School report advised no progress and poor effort

[schoolreporttime]

We have just had the end of year 4 school report and discovered that DS has made either no progress or just one sub level this year. It also advised that he has made far less effort than in previous years with poor effort reported for writing.

A comment on his school report states that “he is difficult to motivate unless he feels a connection to the adult delivering the lesson”. It does state that “he obviously has enormous potential” but states that he “is often preoccupied with reading a book consequently he is ill-prepared to tackle some of the tasks set”. It also states “he experiences difficulty in developing relationships with some adults”.

When asked he lists his hobbies as reading, writing and drawing and this is what he does at home, however this is certainly not homework or school work. He is usually engrossed in a book at home too. We were aware that he has not felt any connection to his teacher. I had suggested that she might feign an interest in one of his obsessions but she refused.

I cannot understand how the tracking systems in school would not highlight either the lack of progress or the issues with effort before the end of year report. The school is outstanding and I had assumed that all children made the appropriate sublevels. I genuinely thought that if anyone was not on track it would be so unusual that parents would be fully involved and all sorts of processes put in place to ensure the school was not seen to be failing anyone in case of an ofsted inspection.

How should progress and effort be tracked throughout the year? Any thoughts on the report comments and recommendations for follow up?

[nigerdelta]

Our school SEN people take zero interest, and when I tried to talk to the high school about DS going there (I am dreading it) they quipped "Well he can't be that bad or he would be on the SEN-register right now" (shoo out the door with you, we have people with real problems to talk to)

From the best SN dept in the area.

Not sure that helps OP. I still maintain that some boredom is a normal thing in life we all have to learn to put up with. I know that DS's problems are a lot bigger than whether or not he made tickbox progress this year.

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

Social skills, relate

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

Oh and I should add DD1 is dyslexic rather than dyspraxic, but that also seems to affect social scills and how others relare to you.

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

I have a library hiding DD1, who most certainly did it to avoid being bullied in Y7-9 and does it now, she's 16 because it's easier than making friends and talking to people.

As mentioned up thread she is great friends with a boy very like the OPs DS and she has kindred spirits at Rangers, but her peer group are too much effort. So rubs along OK with them now, but that's it.

Mostly that's OK, but having so long off post GCSEs and her friends being on holiday she is getting fed up.

[rabbitstew]

Reading a book is a great way of avoiding things that make you feel uncomfortable. After all, you get into less trouble reading to avoid other things than you would if watching TV or playing computer games. He sounds like a boy wrapped up in his own little world and not comfortable having to join the "real world." Does he have a good group of friends, or does he prefer the rather solitary-sounding activities of reading, drawing and writing (illegibly...)?

What age was he when he had the NHS assessments? Tbh, the NHS assessments sound woefully inadequate and, given that he must have been quite young when he went through them, I wouldn't rely on them to confirm his only "issue" is a "high IQ." To me, in any event, he does not sound like he has an all-round, uniform "high IQ," he sounds more like a child with a very spiky IQ profile (eg big discrepancy between verbal and performance IQ, or aspects of each; or big difference between verbal/performance IQ and memory and/or processing speed). Children with uneven IQ profiles are going to be only too aware of their comparative weaknesses and consequently likely to be very keen to avoid anything that makes them feel inadequate, clinging instead to the areas around their comfort zone. The brighter you are in general, the more you, personally, will notice what you are less good at, even if what you are less good at you are not actually that "bad" at...

From the way you describe your ds, schoolreporttime, especially given dyspraxia appears to run in your family, I would say an awful lot of the "symptoms" of dyspraxia fit your ds to a tee. Also, have you heard of the term "non-verbal learning disorder"?

[Hakluyt]

I am a reader and have reading children.

But I would be wary about the "always has his nose in a book" or "focussing on a book to the exclusion of what he should be doing" type appellations. In the same way I was a bit concerned when my neighbour told me proudly that her son spent all his breaks and lunchtimes in the library.

It might well be fine- but I would want to be absolutely sure it wasn't hiding or covering some unhappiness or friend problem or bullying...........

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

DD has a DF who is famous for always having his nose in a book at primary. Its his way of zoning out from a world be doesnt quite belong to. He drove supply teachers nuts. His class teacher just left him to it.

DD1 could cox his nose out of his book by chatting about science, Dr Who and the hungergames. They vanished off chatting for hours, at 16 & 15 they still do when they run into each other.

He's pretty clever, got into the Grammar school, and I guess will always be the quirky outsider until he gets to a university science department, where he'll fit just fine.

My guess OP is your DS has met a teacher who really doesn't get him and I wouldn't worry an enormous amount. I'd just watch carefully to see the same lack of progress doesn't hsppen next year.

[teacherwith2kids]

"I would understand it if he didnt work at school because he hated learning and just wanted to be a sports person for example. It is harder to reconcile when he reads books such as adult non fiction with interest and by choice and is very reluctant to stop."

The thing is, school will assess effort and progress in what they are teaching him. If a child plays football enthusiastically outside school, plays it at playtime to the extent of ignoring the bell to stop, but then fools, grumbles and ignores the teacher throughout PE lessons in gym, dance, hockey, rounders, cricket and athletics (all taught by PE specialists, so no reflection on the quality of teacher), they will get a poor effort grade and low progress in PE.

Equally if a child reads adult non-fiction outside school, and in school ALWAYS reads their own book / lives in that 'book world' when they should be e.g. engaging with a class book / responding to the class book through comprehension or creative writing (and perhaps refuses to write at all), then the effort and progress that the child is making might well not be seen as entirely adequate.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

The poor communication isn't at all acceptable, teacher but I can see how it might have happened if there's been very little continuity in staff through the year.

How aware is your DS of this report and his own behaviour? There is a lot of stuff on this thread about the teacher putting in the effort and making the effort to motivate him. Which is all good, but that is only part of the story. He's of an age where he is old enough to at least be beginning to take some responsibility for his own behaviour and attitudes. The extent to which he can do that will depend on any SEN. But it does need to be a collaborative approach with all parties putting in the effort.

[MrsCakesPremonition]

I think people are surprised he is engrossed in books while walking, not because it is unusual to see a child very engrossed in a book, but because it is very risky in terms of tripping over, bumping into people and being aware of traffic.

[teacherwith2kids]

[I'm also a little surprised that, as you - who presumably have full empathy with his obasessions - cannot get your child to do 5 minutes of homework, you are surprised that a teacher, who will ask him to write every day and may well be presented with exactly the same refusal every day, might regard his effort as not entirely up to scratch.... It doesn't excuse their lacjk of engagement with you, but the grade seems to me to be undertsandable]

[Hakluyt]

When I say that he is too busy I mean that is his excuse for not wanting to pause his activity to do it."

What activities does he not want to pause?

[teacherwith2kids]

Sorry, just read the thread back again. These things leap out at me:

• Only writes when it is something that he is interested in
  
• Poor at maths
  
• Very poor handwriting
  

Tbh, I am not, therefore, surprised by the lack of progress. What i am surprised by is the lack of communication with you (possily explained by the succession of teachers?] and the lack of specific in-class or small group help to address these obvious difficulties.

Could you give some idea of his 'absolute' levels? 'Expected' for end Y4 would be 3b. I am interested to know, for example, whether he has got 'stuck' at the high 2s or high 3s, perhaps lacking some of the key basic skills for the next level - because someone working at 3a, for example, would need ALL the skills for Level 3 + about 30-40% of the ones for level 4. If he is very weak in one specific area of level 3, then he cannot make progress.

[teacherwith2kids]

It has been interesting reading this, as it reminds me of a past pupil of mine - a carefully-contructed 'boffin' persona, head in a book, at a superficial level appeared very bright BUT some of this was "mask". My impression was that this persona had been taken at face value for many years, and relatively poor performance 'on paper' seen as an anomaly. As a result, the child had never acquired - and found it exceptionally hard to acquire when I was teaching them, because it went against the ibngrained habit of many years - basic habits of accuracy [punctuation, spelling, reading their work back], following 'standard procedures' [written calculations] and selecting material to answer a question [rather than simply reciting 'all they knew' to an admiring audience]. This was not a child who was bored in school, but a child who found it very hard to work with rigour and accuracy, because they had been allowed not to due to an 'aura' of 'I'm so bright'. They almost saw the basic nuts and bolts of maths, english etc as being 'beneath them'.

OP, is your DS's written work (at home) grammatically correct? Well-spelt? Accurately punctuated? Does it use a good variety of sentence structures, including varying the way in which sentences start? A range of interesting vocabulary? Can he answer detailed questions about what he has read succinctly, selecting evidence from the text to support what he has read?

I am horrified that it has got to the report stage before this has been communicated to you BUT there are a variety of explanations as to why your child mighrt not have made progress.

On another point, DS, too, was an adult reference book reader in Infants - it coincided with his most stressed, and therefore most ASD-traits, period. A lot of what you have said chimes with that perod in DS's life. He presents as almost NT now, but there was a time when he had very marked ASD traits.

[OneInEight]

Would recommend you get SENCO help too then nigerdelta. Honestly, some stroppy, defiant, zero-empathy PITAs are such because of the environment and lack of support given. I know because I have one who has been transformed by a change in school setting.

[nigerdelta]

Just because he's clever doesn't mean he likes school work or pleasing his teachers. School is boring for many at times, most kids can and must deal with a bit of boring moments, we all have to learn to do that if possible.

I'll confess You could be describing DS but for the writing passion, I have PDA in back of my mind for DS. Who made no level progress in English this year, not that I mind. DS really is a stroppy defiant zero-empathy PITA otherwise.

[schoolreporttime]

nigerdelta - I agree lots of kids don't want to work but are those same children engrossed in a book at school rather than working and would their 3 main hobbies be reading, writing and drawing? We receive surprised comments every day about his being engrossed in books when walking down the street for example so I am presuming it is quite unusual.

I would understand it if he didnt work at school because he hated learning and just wanted to be a sports person for example. It is harder to reconcile when he reads books such as adult non fiction with interest and by choice and is very reluctant to stop.

[nigerdelta]

lots of kids don't want to work, not usually a SENCO matter.

Does he generally dislike & defy authority?

[Littlefish]

I don't necessarily agree with those saying he is bored. He could, be, but equally, he could be showing signs of a number of other things.

I agree with the questions percyPorkyPig has raised regarding his lack of progress and plans for appropriate support moving forward.

I still maintain that the SENCO should be involved, given that his refusal to engage with academic work can be seen both at home and school.

[PercyPorkyPig]

It does seem that there has been a lack of a proper SMT overview of learning & progress of the class group. As there have been several changes of teacher throughout the year it is particularly important that progress is monitored and is consistent. As the school is 'outstanding' and not likely to be subject to regular visits from Ofsted, then there could be a degree of complacency - certainly schools which are 'good' or 'RI' will be stringently monitoring progress of each and every child as they know that they have to be accountable for every child who does not make 'good progress' if they are to make the next grade. I would make an appointment with the HT in the first instance and ask pertinent questions. Why did your DS not make at least 'expected' progress? How would they explain the seeming lack of progress to Ofsted? What strategies did they put in place to support his focus on task? What assessments have they carried out to determine his VRQ/QR/NVR scores and potential achievement levels? What do they intend to do to maximise progress in the coming year? It seems to me that they have been resting on their laurels somewhat.

[Bonsoir]

Are there other possible schools locally? I am not wildly keen on HE, though if you are feeling brave you might want to do this for a while in order to re-engage your DS with structured learning.

[Hakluyt]

Why are people assuming he's bored?

[schoolreporttime]

Bonsoir - Thank you. What would you then do with him? Home educate? Set up a more alternative school? Surely the curriculum would be very similar in a new school.

[MrsCakesPremonition]

The school and most particularly his teacher (or whoever wrote that report if there have been a succession of supply teachers) sound absolutely hopeless.
They are blaming a 9/10yo for the failings of the staff to do their job and engage him in his lessons. He won't be the only child to be distracted by other activities, he won't be the only child who doesn't have an automatic bond with the teacher. It is up to the teacher to tackle these issues using their skills and experience (and the advice of their colleagues if appropriate), not to just shrug and say it is all his fault.
I'd be planning to look at new schools in September, to understand my options, and arranging a meeting with the HT and new class teacher for the first week back.

[Bonsoir]

Agree with PP - your DS is bored out of his brains and has failed to engage with the curriculum or teachers for a very long time. IMVHO you should remove him from this school, which is failing him and not addressing its failure, ASAP.