Advice please - meeting Y5 teacher re: lack of progress

[MrsTShelby]

Right will try and keep this brief.
My DD in Y5 class of 13. Math always been weaker than peers & in general. All children bar mine and 3 others are having 2 hours of tutoring per week. DD has always got A's for effort and her math progressed very well in Y4 with fab teacher. Teacher in y4 said never had a pupil so keen on math.

Last term got A's for effort and good CAT scores. Was due to move up a math group.

Now, before half term they all had CATs again. My DD performed abysmally. Lowest in class. Now they have decided not to move her up a group even though they told me at parents evening it was not reflective of her ability. Teacher told DD she was disappointed in her.

I am disappointed with the teacher not in DD. I have no doubt that she is working as hard as ever. I don't know what happened in the day but she said she did not understand the way sone of the questions were formed. Also, she did turn over 2 pages together.

It seems that those that are having tutoring (for 11+) are being catered for with the work whilst those that are not are just attempting to keep up and perhaps not really understanding.

My DD is an accomplished artist and musician but apparently it is all about math and english this year. The teacher even said that.
DD says she is bored stiff.

I will try and do some more stuff at home but DD is there 8:30 - 4 and then has 45 mins of homework per night plus music practice already!

I have a meeting with the teacher on Monday to discuss .... any advice on how to put my concerns across without creating a rift by saying the teaching is dull .....

This sounds like a school near me (actually it might be!) that devotes Year 5 to solidly preparing for the 11+ to the extent of all else. All the DC are expected to do loads of extra work outside of school. The school expects everyone to keep up so parents feel obliged to do the loads of extra work (that's how they get their great "passing the 11+" statistics).

Sounds like your DD is falling behind because she isn't doing the loads of extra work and the school are not prepared to "go slow" so she can keep up. It may be the school is receptive to giving her a bit more support on a 1-1 basis. However you may well have to just put up with the idea that you will have to do the extra at home or alternatively look for a school that has a different ethos. Sadly the fact you've got to March and school has not attempted to engage your DD makes me think that they are unlikely to change.

Why are you paying for this?

Sounds abysmally poor.

Well I admit this academic year I am not overly impressed.....

However in general my DD is very happy and has progressed hugely since starting there a few years ago. They have actively encouraged her art and music etc and really built up her self esteem.

But this year it seems if is all about eleven plus. We have no requirement for this but surely my DD shouldn't be going backwards?

She shouldn't be going backwards.

But if everyone else has a tutor, and the class is pitched at these children. Then the class will be too hard for her and she will go backwards.

Think about next year. I've heard after the 11+ lots of private schools do no work. They spend the whole of Y6 mucking around, because the whole point of the school is the leavers destination - which has already been determined.

Mrs T. Shelby:

In 11+ areas those preparing for the 11+ do make a sudden leap ahead in Year 5 and if the school is also prepping them for it that can be at a much faster pace which can give the appearance of your DD (doing the usual only) slipping backwards or not keeping up with peers.

We had rather the reverse problem as our state school studiously avoided prep for 11+ and rather gleed in making parents feel horrible for having grammar school aspirations for their child. So they refused to teach much into NC L5 as official 'they were only required to teach to NC L4' and really it was only the recent changes in KS2 SATs/ league tables which resulted in raising the bar of tuition at the school.

I think I'd just use the meeting to get to the bottom of whether she actually struggling in maths or where a child notionally should be for Year 5.

The new national curriculum programme for maths clearly spells out precisely what should be covered in Year 5 - from that you can probably gauge whether your DD is comfortably working within Y5 materials or behind: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335158/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Mathematics_220714.pdf

If you feel she is behind and needs to do more (especially if she's going the 11+ route) - consider on-line tutorials (can control when she does it - so fits round busy weeks/ all material laid on/ she can work independently but you get information on performance) - things like mathsfactor (which we used to great success for DD1 & continue to use for DD2)/ mathletics/ maths whizz/ komodo maths/ khan academy have all been praised here on MN.

HTH

Thanks pastsellby I guess I am also bitterly disappointed as she has been spotted as at scholarship level in music/art but there doesn't seem to have been any drive to support this despite how the school market themselves.

There is even an 11+ club after school but no KS2 music or art club.

I don't see why things that are still achievement have been pushed to one side in favour of eleven plus candidates.

MrsTShelby:

Real shame to hear they don't have after school clubs for art or music. Are her music lessons private or through a city council peripatetic music teacher? I ask because often city/ county music services do have area orchestras - perhaps this is something your DD can explore. Certainly her chances to do this kind of thing will increase in secondary.

I think it isn't so much that pupils are being pushed to the side or that the school is favouring 11+ cohort - it's more that the school's good results (x % from this school go on to X or Y grammar schools/ private schools/ etc...) with such pupils ensures a good reputation and academically ambitious parents will consider the school for their children.

If you feel they aren't helping your DD much for maths and she really does need more tuition - can I heartily recommend something like an on-line tutorial. We used mathsfactor (presented by Carol Vorderman) because it was maths with a woman (my DD1 had the idea that girls were no good at maths - so I was also battling that) - others here on MN have praised Khan Academy (free)/ or subscription tutorials like maths whizz/ mathletics/ komodo maths.

Perhaps doing a bit more at home (with mathsfactor subscription it's sort of between 1 to 1.5 hrs a week - about five 10 - 20 minute sessions) which can easily fit around family life and cummulatively really make a huge difference. It sounds to me like your DD 'gets' what she's learning, but the pace is so swift that she's not completely secure and occasionally might feel a bit confused. Some sort of on-line work, runnign parallel to what is going on at school may just give her the time and space to absorb the skill (how exactly you divide by 100, for example) and practice (enough so it comes easily, without a lot of thinking about it) to be secure and feel she's working with the main group of the class.

Most of the on-line tutorials offer free trials - so it is worth an explore.

I also heartily recommend your DD consider playing some of the on-line maths video games available through Woodlands Junior Maths Zone: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/

HTH