French and Maths resources from Prep school

[faultysprocket]

Many years ago I went to Prep school and I remember receiving a great education in, amongst other subjects, French and Maths. DD is now in a local primary where she gets almost no language teaching and the Maths is pretty minimal.

Would anyone who knows be kind enough to leak what resources/textbooks they use these days in French/Maths in posh prep schools? Hopefully this won’t make anyone feel I am cheating the school fees :)

I've worked in 3 Prep. Schools and they all use the Galore Park (the publisher) Maths books: Junior Maths 1 - 3 and then a couple called 'So you really want to learn Maths'. They'll take you from Year 3 to Year 7. I think they're terrific. I understand their English and Science books are also top rate; they have a French book, but I've no feedback on how good it is. They explain everything very clearly so you could really home-school using them if you wanted to. For maths, there is also a series of pretty old (1990's) cheap paperback maths books on individual topics such as 'Fractions', 'Algebra' etc. etc. by a guy called Peter Robson. These are also invaluable: they're available on Amazon for next to nothing (you have to buy the answer book separately, but again, it's inexpensive).

Thank you so much! Hopefully someone will have personal experience for French too.

Our French teacher has created a bespoke scheme, but also supplements with an out of print textbook, can’t remember its name, but it’s small and orange/yellow, big smaller than a5, plain looking cover!

I’’m not a big fan of the galore park books, other than the practice exercises for my subject (Maths)

Your DD is getting minimal maths at a state school? I am surprised by that given that the 2014 maths curriculum is content heavy and the new breed of SATs are very reasoning heavy. These combined factors are making most schools drill maths like never before (in my teaching career).

At DS’s prep they do Singapore maths (Inspire) and just faff about in French.

They may go drilling mad near SATs time but in years 3 to 5 they seem to do very little, at least in our school.

trinity0097 are there any resources you prefer?

Look at the Galore Park website, they sell textbooks and revision aids for Common Entrance.

I use a combination of stuff, not anything you could easily replicate at home. Maths is Maths, it doesn’t matter what resource you use to teach it really, the underlying content doesn’t change from dry dull texts from the 70s to modern stuff.

Sounds very odd they go drilling mad near sats but teach minimal in yr3 to yr5. They have so much to cover in yr6 then, not enough time to revise and teach yr6 curriculum at all in yr6.

And there are so many great free online teaching resources especially for maths, and also for French, if you don't mind children using online resources these days. Why does it need to be a text book?

irvineoneohone I don’t mind online materials but I am looking for a structured course with exercises. I haven’t found anything online like that, especially for French.

I agree it’s odd to only focus on the Maths in SATs years. I suspect the school just doesn’t approve of SATs at all so wants to have as little to do with them as possible. They also have very limited resources so focus on those who are struggling.

Have you tried Duolingo and Memrise?

I like the Maths No Problem series. I use it with DD and it's very clear and easy to follow with supplemental books from Schofield and Sims.

Many use the Inspire Maths series, which is based on Singapore Maths. You can get the sets of practice books cheaply on Amazon, so probably better value than buying the Maths no Problem books, which are also good but more expensive.
DD's school gives the kids Schofield & Sims First Mental Arithmetic (KS1) and Mental arithmetic (KS2) maths workbooks as homework, again very cheap, I think they are about £3 each.

I would second Schofield & Sims for work books, but especially these series for ks2.

www.schofieldandsims.co.uk/understanding

Yes, the Schofield and sims mental arithmetic books are very good and also the fractions and problem solving books.

Most proves near us use Ecole Tricolore or tweaked versions of it.

I tried galore park's "so you really want to learn French" and it isn't bad - structured exercises and all that but I don't think one could very easily come in straight at book 1 as it seems to assume a vague awareness - the sort of messing around done in year 3/4 ish. But might be worth looking at once you have done some orientation

Tricolore rings a bell from my dc younger days learning French.

I too love the S and S mental maths books. They aren't just mental maths - they cover a great range of skills in each test allowing one to identify weaknesses or just improve fluency. And are nicely graduated. They don't yeah but could be used alongside a teaching book or just an online source for each skill.

I also really like L frobishers's Word Problems. Loom on amazon. I used these for 7+ and 8+ preparation and they are well designed and interesting.

I have never been a fan of pages and pages of simple repetitive sums especially for home supplementation - so dull. Make sure they understand how to add or multiply or whatever and then doninteresting things with that skill.

But drill tables relentlessly - I get the impression some schools don't soynhus, or perhaps have time to, and they should have them all nailed in all directions by early year 4 latest.

Thank you for the great Maths book tips.

For French, there seems to be something called “Encore Tricolore” which I am guessing is a newer version of the Tricolore books that existed when I was at school. Is that what is used in private schools these days?