How did you make school realise that your DC needed harder work?

[ImBeingDesperatelySought]

DS is in Y1 and I have been having long running issues with the school over them not challenging him properly. He's head and shoulders above where he should be. The constant line from them is that he doesn't understand what he's doing, he just memorises everything (which is not true).

What does that mean by memorises everything? What subject are you talking about?

Maths in particular. I have been teaching him his times tables but the teacher insists on handing out very simple addition.

Does he understand that x is repeated addition? Or groups of?
Does he understand the relationship between addition and subtraction. It’s all about depth of learning now not going ahead of the year group usually.

Times tables meant to be memorised for instant recall.
Why does the teacher handing out simple addition? Is he doing everything in his head and not showing working out? or making careless mistakes? Can he correctly apply and use all the calculation methods taught at school? If he understand the concept, should be easy to show he can.

Is he bored at school? I do fun maths stuff with my ds same age and have taught him times tables and also doing very easy sudoku with him at the moment. And fun word maths problems. But at school he is happy to do the (easy!) work.

Why on earth are you teaching him times tables at home in year 1? There is much more to maths than simple learn by rote: repeated patterns, groups etc.
Most importantly you're teaching him not to try at school and that school is boring.
If you stop teaching him, he'll make nice progress and enjoy it too.

My ds was fascinated and asked about the times tables (he actually wrote his own lists and asked me if he could learn his 17 x which I told him not to bother trying to do). I have left school to proceed with usual age appropriate work as I don’t think he needs to be accelerated when he’s enjoying his maths at home and school

They do counting in 2,5 and 10 in yr 1 i think.

My DS is a similar age (reception) and is probably similar in ability. He does understand maths, he can multiply and divide and problem solve. School maths isn't a challenge for him although when they're playing on the computers they do let him play with the multiplication programme rather than the addition stuff (mostly because he can navigate the menus and just puts it on for himself though).

I was worried before he started that he'd get bored / not be pushed but he gets so much more out of school than just the basic subjects and he loves it, so I'm not that bothered.

He makes up his own stuff at home and I explain anything he's interested in. I figure school will catch up with him or it won't but unless he's unhappy it's not a big issue.

I used to stress about this when DD was in primary, she is now in Y8 so Y1 seems a while ago and I wonder now why I stressed so much.

Yes she was getting frustrated as she was in a peer group where many struggled. She was sat with the one who needed the most help and teaching others embedded her learning. She was given extra homework and got to colour borders while others sat tests she completed in five minutes - she has hated colouring borders ever since. She also got to make up her own sums and do those. However it does seem to even out more as they get older and put into sets and can fly more. The time spent Re-learning will not be a waste as it is a good foundation and they get the resilience to find other ways to stretch themselves such as making up their own challenges, making sure they are 100% accurate so as to prove their capability rather than get questions wrong they are able to do but due to detachment they male silly mistakes - they learn that if they are capable they can/should help others within reason, few excuses for errors and if they have spare time their development is not the sole responsibility of the teacher but their own too - all great life learning lessons.

*make silly (although male silly was what my autocorrect said and doesn’t reflect any personal prejudices I might have but did make me smile!)

@pettswoodparadise has nailed it. There is sooooomuch more to primary school than just the level they work at. Social skills are probably even MORE important than the intellectual ones and kids who already stand out as “more clever” are at most risk for being less sociable and less involved with their peers.
Take the focus off what he knows and let the school help him to develop at the same pace for his other skills at school.

Teachers do actually know what they are doing you know OP...

Its a shame the op has lost her faith in the school.
perhaps you can help in the classroom op, if you are able, to regain your faith?

There are maths games you could do, look for resources.

I always took the view that the teachers and school were there to do the boring bits - the bits everybody has to learn alongside the life skills - how to get along with others etc... The bells and whistles were down to us.

School did Biff and Chip, we introduced silly rhymes and children's classics.
School did times tables and simple sums, we did Sudoku and played Dominoes
School did Fire of London, we visited the sites

Raising kids takes a village etc... education is not just down to school.

I have been teaching him his times tables but the teacher insists on handing out very simple addition.

What are your maths qualifications, OP?

KS1 maths is about getting automaticity in mental arithmatic, multiplication as repeated addition is different. Is he actually completely fluent and automatic on all the things he's doing in class, or does he just know how to do it can can do it?

The automaticity takes lots of exposure and practice.

That said, whilst challenged is not a phrase I would ever use for what I want a school environment to be (engaged would be what I want for my child, so they challenge themselves) you probably do need to help your DC understand why their doing the practice, so rather than supporting his "oh we were doing adding to 20 again..." you can demonstrate that he's not actually automatic on it, and explain why.

Can he do all these, mastery and mastery with GD in each skill?

www.ncetm.org.uk/public/files/23305594/Mastery_Assessment_Y1_Low_Res.pdf

Start him on violin or piano with a good teacher - then you're not competing with school but letting him develop many academic and life skills

Yes we’ve also started our dc on instrument lessons out of school and the counting for notes/rhythms he’s really enjoyed

There is a Cambridge uni schools site for maths called something like enrich which is all about stretching deeper maths activities and thinking mathematically

My dc has enjoyed playing with a thermometer and chatting about minus numbers eg if it’s -2 and it gets one degree warmer what would it be?

It's very different a child sitting with you saying "oh yes, I understood" and reproducing the knowledge in class.

Times tables do require memory, but at the same time there is not much point doing lots of sums using them if they don't really understand them. My dd2 could chant the alphabet and various times tables at 2yo, simply because her big sister was doing them and so she heard them frequently. She hadn't got a clue what they meant as evidenced when she asked "what does LMNOP mean?"

Also learning the times tables with a parent does not necessarily point to mathematical ability. The fact that he is able to memorise tables doesn't necessarily negate that he may also need to go over basic addition or other basic maths.

Tbh what are you even expecting the school to do if they admit that the curriculum is challenging?

I agree with others who have said try him out with other activities like music or sport that won't conflict with what he is being taught in school.
There is a lot more to maths than just learning times tables, there is much more problem solving questions these days and he needs to develop various skills. I worked with a boy whose times tables knowledge was fantastic but unfortunately his other maths skills were nowhere near as advanced. He used to shout out in lessons because he had an over-inflated confidence which sadly did not match his abilities and it was frustrating for him and disruptive for the class.