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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Y6 DD isn't going to meet "Age Related Expectations."

26 replies

DatsunCherry · 06/01/2016 21:45

At the end of Y2 she was a level 2B in maths, but level 1 in Literacy, as she is dyslexic (then un-diagnosed) and as she was going from and infant school to a junior school her teacher wanted to get her as much help as possible. So although she is brilliant verbally, she still struggles with her writing.

But I don't mind that too much

The thing is she won't meet "age related expectations" in maths. The school like to have "booster" sessions after school in Y6. Anyway, the time has come for her to have these booster sessions. The thing is, they are at the same time as she attends the highlight of her week; wind band.

DD isn't very good at many things, but she's reasonable at playing the flute. She's worried that if she doesn't go to wind band this half term she will be demoted to second flute, and another girl will then be "promoted" to first flute. Which obviously would be completely fair.

Except DD needs all the self esteem building she can get.

So do I accept DD will flunk her SATs anyway, and keep her confidence up by going to wind band? Or do I throw everything we've got at getting DD to understand maths?

(DD does have a maths tutor, but it's not working out well, as tutor doesn't "get" that DD has very, very poor working memory, as DD over compensates for this by acting incredibly confident and giving any old answer as though it is absolutely the right one. But sometimes it is the right answer, because DD does understand, making it difficult for the tutor to know where to "pitch" the maths. That makes DD sound horrendous, but honestly she's not, she's actually lovely.)

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greenfolder · 06/01/2016 21:49

Let her do wind band. My dd who is now 18 has practically no working memory as part of her dyslexia and felt that school was all about what she couldn't do.

LittleFishBigOcean · 06/01/2016 21:53

I'm a teacher. Let her do wind band. 100%

Duckdeamon · 06/01/2016 21:56

I'm a maths fanatic but vote for wind band, and trying other ways to help with the maths. Music is good for the brain anyway!

Chippednailvarnish · 06/01/2016 22:01

Wind band and find a new maths tutor.

Smartiepants79 · 06/01/2016 22:02

I would also choose band over booster sessions. They will just consist of practising answering SATS papers.
You could probably do this at home if school will give you the stuff.
The trouble is that the goal posts have changed this year. Age related expectations expect more than the old levels.
From what I have seen of the new papers they focus on written methods quite heavily. Is this something you could practice with her.? Good old fashioned column additions and long multiplication? Get her really confident with this. There is lots of stuff on line you can use. The TES website is good for resources.
I would also think abiut a new tutor.

Ambroxide · 06/01/2016 22:08

Your DD's SATs marks are more important for the school than for her. Let her keep on with wind band.

JE1234 · 06/01/2016 22:10

Definitely wind band but her tutor clearly isn't great. Could you find another maybe?

fitforflighting · 06/01/2016 22:13

My dd did the boosters. Let her do band. It was just basically going over and practicing sats questions. Don't panic too much. My dd who has SEN was the same level in year 2 as yours. In fact was on level 1 in early year 5 too was moved up a set on Monday in year 8 because it has suddenly clicked.

kippersyllabub · 06/01/2016 22:28

Wind band. The booster lessons are for the school not for your dd. They might let her scrape another sub level or two in SATs but it'll just mean her secondary won't understand her real difficulties with the subject until she's been there for a while.

Music is good for maths. And general happiness

Lurkedforever1 · 06/01/2016 22:37

Definitely wind band. Maths is important, but it's a lot easier to help a child catch up on maths in the 5 years before gcses than it is to build a childs confidence, self esteem and happiness back up. Besides, if anyone, especially a child is struggling with one area, the best way to support it is with self belief.

Besides, I think if you give her the message maths is so important she should sacrifice band, it will make her feel pressure to suceed.

wtffgs · 06/01/2016 23:04

Music is good for maths and the soul!

If her private tutor doesn't "get" working memory issues then s/he is a bit crap. Either save your £ or find someone else.

noblegiraffe · 06/01/2016 23:07

Just say that DD won't be attending the booster sessions as she already has a maths tutor who works with her 1-1.

WhattodoSue · 07/01/2016 07:21

Band and new tutor!! Sounds like current one, however nice, is not helping your DD's self esteem. Also, my friend's DS is dyslexic, he did a project (PowerPoint presentation) for his class to explain to them what dyslexia was and how it made his mind different, and so some things were harder (and others easier). He also listed all the famous and successful dyslexic people. It was great for his class and for his self esteem because it helped him make more concrete why, at this stage, things were so hard. He is now doing amazing stuff in science and doing well in other GCSE's.

Ladymuck · 07/01/2016 11:27

I have known schools to make some bizarre decisions, so I would definitely explain your reasoning to the school (just in case they think that they need to boot her from wind band in order to persuade her to go to boosters). But your instincts seem very sound.

Ferguson · 07/01/2016 20:12

Even before I saw the other replies, I was going to say - Yes, stick with the band!

ProfGrammaticus · 07/01/2016 20:15

Yes, say she won't be going to the boosters and she will carry on with wind band maybe they can reschedule the boosters

Tweennightmare · 07/01/2016 20:21

Absolutely stick with the band. Having had a dyslexic DS go through school . The biggest impact to his educational performance was realising he was good at sport. The knock on effect to his confidence was enormous and having been 3B in his year 6 SATS he got a grade B in Eng Lang and A in Eng Lit

Tweennightmare · 07/01/2016 20:23

Sorry should have added these grades were his GCSE's

cariadlet · 07/01/2016 22:32

Definitely wind band (teacher speaking here)

mrsmortis · 08/01/2016 09:15

I vote for the music too. My DSis is dyslexic (and had the added issue of constantly being compared with a much more academic older sister) and music was her lifeline. It was her stress relief, her source of confidence and the thing that she loved doing above all else (especially as it was something she was better at than me). It's now also her career as she teaches and runs various bands and choirs.

Dibaba · 08/01/2016 09:17

exactly this.

TheBlessedCheesemaker · 08/01/2016 09:33

DS is in bottom 1% for processing speed. I found that in year 5/6, the 11+ bond books and the GL assessments were absolutely brilliant. I was doing it with my DS for 11+ but if i were in your position i would get the maths books and work through them with your DD for 30 minutes every Saturday. 10 minutes tests, then marking, then discussion. Kids do 'number bonds' and a couple of other things these days that are different to how i was taught but that wasnt a problem and i didn't need a tutor. The repetitive stuff really helped cement everything with my son, and he got very good and spotting what they wanted and drafting the workings then looking at the question content. You can do that in a more focused way 1:1 than the group lessons. DS went up into top maths stream at school at the end of the year that we did this and has stayed there ever since (languishing toward the bottom of that set, admittedly ). I'd ditch the tutor and go with that approach if it were me.

And let her do flute, of course. But think about making a 'deal' to ensure she knuckles down at the weekend (well, you may not have to. Depends on your DDs attitude).

Bumpsadaisie · 08/01/2016 09:45

Wind band Wind band Wind band!

Playing an instrument teaches them so much (discipline, staying power, performance, dealing with nerves) and allows self expression creativity once you get quite good.

moosemama · 08/01/2016 11:41

Agree with what others have said, stick with wind band.

Just wanted to suggest contacting the BDA to see if they can recommend a dyslexia friendly tutor in your area, rather than one who doesn't understand that dyslexia doesn't just impact reading skills. Have a look here for contact details.

kla73 · 08/01/2016 13:51

Definitely wind band. I would explain to school the importance of Wind band for self esteem and see if there is any other opportunity for school to offer her some extra support at lunch time or another after school session. I agree re looking for another tutor.

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