Help & advice from parents & teachers pls - Yr 4 completely let down by school?

[soph252]

Hi there - I'll try not to make this too long, but really just after some advice and perspective, if anyone can offer some please?

My child is in yr 4 this year at a school which has slipped over the last few years from outstanding to satisfactory. We have always been told our class is a lovely class & my child has always enjoyed school & was doing well. There are obviously some big characters in the class but they have been managed well so far and mostly the behaviour has been good. So far so good.

We hit year 4 and get a new teacher. Within a couple of weeks it was obvious that she was struggling and the class were all in one way or another unsettled. The quieter, more sensitive children for example not wanting to disappoint previously, starting to either not want to go to school, coming out miserable and even saying things like 'I try to behave all day, but the teacher just shouts all the time anyway, so what's the point.' Some of us spoke to the teacher and were assured that our children were behaving, but some of the children weren't and she admitted it makes her very cross for the children who are wanting to learn.

This went on for a few months and it might sound melodramatic, but you could see the morale and confidence and mood of the children was really low.

Move on to now and that teacher left, we have had a series of supply teachers - at one point 8 teachers in just over a week!! One supply teacher came a couple of months ago and agreed to stay til the end of this year. The change in the childrens mood and attitude is obvious. This teacher seems to have a handle on the classes behaviour, which has slipped - mostly due to the changing boundaries, lack of teaching and a very unsettled year. They have been told they are the worst class and lots of other negative things - when actually they are a great bunch and no problems before. This teacher is very positive and I just can't emphasize enough the impact this has had on the children.

Now he is looking for another job to start next year and we have again had supply teachers on and off for the last couple of weeks - it is hit and miss as to whether he will be in or not.

He admitted that there has been hardly any learning this year - in fact targets set in September for the children apparently had not been looked at again until a few weeks ago and the theory is to step it up and give the children lots of homework etc to try and catch up a bit. Again not really fair on the children and how to you even begin to get 32 children to catch up on over 6 months work/ progress in just a few weeks.

Lots of us are cross - our children have basically had a wasted year and been let down - we have spoken to the head on and off just to feedback how concerned we are and are constantly fobbed off. Is there anything we can do? Are we justified in feeling like we do? Or are we being unreasonable? I really feel like doing a letter to the head about the complete shambles this year has been - I just don't think he realises the impact on the children, emotionally and also practically no progress made. Is it worth the bother though as obviously the year is nearly over and nothing much can be done now???

Any thoughts appreciated!! :)

I would think a letter to the governors might be the best way. Also you can fill in the parent view bit on the ofsted website and if you all do it then it might flag the school up again to ofsted if the results show parents are concerned. Someone else can probably help more.

soph252:

Yes - you are justified in feeling this has been something of a wasted year and that the attitudes your child and his/her peers are developing toward school/ teachers isn't a good thing.

However...

This kind of thing happens for all sorts of reasons...

DD1 was in a similar position in year 3 when her teacher and TA both were out for most of the year because of serious illness. And I know that this year several classes have lost teachers as they went off on maternity leave and have had endless substitutes (which rather smacks of poor planning/ money savings on the SMT's part frankly).

So what to do from here:

1. KEEP THE PRESSURE ON THE SCHOOL.

I seriously would suggest that as a group you write the HT and express that although you understand the staffing issue is beyond their control, as parents you would like to understand what measures are being put in place the make up lost opportunities for this cohort.

2. Do more at home.

I'm very cynical - so my apologies - but in an ideal world the SMT at a school would recognise a cohort had a bad year and put in their best teacher with the remit to get them up to where notionally they should have been pronto. However, doing something about it is another thing - especially if class behavior has spiraled a bit out of control and kids are now used to kicking up and goofing off in class.

My sincere advice is to be a bit of a 'tiger Mum' this summer - and keep up with reading and maths over the summer. Go to the library regularly. Have your child play maths games (if your school belongs to Education City, Mathletics or My Maths - that subscription runs all summer - so take advantage of that and use it). If maths is a real worry - consider joining an on-line tutorial (Mathletics/ Maths Whizz/ Komodo Maths/ Mathsfactor - just use a search engine). I know Mathsfactor has summer schools where the kinds of skills Year 4 should be mastering are reviewed - and this may help fill in gaps/ firm understanding: link here: they don't seem to have summer schools up yet (tend to start beginning of july) but they do have revision clubs: www.themathsfactor.com/revisionclubs/

For writing practice get your DC to write postcards/ thank you notes/ fan letters over the summer. All good practice. If joined up writing is still an issue have a look at handwriting workbooks (available amazon/ large newsagents/ good bookstores).

If your DC likes workbooks - the CGP literacy workbooks are brilliant - introducing grammar and spelling rules but making it fun. A page takes about 10 minutes and a few pages a week, here and there, really does add up.

It's a long summer - and keeping the learning churning along can make a huge difference. I know they'll be some coming along screaming let them be children - but if you know your DC hasn't made a lot of progress this year (and I suspect you're posting because you know things aren't where they should be instinctively) - then 15 minutes of maths/ writing/ worksheets + 15/ 30 minutes of reading a day will make a huge difference come start of Year 5.

DD1 was very behind end of Y2 (NC L1s at KS1 SATs) so we spent about 20 - 30 minutes a day that summer on extra maths/ reading. She'd do 10 minutes in the morning whilst I was getting lunches fixed and we'd read together whilst DH was helping DD2 with her bath. We were religious about it, even keeping to the routine on holiday, and we followed through with this all through Year 3. Grandparents joined in by playing card and board games that help her with her counting/ addition/ subtraction skills. It was a hard slog - but the difference in her was phenomenal and she's never looked back.

HTH

Thank you for your replies - lots of handy ideas. I am disappointed that my child has made no progress although he is level 3a reading and maths from year 2 level 3, so although slightly less progress than expected I am aware that he is still not behind where he should be at this stage. Writing is another matter - he scored 2a - end of year 2 and I am told he will prob be a 3c, at a push 3b at the end of the year - I can see little or no progress here in 2 years and this seems to be the case with the majority of the class.

I will stay on top of things and try and fit some fun learning in in the Summer hols. I do feel let down though and a ton of homework at the end of term and lots of work through the hols is unfair on the children. Some of my friends are more concerned as their children have now slipped behind where they should be to be national average or were already behind and now have just slipped further.

It is an unavoidable situation, but the outcome is less than ideal and it just seems to go on and on & no solution.

Even now when they are meant to be pushing on and working them harder they have a supply teacher today and the 3 groups who are meant to read won't because no records have been left. Here's hoping for a great teacher in yr 5!!

Re: I really feel like doing a letter to the head about the complete shambles this year has been - I just don't think he realises the impact on the children, emotionally and also practically no progress made

More than anyone else, the Head will realise the impact on children.

Much of what you describe is unfortunate for everyone involved (children, staff, Head, parents) but the Head's hands are largely tied.

Sounds like the Head had a teacher who was a 'cause for concern'. There are strict guidelines as to how this is dealt with and certain hoops to be jumped through before said teacher can be gotten rid of. To have had the incompetent teacher leave so swiftly is a good thing, since it can often take longer.

You would then be justified in asking the Head why a fixed term contract teacher was not employed for the rest of the year (rather than supply). I would imagine that the school tried to employ longer term but were unable to. In which case - it is not the Head's fault. It is not nice for the children but the Head is not to blame.

With just half a term left, there is little that can realistically be done this year. As mentioned, be a tiger mother over summer.

If you choose to speak to the Head, a better context would be - what will be done to further assist this cohort in the future?

Hi Wafflewiffle, I see your point to a certain degree & feel perhaps this is what has made us all not push further.

However the head may be aware of the lack of progress made, but I really don't think he considers the impact of the childrens attitude & happiness at school. Also if he was so aware of the lack of learning then I just feel something should have been done sooner - it's all a bit too little too late. We now have this teacher who has said he will stay with the class til the end of the year, but as well as being off lots for interviews, even when he is in school, sometimes he is teaching other classes and ours have yet another supply. We just don't understand why our class would not be a priority just now.

He has assured us he will make sure we have a teacher we know and trust next year. I guess we need to focus on helping our children at home & look forward to a better year next year.

Oh gosh is your DC at the same school as mine??!?

My DS (yr4) has had a truly dreadful year. The first teacher (pretty pants left after 2 weeks) and then there was a period of 12 weeks with supply teachers (some days different ones in the afternoon from the morning) and DS went from loving school to hating it (he was getting bullied in the classroom).

A new teacher started in December and was absolutely awful. I was shocked at the work DS was doing (and not in a good way!) I had a meeting with the HT who assured me things were changing and within 2 weeks the pants teacher was gone and he now has another teacher who has been there for 9 weeks.

None of the kids had made any progress (NC wise) and she had 10 weeks to cover a full years work (assessment week is next week). However DS is now finally happy & doing well.

When the new teacher started, rather than complaining about lack of progress I asked how I could support him at home and was given the areas to work on. He has one more week of knuckling down and then he can relax

I would also be trying to find out who the teacher is for yr5.

It is a well documented fact that many children do plateau around the Y3/4 mark and then take off again for the last year or 2 of primary and for this reason you see most schools place their weakest teachers in Y3/4
It is a shame your DC have been messed about so much though, and it does sound as though there are problems 'in the staff room' at your school.

"I would also be trying to find out who the teacher is for yr5."

How? Parents are told when the school decides to tell them. How do you propose the OP gets that info ahead of everyone else?

If there is a plateau in year 3 and 4, might it not be because the not so good teachers are put there, rather than the other way round?

Schools will be deciding around now what their staffing arrangements are for next year, so I think as much pressure applied by letters, meetings with head teacher as possible which suggest that the school put their best teacher in this class next year , so that they can catch up for the lost year. It might be worth mentioning that in two years time they will be doing their KS 2 tests so they need every bit of help as possible.

admission, Do you really think the Head Teacher needs parents to point that out to him?

Surely if there is this 'dip' in Y3/4 schools should be putting their 'best' teachers within these years.

clam

no offence - I agree a good HT should 'get' that there's a problem there and move swiftly to rectify it.

But I can assure you DD1 had Year 3 with 35 substitutes whilst her teacher/ TA were out for months due to illnesses (unavoidable yes, but chaotic and a dead loss educationally).

Year 4 was a very unhappy job share which seems to have resulted in mainly doing art & reading bible stories/ learning hymns the two days a week the weaker teacher was on, because she refused to prepare lesson plans for her days and her teaching partner was fed up doing that work for her. When parents started expressing concern about there suddenly being no numeracy/ literacy on Mondays/ Wednesdays we were told that numeracy & literacy hours were no longer required.

Year 5 was an NQT - he had been a secondary teacher. He did slowly win the battle of getting the kids to settle down/ sit down and get on with work - which had gone out the window in the previous two years.

Year 6 ended up with this cohort of 30 pupils (single form school mind you) - being split in half with the lower ability group taken by the Year 6 teacher to hot house them to Level 4 and the upper ability group subjected to an endless round of trainee teachers/ substitutes. I can assure you that everyone in upper ability group had parents that started doing work with their kids at home and some went on to hire tutors for the 11+. I await with interest the KS2 SATs results for this cohort.

So no clam - not all HT's are good managers or have student's best interests in mind.

Our school was marred with a Year 3 and Year 4 that they couldn't get right. Whilst KS1 had and still has fantastic and stable teachers, every year there are problems with those Y3 and Y4; absenteeism is rife, supply teachers, job shares, we've had it all.

It is hard not to feel negative about a head who just doesn't seem to be able to get it sorted out. The worst thing from a parents' point of view is the lack of transparency & communication - I would have preferred a head to put their hands up and say it had been a shambles and thinking ways of fixing going forward than a head who goes in complete denial.

It's a bit when customer deliveries go wrong and as a company you try and blame it on others/deny you've done things wrong or the impact you are having - it infuriates customers - honesty goes a very long way.

We ended up pulling our children out as after a whole year of lost education and a track record of this school having issues also in Y4 were not reassuring me at all. My DD1 was exactly like you OP, finished Y2 with 3s across the board but at the end of Y3 it was all 3as. I knew it was inaccurate and that the whole year was a shambles and she hadn't progressed at all. When she entered her new school in Y4 she was in fact marked as a 3b.

One year on and my DD1 is still catching up, especially with her English. Whilst it was easier to catch up her maths, her English was much harder. There is so much to English; comprehension, grammar, spelling, that catching up was slower and a bit demoralising at times - but we're nearly there I think.

I second what someone else has said and really make sure you keep a close eye on next year - I printed out all the curriculum and was watching like a hawk in the end; also get a tutor if things don't progress satisfactorily or plan B look for another school. It's not easy though and I still seethe at being put in that situation in the first place.

I sympathise OP, we've just had a disastrous year with a very weak NQT. The behaviour in the class has done downhill and the teacher seems to spend most if the time dealing with this and little time teaching. I am keeping everything crossed for a better teacher next year and wish it wasn't such a lottery. A good teacher can make such a difference.

Not read all replies but my immediate reaction is:

(1) Write to HT and governors about this, pointing out everything you said in your OP

(2) Do as others have said - take it into your own hands over the summer to aid catch-up. As crappy as that is, I think its your best (and only) bet at this late stage in the year.

I wonder if you can also tell the HT that you intend to work with your child, at home, over the summer holidays, so you'd appreciate any guidance at all possible that the school can provide in order to assist with this catch up.

I know it sounds like a terrible year but in terms of progress it may not be as bad as you think.
Children are expected to make 3 points progress per year.
If you child left y2 with a level 3 this usually means 3b or 21/22 points. if they were awarded 21 points e.g lower 3b and made 3 points (expected) progress they would be a high 3a or 24 points.

I am not saying this is the case but just trying to give another point of view. Y3 is a notorious year group where children plateau often to do with the change of expectations/workload and having poor teaching and an endless supply of substitutes will certainly not help.