Help - Advice on 'challenging and engaging' DC going into Yr 3

[longshot]

Looking for advice from people who know more about primary education and teaching than me...

DD is in year 2, just had her report etc. We know she is bright, not gifted or anything but always done well at parent's eve and on reports etc in all subjects. This year we had SATs and she got 'Greater Depth' in all of those plus a few other subjects too. I asked the teacher for her actual results because I am curious really and she scored full marks in her English - 40/40 overall and 55/60 in Maths, 36/40 in the SPAG ones. Obviously I am pleased for her, I haven't told her any of this as don't think it is really relevant for a 7 year old.

We don't 'push' her academically at home really, she is a very well rounded child who wants to be outside playing and doing activities like drama and singing mostly. The school she goes to supports this really well BUT i think academically she has at times been bored this year (she's told us that). I have done a bit of extra stuff here and there with her but I am now wondering how I should (or if I should) discuss this with the school.

I appreciate a SATs mark isn't everything, she is at a forest school and clearly 'doing well' but the emphasis overall seems to be getting the kids to 'meet expectations' and do a lot of fun stuff at school rather than push them to be academic high achievers. It is a lovely school that turns out nice kids but they also have a high proportion of SEN students and a large class number / student to teacher ratio. The 'progress scores' between KS1 and KS2 aren't really that high, slightly over the UK average.

I am really wondering if and how I should speak to the school about how they challenge the 'more able' students to keep them engaged or if I should just accept that teachers have enough on their plate and try and find more stuff for her to do at home / extra curricular things knowing that she is doing well anyway and is happy at school.

Looking at the results for her class as a whole she is in the minority working at 'Greater Depth' particularly in maths, I think only 2 or 3 students in the class of 32 got GDS in anything. Sadly I don't know who they are so can't ask the parents of those children if they have similar questions!

I'm not a teacher - just another parent of a bright, not gifted, DD (who is going into Y4 but got similar KS1 SATS results to your DD last year).

I think a lot of it depends on the individual teachers. DD was bored in Y1 but suitably challenged in Y2. It was all down to the attitude/experience of each teacher.

I have encouraged DD to speak out if she is finding the work too easy (or too hard, of course). Fortunately she is confident enough to do so. Perhaps your DD can make herself a 'positive problem' in her class - the teacher needs to be aware if she's finding the work too easy.

I wouldn't bother trying to work out which other children are working at Greater Depth. Your DD is your priority.

I also wouldn't talk to the school at this stage, but would review the situation a few weeks into Y3, once your DD has settled with her new teacher. If she's still finding the work too easy and is asking for harder stuff and getting nowhere, that's the time to raise it.

Those scores at KS1 are good. For expect progress the figures are reading 37 out of 40, maths, 34 out of 60 and SPAG 24 out of 40.

The curriculum for KS2 should start to extend your daughter's abilities as she moves through year 3 and 4, so I would be tempted to leave it to the school and see what happens. If it becomes obvious that she is bored then that would be the time to have a conversation with the school to see why they are not pushing her to achieve more at "greater depth"

I have a DD the same age of similar ability. I’m not pushing her over the summer - she’s knackered and needs a break - there are books everywhere, endless materials to write and make crafty stuff, the computer to write stories and play maths games... but she’s most definitely not been bored this year - the school have gently challenged her throughout the year and she’s loved it.

I’d see what happens with KS2 to be honest. Could well be a change of teacher and a new year’s worth of topics just clicks better with her than this year has done (we’ve had a fab teacher this year who is bloody superb - and now I have her for the other child next year - yay!)

Mind you I know from personal experience that “boring” seems to translate OUT of 7 year old speak into “stuff I don’t want to do right now”... showering, brushing teeth, eating dinner have all been “boring” recently.

LOL Pantsy! Very true about 'boring'.

I am definitely going to leave it until next year to mention anything to school. We have 'meet the teacher' tonight to meet her new teacher and I won't be mentioning anything then but will see how the first few weeks start off. As you all say a change of teacher will bring a fresh approach. That is not to say that she needs a change...more that I keep questioning if I am knowledgeable enough about what they do and if it's interesting enough for her.

I did raise this at school, we get really limited contact from the teacher and I think that has been taken on board so hopeful I will have a better idea of what's she's working on and how (or if) I can support it next year.

Thanks :-)

Do you know what proportion of children achieve ‘higher standard’ at the end of KS2? That should give you a bit of indication of how well the school stretches the more able ones later on.

Thanks JoJo, looking at their stats from last year...17.2% of KS2 students were working at greater depth in comparison to the national average of 10% and the LA average of 9.8%. The progress scores were 0.5 (reading), 3.0 (writing) and 0.6 Maths.

17.2% is good. Looks like there is a good group of kids that do very well academically (as long as the cohort is quite sizeable and it’s a meaningful percentage). You could chat to the new teacher and I suspect they’ll have some good ideas for challenging able children.