Primary school not meeting DS needs

[SalsaP]

Hello all.

I’ve not posted on here in a loooooong time but could really do with some advice.

My Ds is in year one at a decent enough primary school in North London. He is a very bright boy. Reading fairly fluently when aged 3 and an absolutely whizz with numbers - he LOVES numbers! He also knows more about the periodic table than most grown ups I know. When he was due to start reception his nursery called a meeting with his school-to-be to discuss having his needs met.

Fast forward a year and a bit and his needs just aren’t being met. I had a meeting with his HT near the end of reception year and she has set me up with the SENCO in an attempt to create an individual learning plan for him in year one. This all sounds very reasonable and proactive I hear you say. Well it would be if his class teacher would actually make the effort to implement the extras for him. I’m particularly concerned with his maths needs being met as it seems he is being given things to do that never challenge him but just keep him occupied. His love for numbers is slowly being quashed!

I keep wondering if private school would be better simply because of small class sizes if nothing else. Having said that I don’t think we could really afford it unless he was awarded a scholarship.

So I’m not really sure what to do next. He is my only child and I’ve no
real knowledge about the education system, who to talk to about what, what expectations I should have and what I should do if I’m unhappy. Can an state school ever meet the needs of a child like him....?

Any words of wisdom please?

As someone who went to a state school with the "maths mastery" type of approach I can say it's not all bad for a clever child. Maths was my strongest subject and I always enjoyed my math and the competition with others, and also having enough free focus/time for my science, geography, history, etc. I ended up in a heavily maths-based industry, but I find the extra time I spent on arts and science gives me a well-rounded approach at work compared to the math experts.

On the other hand, my DS is in a private prep and in just one year of having a not-so-great teacher, his academic levels are really struggling. I have had to pick up a lot of slack at home. Private schools don't automatically mean better attention/coaching.

There is always a risk of having a year in which a particular teacher doesn’t quite keep up with a gifted child (however good the school). While you’re right to keep in dialogue with the teacher to try to get appropriate provision for your son, you can’t expect him to be fully occupied and challenged throughout every maths lesson. My DD is not as gifted as your son but still she spent quite a lot of time reading or helping others in Y1. Things are better in Y2.

I don’t want to say it ‘doesn’t matter’, but it is not the end of the world if he finds some of the work too easy. You can challenge him at home (Irvineoneohone has provided some good links to online resources), and you could even send him into school with worksheets or challenges you’ve set for him at home, so he has something to do in class after he’s finished the work the teacher has given him. If I were an overstretched teacher I’d be grateful for this. Also, if he really loves maths why not get him a tutor and let him ‘fly’? Much cheaper than private school and you’d get perfectly tailored work for him.

Nurture his love for the subject but if he’s a massive outlier don’t expect the teacher to perform miracles.

On the issue of hm finishing his work before the others ask if he can read or draw while he waits. The teacher has 29 other 5 and 6 year olds to support and teach so carnt really be expected to produce extra work for 1 child at the drop of a hat.

If he's as bright as you think he is, go for a scholarship at a private school.

IME a state school can meet the needs of a child like him, but only if the teacher has the time, experience and desire to do so. It's (unfortunately) relatively rare that that happens.

I have a child who is not an outsider in the same way as your son, but who (I'm told by their class teachers) works comfortably beyond anyone else in their class in one area and is at the top (but not outside the range of the class) in other subjects. Talking to the SENCO helped, focusing on learning extra-curricular stuff helped (as she actually had to try, practice, fail, try again rather than just get it right straight away) and getting older also helped (Y1/2 was the nadir).

I thought about private school, but decided local, mixed sex and generally lovely outweighed the academic advantages of moving - but if the social side had been a major problem then that might have been a different decision. We are definitely looking at academically selective schools for secondary.

Outlier, not outsider!

I am going to give you some advice that you won't like..
You can do one of two things here:

1. Continue to push for new, more challenging work from the teacher who probably doesn't think your ds is as talented as you believe. They may pay lip service to this but ultimately don't have the time to tutor your ds separately from everyone else. You will spend the next five years feeling dissatisfied with the school and this will rub off on your ds. He will do well anyway whether he gets an advanced maths curriculum in KS1 or not.
2. Move him to a private selective school where you may have a similar issue and you will certainly pay handsomely for similar results overall when your ds leaves school.
3. Be proud you have a smart, lovely ds who is on the top table. Encourage him in the areas he is weaker in or in sports or music. He will sail through school academically if he is bright.

1. Give him work that stretches him yourself.

I might be inclined to look at schools such as Westminster Under School and St Paul’s Junior if he is as bright as you suggest.I believe St Paul’s has quite a generous bursary scheme

I think there is a limit to how much mastery can be done on number bonds to 20. However, there is more to maths than numbers and learning the correct methods etc needs to be done however good they seem. I suspect your DS also has weaknesses OP as well as things he's brilliant with. You are right to go and see the teacher but do so with an open mind.

Take out subscriptions to any or all of Aquila, How It Works, FirstNews. If he is able to read them and enjoy them independently at home, give him a copy to have at school, to read when he has completed both the classwork and any extension work. He should have the same issue for several days up to a week or two. The input required from the school is (a) to allow this, (b) for an adult to spend 5mins once or twice a day discussing with him what he has read, encouraging him to share an article with them and talk about it. There may be an older child who can be buddied up with him to do this, too.

(My 10yo is doing something similar with a Y2 child who is highly intelligent and dyslexic. My dc provides a non-judgemental, non-frightening listener, and she shares her copy of one of the above papers with the Y2 child, who is avidly keen to try reading them. It provides a positive learning experience for both children.)

Differentiation for outliers can be really tricky. When I volunteered in a primary, I was often asked to support children like yours. When they had completed all their work I would take them out of the classroom to do some sideways extension. It might be related to the topic, or it might not. It was huge fun for both of us - occasionally three of us.

Once I got a job as a TA at that school, I found myself giving that sort of support only to the outliers at the other end of the spectrum. The school needed to bring all children to reach a certain level of education, and could not afford the manpower costs on giving extra attention to those who would easily reach that level. Apparently there had been a lot of debate and disagreement about using a volunteer to extend the most able children. SLT argued that it was the responsibility of paid staff to do this. The class teachers agreed, but there were no paid staff available, no budget for them. However there was a parent of an older G&T child available. At the time, I knew nothing of this. At the time my child was at the school, they had had more TAs.

Most NW London private schools only do bursaries from 11. Scholarships usually only pay a small percentage of fees. Which one has a bursary from 7 OP?