Y3 new prep not meeting expectations - help

[comberbird]

Last year at Easter we moved out of London and took our kids out of two of the top schools (one selective and the other claims not to be) and moved to the countryside. They are at a small local prep. My daughter who is younger is flourishing as she was the youngest in her year and she anxious where she was which was pushy in the extreme. My son was top of his class and is now bored and I can see the quality of his work is dropping and the pace is much much slower.

I don’t know enough about educational standards and teaching to know what I should expect. I understand there is a wide range of abilities in the class (of 17 with one teaching g asst) and this is a challenge. My question is what should I ask in this situation to ensure my son is being stretched and get the attention he needs. There are a few things I have observed that I don’t think are up to scratch - like no one is reading with my son and there is very little testing, reports aren’t graded but none of this really tells me what should be happening in the classroom and what I should expect, welcome
all sound advice thank you.

Have you thought about homeschooling? So you can maximise you sons potential?

Homeschooling is not an option for us.

By year 3, your son is probably reading independently, and therefore no one will be listening to him read. He will be doing comprehension exercises which are designed to test his understanding of what he is reading.
If you have concerns then you should speak to his teacher.
Regarding the testing, in some schools children are tested but without knowing that the exercise is a test. This is to save them from undue stress You could ask the teacher if that is the case, and if not, how they are assessing progress.

@comberbird

Last year at Easter we moved out of London and took our kids out of two of the top schools (one selective and the other claims not to be) and moved to the countryside. They are at a small local prep. My daughter who is younger is flourishing as she was the youngest in her year and she anxious where she was which was pushy in the extreme. My son was top of his class and is now bored and I can see the quality of his work is dropping and the pace is much much slower. I don’t know enough about educational standards and teaching to know what I should expect. I understand there is a wide range of abilities in the class (of 17 with one teaching g asst) and this is a challenge. My question is what should I ask in this situation to ensure my son is being stretched and get the attention he needs. There are a few things I have observed that I don’t think are up to scratch - like no one is reading with my son and there is very little testing, reports aren’t graded but none of this really tells me what should be happening in the classroom and what I should expect, welcome all sound advice thank you.

I don't understand your post, you took your kids out of two of the top schools in London, and your now worried they don't push your DS enough ( something that has worked for your DD , but left your DS bored?

It would seem your only real option is to tutor your DS and ensure you send your DS to an academic senior school at 11/13 locally.

I don't really understand your decision though, in the case of your son, it sounds like he was flourishing in London, I would have moved my DD and left my DS alone. But I understand post Covid a lot of people went a little stir crazy living in London...

Hi daddy PhD. We made the decision
For whole host of reasons but it’s now made - and cannot be unmade. We simply could function with the schools they were at, moving wouldn’t have worked, we couldn’t get DD into a school near him and I didn’t want to do state ( as I say she is now thriving but her old school was too much for her) I want to improve the lot I have and would appreciate anything you could suggest to help at the new school. We have every intention of getting our kids to good secondary schools but I’m now concerned that their current school can’t do this. The difference is quite marked. (And there are a host of other quality of life points I won’t go into which are amazing). Do kids really get tutored from year 3? I was hoping to see what I should be asking the school to do now to get him on the right track on the basis I am paying for a service. Thanks for any further suggestions.

Sorry we couldn’t function with our old set up.

I think you could just speak with the head of academics and his class teacher. It seems fairly simple?

Hell yeah kids get tutored from year 3..

I guess when you move out of London, the competitiveness drops down a level.

Are you planning boarding for your DS? A lot of the senior schools now do assessments at 11+ for entry at 13+ so definitely need to start thinking about it soon.

Just book an appointment with the class teacher to discuss.

I think if your DS is gifted you ought to do your best to maximise his potential, homeschooling not an option. Possible: boarding/ scholarship/ tutoring/ speak to school to fast track maybe.. hope all works out. Such a big change when children move and relocate... best to keep them engaged.... and have their friendship groups 🤞🏼

Do kids really get tutored from year 3?

I'm in another part of the country. Son at state school in Y2. Some of his class are being tutored already with a view to the 11+ and getting into one of the good grammars nearby.

Tbf the kids in question will need tutors to get to that level...

At year 3 I would not necessarily expect an academically able child to be being heard read, certainly not very often.
Reading skills will be being checked through comprehension activities.
Why do you feel he needs to be tested in order to make good progress?? The amount of testing a school does is not a mark of how good it is.
If you feel your son is not being challenged then you need to have a conversation with his teacher. They should be able to differentiate for him. You are well witching your rights to expect that.

Have you decided which senior schools you want him to enter for? Because I would try to work back from that.

I assume that the prep he is at prepares students for the local private secondaries and that they know what standard is required. If you are happy with the local choices you can relax. He is only in Y3 and presumably the prep would not have survived if they were not getting children into the local secondaries.

If you are aiming for a highly selective boarding senior school you may have to supplement the offer from the local prep.

Your choices are: get them to give him extension work, employ a tutor with experience of the target school or move your DS to a more competitive prep.

But with the exception of a very small handful of oversubscribed schools most senior boarding schools are actively looking for pupils - so if your DS is bright, well behaved and you can pay he will get a place somewhere you like.

Thanks all. Talking to his teacher on Friday. Discussion with the head will follow.

It does sound as if DS would enjoy being challenged more. Speak to his teacher in the first instance to find out what they can do to extend his learning.
I work in a state school and I would be really fed up if I'd paid for my children to go private and was still expected to have them tutored!

My understanding is that a prep school is there to prepare pupils for the Common Entrance exams, so their reputation ,and therefore their income depends on getting as many of their pupils as possible through those exams.

In a class of 17, with a teaching assistant as well as a teacher ,it should be very easy to provide differentiated work. I wouldn't expect a year 3 child to do 1:1 reading unless they are struggling. They should be doing some sort of guided reading or communal reading in class, and the teacher will be aware of their reading ability. Just talk to them to clarify.

Ps Fujimora. Yes we have a boarding school in mind. And we can work back. It’s a very good school on a par with London schools (but a little bit more rounded as that the balance we are striving for!!). He gets extension work and the other pieces are now on my to do list -Thank you.

@comberbird

Hi daddy PhD. We made the decision For whole host of reasons but it’s now made - and cannot be unmade. We simply could function with the schools they were at, moving wouldn’t have worked, we couldn’t get DD into a school near him and I didn’t want to do state ( as I say she is now thriving but her old school was too much for her) I want to improve the lot I have and would appreciate anything you could suggest to help at the new school. We have every intention of getting our kids to good secondary schools but I’m now concerned that their current school can’t do this. The difference is quite marked. (And there are a host of other quality of life points I won’t go into which are amazing). Do kids really get tutored from year 3? I was hoping to see what I should be asking the school to do now to get him on the right track on the basis I am paying for a service. Thanks for any further suggestions.

Sorry if I came across as critical, I didn't mean to be.

I jumped to tutoring, as another poster said, I'm still in the London scrum, the West London girls prep scrum with our DD, but that's another thread.

I was afraid the countryside prep (in comparison to a London tiger school) may always come up short to what you may hope from them, so getting a tutor in at home was a good way to address the issue with your DS and place him well for senior school.

Of course I would sit down with your DS and discuss with him, and armed with both your concerns I would set up a meeting and air all your concerns (his and yours) ultimately I'd be wanting a long chat with the head.

Best of luck! Your DS does sound like he's a bright child not getting challenged in class.

Im a teacher..., (state school, very deprived area)...

I HATE private schools with a passion and think they should be banned ., education should be EQUAL no matter what background!!!?

Anyway op you do you..im sure your children will thrive with you by side

Please don't tutor your dc for the 11+ at y3. For their sake.
1 poor kid at my dds grammar school is deeply unhappy because he's just so far behind. His natural academic ability is so far behind the others so every lesson is a misery. He went to a prep school and was tutored for years ti get him past. It's done him no favours.
For sure, in a competitive area, you need to tutor for a half year/year to get them used to the style and cover the bits not yet covered on the curriculum. But any more is really a false pass.

@arethereanyleftatall

Please don't tutor your dc for the 11+ at y3. For their sake. 1 poor kid at my dds grammar school is deeply unhappy because he's just so far behind. His natural academic ability is so far behind the others so every lesson is a misery. He went to a prep school and was tutored for years ti get him past. It's done him no favours. For sure, in a competitive area, you need to tutor for a half year/year to get them used to the style and cover the bits not yet covered on the curriculum. But any more is really a false pass.

It entirely depends on the child and the school surely??

In your example the boy is simply not bright enough, and his deluded parents should remove him from the school, they should have never sent him in the first instance.

If you read the OP question, it's the opposite problem, very bright boy at a sleepy school whose getting bored and unmotivated.

I HATE private schools with a passion and think they should be banned education should be EQUAL no matter what background!!!?

How are you going to select students and teachers for schools in this utopia? No selection by faith, no selection by house price, no north-south divide, no urban/rural divide. Teachers unable to choose where they work - just assigned to schools on the basis of some equality algorithm? No children arriving at school unable to speak English v others arriving already reading fluently. Going to be interesting!

@Mammyloveswine

Im a teacher..., (state school, very deprived area)...

I HATE private schools with a passion and think they should be banned ., education should be EQUAL no matter what background!!!?

Anyway op you do you..im sure your children will thrive with you by side

Thats nice.

I'm sure the lecture will cause the OP to have a road to epiphany moment from your comment.

I think in answer to HeatonGrove's comment we should have a national lottery school alloation system, where you apply to the lottery and are given three schools across the entire country you can go to. You then can give your preference. You have to then move to the area. The same goes for teachers. You don't get a grant for relocation. You just have to suck it up and find work accordingly.

This will work well for farmers who end up being given a school place in central london and for nuclear engineers who are only given places in Cornwall.

This revolution of education will clearly further the country and eliminate inequality.

Or we could face a few realities about real life and try and tackle the problem in more realistic ways.

If you think banning private schools would stop the problem you are not really paying attention. Boarding schools abroad are a thing.

Ime year 3 in a prep is focussed more on developing independence and introducing a wider timetable than driving academics. They may be put in ability sets for core subjects but these tend to be fluid and most teaching is in class groups. Maybe this happened earlier in previous school.

What do you mean by “graded” ? Do you mean you want to know where your child is in terms of other children in the class? I don’t think even the most academic schools would do this to a Y3 child !

It sounds as though you have found a school which cares about the children’s wellbeing, and you did say you wanted a more rounded approach. Children who learn to love learning are generally children who are confident, believe in themselves and want to learn to satisfy themselves rather than the pressure their parents are manifesting. I bet the new school does far more creative, sporty, and enriching activities than the previous “ second best in London” hothouse.

Please don't stress so much about the school. A reasonable school and good home support will be all your son needs to achieve well if he is bright.Both my children went to local state primary ( rated good and the happiest of schools which built their confidence ), local comp ( rated RI and inadequate during their time) and 6th form college ( outstanding and very academic). Both achieved highly at a levels and are studying/ studies STEM subjects at RG unis( 1 oxbridge). No tutors needed.
Obviously lucky that they are bright but the most able will always achieve if they are motivated and supported at home. Your son is lucky as he has both of these - many children do not.