compensating for an unsatisfactory primary education

[maria2028]

My ds is at an okay primary school. The pastoral care is reasonably good, the results are middling to mediocre and every child is praised to the rooftops for sitting nicely and tidying the book corner but tangible achievements like music grades and swimming certificates are hushed up as I guess not everyone has them.

I'm not going to move ds as we don't have workable local options. If I leave things be he'll get his level 4 in y6 along with the rest of the kids. We live in an 11+ area and I want ds to have a fair shot at it, but I don't have to ask the teachers what they think as I know it will be frowned on. I don't think the school will do the challenging stuff in maths and English ds could cope with and that he'll need for 11+.

I have looked into maths factor and mathletics and I'd like some recommendations for a diy route to L5/L6 in maths and English whether through these or something similar. I wasn't sure maths factor got past ks2 stuff so it may not be sufficient. I can't really afford tutoring but I'm educated myself - I just don't know how to teach or what to teach. With English I feel more confident as I can encourage ds to enjoy reading and a lot of the work is done.

Any tips appreciated from others whp have been in a similar situation

The name of this thread should be 'home tutoring for 11+, any tips?'

Nothing you have said suggests the school unsatisfactory.

Level descriptors are easily available online. Do you feel confident that you could look at these and know what they mean? Could you read some writing and say 'yes that looks like a 5b'? Because without these skills the information is not very helpful.

honestly, I would ask the teacher. Ask for 2 or 3 key things that he needs to get from a 4 to a 5.

Maths is easier - use old tests, isolate skills from the level descriptors.

Be prepared to not necessarily get the results you want. Will you be able to handle this after all your hard work?

IMO, even in a fair to middling school a child who "belongs" in grammar school would be getting at least a mid 5 by year 6, without any extra support, beyond normal parental interest.

If he really is "only" on track for level 4s, he's not 11+ material. Sorry.

Tutoring may well be worthwhile for him but not if anything other than a 11+ pass will mean he/you have failed.

Op 11+ Forum is your friend.

We had a similar situation as yourself.We bought CPG How to do 11+ maths,Eng study books,work books to pick up the slack of what school didn't do.Start this at beginning of y5 and work through.Familiarise yourself with it before.

They must know their tables really well by year 5 and be able to do long mult/ devision/column subtraction and addition.Not hard.Read masses and record any unknown words,then learn.Attack spelling.Book some mocks for year 5.

Our dc have just rocked their 11+ exams.One wasn't level 5s at the end of year 4.They're sadly now bored shatless in school.

Sorry that should be by the end of year 5.

Don't panic or believe the only level 5 at the beginning of year 6 kids will pass.My lower graded boy often get higher in his mocks than G&T boy.

With English I feel more confident as I can encourage ds to enjoy reading and a lot of the work is done.

I don't think it's quite that simple.

Which area are you in and what does your 11+ comprise of?
Which year group is your child currently in?
What levels are they working at now?

It's a shame that you think the teachers have that attitude towards the 11+. Ours are very supportive.

We live in an 11+ area and I want ds to have a fair shot at it, but I don't have to ask the teachers what they think as I know it will be frowned on.

I think you should ask and deal with the consequences.

"What does your 11+ comprise?"

• I can't really afford tutoring but I'm educated myself - I just don't know how to teach or what to teach. With English I feel more confident as I can encourage ds to enjoy reading and a lot of the work is done

same as me, its awful isnt it.

if everyone could be open about selective education and exams we would all know what to do and ask and what each child is aiming for!

I would expect at whatever year, the child is doing well, the teachers at parents eveing or whenever would discuss area options, and parents and child and teacher can all work to teh same goal.

private

But if the school isnt teaching him properly to his capabilites or stretching him, how can you say he isnt 11+ material because how does op know?

I agree with AMouse, ask the school. Realistically, if the school generally gets very ordinary results, anyone who's going to pass 11+ will be in the top handful. If your DS is in that group, the school are obliged to be providing extension work for him and that could take the form of 11+ prep.

Ours is a very ordinary primary school in a deprived area, overall results are slightly below national average. I asked and was told (kindly) that DS was doing well but wasn't going to pass the 11+ and that if it was possible to tutor him sufficiently to pass, grammar school wouldn't be right for him. At the time, I felt they were being unsupportive and writing him off but now he's in year nine I can see they were exactly right.

However, the school is very supportive the to 2-3 children a year who actually have a chance to pass, providing 121 tuition after school for no charge.

Sorry XP AMouse. IMO, if he's proper grammar school material (unless this is one of the few areas that take 25%) he will stand out anyway. He will be finding the ordinary maths work easy and picking it up without any effort and his written work will look like that of someone at least a year group ahead.

Look on the 11 plus forum, find your area, and it should link to the materials you need. You can usually buy the "how to do 11 plus maths/vr/english" etc, so buy those and work your way through.

Don't know about english, sorry, but in maths you do need a good grasp of the level 5 curriculum.

www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/ - everything you could ever want to know about 11+. Excellent forums. Slightly scary parents, but some lovely people who know a lot, have been there before and are willing to share. And DIY preparation is very common so they have lots of links to resources that can help, depending on the area you are in.

Grammar schools are not for children who can be just about pushed into cramming for the eleven plus, they are for children who would be getting level fives and sixes anyway. Even in a crap school, there is always that handful of children for whom the teaching or concepts stick hard, these are the bright few, and these are the children that the grammar school is for.

If you are going to have to cram him all the way there, then you will have to cram him all the way through it too, and doesn't he deserve better treatment than that?

Ds is in y3. He got L3 for maths and reading and 2b for writing in y2. His school gets mostly L4s at the end of Y6 with quite a few L3s and the odd L5. Other schools in the LEA get higher results with similar intakes in terms of fsm.

When I have asked the teacher how I could help ds with his writing I felt she was defensive: his levels were on track with national expectations, leave it to the experts, he's on track and wouldn't benefit from any help beyond what school provides.

Ds may out of serendipity get the maths and English he needs for a good start at secondary but the overwhelming ethos at his school is about getting to "good enough" and managing difficult behaviour rather than the stretching that kids at the schools in the middle class areas get.

Sorry Private that just isn't true.He won't necessarily stand out.Several kids in many schools will be like that and several will stand a chance.

Seriously op get the How to books.CPG were good.The things I listed are crucial for maths exams.

Maria

I'm going to be kind

My ds1 did better than that with ADHD, autism, dyspraxia, and in a school with 65% fsm.

Start looking at good comprehensives or private schools.

Op you could be describing our school.

Have you had ofsted in lately? It's all about progress these days - I can't imagine the school would get away with coasting to level 4's for long.

If maths is ok, then Bond books are fine for practice. Just buy his age and work up.

At this stage, reading is very important. I would push that - good quality books, and read to him as well.

If you get to year 5 and he's not getting there, you can think again.

Do make it fun, though. I wouldn't even mention 11 plus to a year 3 child. Just have fun with it.

I also think there is a difference in tutoring to prepare a child for the 11+ and tutoring to boost specific areas with which they have difficulties.
It might be worth sitting down carefully and looking at where your DS actually needs additional support.
It must be almost Parents' Evening. Could you use that as an opportunity to discuss progress and find out if there are any gaps? Surely the school would be supportive of that, even if they aren't keen on the idea of tutoring a Y3 for the 11+.

Ds old school sounds similar to this - it went into special measures when he was in year 6- ofsted said that average and above average students had been coasting/unchallenged. The head was anti grammar and when I tried to discuss it with yr 5 teacher she said, 'whatever you think'
So I get your pain op. I'd go on the forums recommended and follow their advice.

Troll what tosh.

One of my twins had levels like that.He walked the exams barely drawing a sweat.He did a few mocks and consistently got the highest percentage band of points.

Perhaps my op was misleading. I'm not trying to do 11+ prep in y3. I just want to make sure my child can follow a similar trajectory to kids of similar ability at other schools. I can compare his school with others and see that on average kids from his school don't make as much progressin ks2 as others. It's not fair. I want to give him the same chances.

From what trollsworth said I may not have a chance but I'm not going to give up on having high aspirations just because my child goes to a school where aspirations are discouraged.

Nothing I have said is tosh, it's just not encouraging news.

It's sad that the children in th ops school don't make the progress they should, I wonder why that is?

When I have asked the teacher how I could help ds with his writing I felt she was defensive: his levels were on track with national expectations, leave it to the experts, he's on track and wouldn't benefit from any help beyond what school provides

What a suffocating and obstructive comment.

I would be furious.

On track for what exactly? Did you ask that? What are her expectations for your child.

How disgusting. Parents and teachers need to be a team. Rotten attitude