Dd got 104 in maths SAT and going to Grammar School

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She got greater depth in SPAG, writing and reading and exceeded in all areas in her actual school report. She also got greater depth in maths mock SAT they did a few weeks prior to the actual test. We were very low key about SATs and did no extra work at home but now I keep worrying about this mark. I know they do not set the dc for maths at year 8 at her new school. Any opinions?

The only person I know who hot housed their kids with that amount of homework both kids had nervous breakdowns and developed anorexia in their late teens. Got excellent gcse results and A levels but one refused to medicine/accountancy as directed by pushy parents and did (shock horror) nursing. Other one refused to go to uni at all and currently works as a holiday rep.

I get it. Totally ridiculous 5 hour debacle but I am interested in what others have to say about OP. By all means discuss workhouse homework mentality but please also comment on the OP

The OP was answered immediately by a very experienced secondary Maths teacher. Threads are always organic and you can't control them, Pamsterwheel. You just have to go with the flow!

Back to the OP. Will it matter what she attained in her Sats? The grammar, unless it’s a super selective, will have children with Sats at this level. Not every child at grammar is a maths whiz. Certainly none of the children in my village have been - Bar one. He didn’t get to the grammar because his literacy wasn’t as good as his maths. He is now doing maths at a prestigious university having been to a secondary modern! The majority in my village went to the grammar schools and their ordinary maths Sats hasn’t stopped them doing well.

I would look at the progress figures for maths at the grammar. If they are above average progress in maths, they are working with children in your DDs range and improving them. So hopefully nothing to worry about. I would only worry if their maths progress was way below average - in the red zone! You cannot expect all grammar children to be great at everything. They will probably assess her anyway. They don’t take Sats as gospel.

Mine is going into y10 she will be expected to do about 3 hours a day, but can do this anytime she is free, not just at night.
But what most see as extra curricular is part of her curricular and time tabled iyswim.
I agree that if you can't motivate yourself and manage your time at this age, it's bad preparation for the real world.

That's really reassuring thanks. It's not a super selective and the progress score was highest in the county last year. Just spoke to dh and have decided to see how she gets on and get help of tutor if she struggles. Thanks for helping me get my head around this.

5 hours a day at year 11?!!!

The teaching is obviously crap that they aren't able to teach the children the required knowledge in the required time. Ds1's state school (he's just sat his A-Levels) where a huge number achieve A*'s etc, done under half of this a night, and was regularly given no homework or revision as the teachers would tell them that having a social life was as important for their mental health. Lots went onto Oxbridge and R.G universities.

Ds2's school, he's just finished year 8, and he has at most 3 pieces of homework per week. He's set 1 & 2 out of 8 sets. Again most pupils stay on for 6th form and go to Oxbridge and R.G universities amongst others.

What a stupid amount to set kids. And they wonder why some walk away with mental health issues.

OP maybe try something like khan academy for your child.

Welly - your homework hours are ridiculous and plain stupid. Children have sports, music and other hobbies to attend each week. My DC’s were only doing two hours homework each night at A level stage and they were at a selective Indy and both achieved all A’s at GCSE and A level.

Haven’t read the whole thread but DD passed 11plus without tutoring, similar SATS scores. She is thriving at GS in everything but maths, has just been put in bottom set for year 8, but, has improved in the last year. Importantly for me, she is fine about it, has a sixth former as a maths mentor and does additional maths set by the school at home.

Am sure she will be fine, not everyone can be top set for everything. She got top of year marks in end of year tests for three subjects and absolutely loves school.

Don’t worry OP. Dd’s Response on bottom set was, well I expected it mum and it is ok as you get a TA as well in bottom set.

Is 104 a particularly low score then?
I'm new to this, it was numbers and letters when my eldest DS did his. Thought above 100 was working at expected level.

I’m sure that there’s many jobs that require people to work outside the standard 9-5 hours at least occasionally, whether that’s staying late in the office or doing extra paperwork at home.

But it’s not normal for jobs to require people to put in an extra unpaid 5 hrs a day on a routine basis. Aside from anything else, people doing that as standard every working day (plus extra work on their days off) are likely to burn out sooner or later.

Do schools really have an expectation of time for homework, how do they differentiate the homework for every child to produce that, it seems a stunning amount of work to tailor individual revision of the topic such that it would take a set time regardless of how well the kid understood it in the lesson / past work.

Or do they set homework that even the most able, easily grasped kid would consider extension work that could take the time and leave the others just only completing part of it, still not grasping all the concepts?

Or is homework actually something different now than revising the things that were recently taught to ensure understanding?

DD’s school doesn’t set an onerous amount of homework - 30-45 mins a night perhaps.

My view is that if she is trying hard and enjoying school it is fine. I hated maths until an inspirational teacher in my O level years and then ended up doing a maths degree.

School life is a marathon not a sprint.

OP, I don’t really understand what you are worrying about?

Any test is a snapshot. She’s doing really well. I don’t think you need to be worrying. The secondary school will test her anyway.

Don’t spend your summer worrying.

I’ve never known anything like 5 hours HW a night for any of mine (4, at GS). They spend a lot of hours on hobbies. I think they are expected to do two hours a night, nothing mentioned about parent led (thank god) but often it doesn’t get set consistently.

No way on earth will my child ever be doing five hours a night. Ludicrous.

Same here Holly, after dinner and tennis or swimming it would mean that they were up after I had gone to bed 😂!

5 hours a night is rid, and beyond expectations of even far Eastern countries (Singapore, Taiwan, HK etc).
Do it at the weekend? Well- what if they play a sport? Or at junior conservatoire or youth theatre? Or, you know, have to have a job, or have family commitments?
3 hours in Y11, fine. 5 is just wrong.

You know, I'm fairly sure even a level recommendations are 5 hours per subject per week. (And most people a) have a free period for study, b) don't do 5 a levels)

wellyouarenice your "parent led" policy sounds like a fantastic way to discriminate against kids whose parents haven't had much formal education themselves. Fair enough in a private school but as a state school don't you have a responsibility to all children, not just the ones whose parents have the time, ability and inclination to do extra teaching at home? What about kids in care?

5 hours a night?! Ridiculous. What the hell are they doing (or not doing) in school that that is justified?

Also, wtf is “parent led” homework? I was a straight A student back in the day but that day was nearly 30 years ago! What kind of bloody use am I going to be leading my high school child’s maths homework for example?

DS's best friend achieved 103 in his Maths SAT last year (and 3 of those marks were added as extras due to the whole class experiencing a tragedy which affected results, so they all got 3 extra marks for every test). He's been absolutely fine this year at his grammar school - kept up no problem and was graded at 7s every term (so A standard). He's not needed any tutoring.

Maybe it was an on the day thing - your DD has been judged as meeting the standard for her grammar already, I'm sure she'll be fine.

5 hours a day plus a full day on Sunday is appalling. Honestly I would assume any school is absolutely shit if it basically requires parents to home school the same amount of time as kids are at school! The teaching can’t be up to standard if it all needs repeating by parents!

Hi, my daughter got 207 in her 11+, and same as your daughter in sats. She is also off to grammar school. I wouldn't worry about anything, other than getting the correct uniform and making sure she is all prepared in September. Take things one day at a time.