 6 so it is definitely possible for your son to progress to where he needs I be.

Hi PeterC....

I would suggest rather than going practice SATs papers - you'd be better off spending this summer working on core skills in short bursts (having been there myself with DD1 between Y3 - Y5 (will be Y6 next year).

Maths: well the advent of computers and video games is ideally suited to teaching maths and learning painlessly.

Great free websites:

Woodland Junior School Maths Zone: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/ - select the area you want to work on and there will be several games to chose from.

If the issue is that your DS has yet to masters times tables (and using those facts inversely to support division) - can I recommend you dowload the free version of TIMEZ ATTACK (link here: www.bigbrainz.com/ - it will test you son to see what level he is at and start from there. He can chose to be a small boy or girl ogre and the free version has two platforms - a dungeon and a castle - you run round solving multiplication problems (which are also shown as multiple additions - thus 4 x 4 - involves your ogre collecting 4 snails and counting up 4 - 8 - 12 - 16) and then a verticle multiplication problem is presented on a wall for you to solve. If that is correct a medium sized ogre comes out and quizzes you on this & the last 2 mutliplication problems you were working on. If you pass that you move on to a new problem if you don't you are crushed by the ogre and start again. After so many levels you get tested by the BIG OGRE who asks lots of questions and notes which ones you are struggling with - you'll get those again on the next level. It's stressful, but great fun and really improves speed. They have a division version (inverse multiplication questions so 36 divided by ? = 9 kind of thing) as well if he's ready.

mumsnet has a link to maths champs - which also has all sorts of games to practice with & is free: www.mathschamps.co.uk/#home - by age he should be playing 9 - 11 games, but you may need to go back to 7 - 9 games for review if there are fundamental weaknesses (maybe doesn't know 5 times table well, etc...).

You can also get workbooks for Y4 level & Y5 level (they vary in difficulty - so have a look in person before buying) from most book shops/ amazon/ newsagents etc... - my advice is go along and have a browse through and see which one he responds to best. Some are full of illustrations & games and others are pages of problems to solve. Let him decide. Set a small achievable target - a page a day - and maybe a routine - do it whilst I'm cooking dinner, getting ready to go in the morning, etc...

Focus on those core maths skills: addition/ subtraction/ multiplication/ division this summer and you'll be well on your way the NC Level 4 next year.

------

With literacy there are several things to focus on:

handwriting: is it neat, are letters formed correctly
grammar: does he understand good grammar? (The GCP workbooks are great for this - again Y4/ Y5 workbooks are good review of things he should know - just do a page or two a day - 15 minutes tops).

READING: Every day. Maybe not out loud to you everyday - but talk about it, let him see you reading and have him read with you. Really discuss what's going on in the story, tricky words he may gloss over but doesn't understand, etc...

Visit your local library - they often have reading challenges going over the summer which are really encouraging for getting lots of reading done.

Get worksheets/ pamphlets/ educational colouring books etc... when you are visiting places (museums/ historic houses/ etc...). There's lots of terminology, writing and thinking to do with them and often the child doesn't even realise they're learning.

-----

My advice is set yourself a small but achievable goal - say 30 minutes a day DC will do a bit on maths & reading. Get them to write letters to favourite TV shows, enter competitions & send postcards over the summer (we even have DDs send cards to teachers). Have him keep a diary (let him chose it from a bookstore/ office supply store). And just see it as pennies in the bank.

In essence by doing between 30 minutes to 1 hour (= 1 or 2 children's tv shows or a long session on an XBox or equivalent) broken up over a day you can build up = 40 hours+ of numeracy/ literacy remedial work over the summer which the school couldn't hope to achieve with your DS over 2 terms (in run up to KS2 SATs).

It's a good routine/ work ethic to develop in him anyway, as most senior schools will have a major increase in homework load as compared to primary school. We've also found that at some point reading becomes pleasurable and you don't have to remind them to read - you suddenly have to tell them it's late, time for bed!

HTH

How did your school get away with 'cutting loose' the worst performers? I am a governor of a primary and we have to put all children through, even if they are ill (we took convoluted measures to keep the child incommunicado until the following day!) and SEN is not an exception either. Even though parents went around bleating it was a sign the school was going downhill the year we had three SEN and no hope of them making it to level 4. Although exceptionally proud they all got to level 3 - autism, Downs Syndrome, and Prader Willis if that makes any difference.

OP, firstly, yes, it is perfectly possible to get from a 3c now to a 4c (or even higher) by the end of Y6. But it will take a lot of effort- from his teachers, you and of course from him. However, the most important thing (IME) is that he needs to be motivated to want to learn. So you need to show him that learning is fun, not a chore, and that he CAN succeed.

Some things that I would try:
Find some websites with maths/literacy games-

Literacy Boot Camp
Bitesize
Woodlands
ICT games

If you're able/willing to pay for any subscription sites, you could look at Reading Eggspress or Maths Whizz.

With his writing, try letting him word process his work, and motivate him by considering his interests- can he write a letter to a favourite sportsperson, post a review of a game online somewhere, write and illustrate a graphic short story?

Read with and to him as much as possible- this will really help his writing as well. When you read, look for interesting ways of starting sentences, and powerful words, and then practise using them. You could hold competitions- who can think of the most creative sentence? It doesn't even have to be written down, you could do it in the car or when you're waiting for an appointment.

Thanks everyone.

I'll re read your replies and check out the websites.