Dont know what to do - yr2 ds v poor performance at school...but not at home

[mynameissal123]

Hi there all. My nice natured ds has been struggling at school. His teacher has said he's actually got worse since last parents' evening in October and this is on all subjects (previously he just struggled in maths). She told me his test sats results & they were v low (only 3 correct on English reading & 3 for 1 of the maths paper, other maths he was ok). I printed some test sats off government website last weekend to see for myself. I offered him no help or suggestions. For maths he got 22 correct & English 17 correct so he's doing much better at home. He's been v unhappy going into school recently as in his words 'other teachers will say try this again but Mrs x gets cross with me & says you've got these all wrong'. He's quite sensitive & takes things to heart & I wonder if this is part of the problem. I do think he struggles with some topics but i'm not sure it's as bad as the teacher thinks. What do you think?

The sample tests on the government web site iare the only ones available so its likely the same ones he did at school which could be the reason for the improvement.

Maybe. I'm going to try some of the old ones tomorrow to see how he does. I know they're not quite the same but it will give me an idea.

Also you might have to consider his concentration. At home, he is in the quiet, safe environment with you keeping an eye. . At school, he might get distracted by surroundings or other children, and nobody to remind him to concentrate.

I would focus on the unhappiness at school and talk to the teacher about how he is in class. For him to have gotten worse the teacher needs to consider what she has done

I would also mention that the way he speaks about things has knocked his confidence.

Well I think I'll let ds2 be v loud tomorrow (not a difficult task) & have some other background noise to see if that makes a difference. I'm going to speak to school as well, altho not his teacher has she's now left (which I admit I'm pleased about seeing as ds was scared of her & I never thought she was a v enthusiastic teacher). I think it's probably a mixture of things at play here so maybe if I try & improve some aspects for him, particularly his happiness, maybe I can help him.

If she has left that is quite telling - she probably wasn't enjoying her job and this may have reflected in her teaching.

If he's in Y2 look at the old Level 3 tests they are closer in format (and expectations ) than the level 2. I'm afraid there aren't any old SPAG tests as its new this year.

I've just joined theschoolrun website. They have developed some papers similar to the government example. It's only £1.97 for 2 weeks trial so worth a try.

Ds is getting his eyes checked at hospital next week (his annual check). He used to wear glasses but doesn't anymore, unless anything's changed.

There are a lot of supposed test type examples out there but I'd advise caution. At the moment no one actually knows test expectations so they are fine for practising the format but won't indicate whether child will "pass" the test. Many teachers are saying the commercially produced tests their schools have purchased are much easier than the samples.

Also remember it will be Teacher Assessment (based on his work in school) that will be reported not test results.

I've spoken to a friend who helps at school & she asked about the test. They don't use the government version as it's easily accessible & might not give a clear indication on how they'd do if they've done it already at home. I think I'll speak to school to see what's been going on. Thanks for all the advice.