Please help me understand these scores

[Jennybeans401]

Just had a meeting with dd's teacher and she needs intervention for reading, writing and maths.

She's year 4 and her writing score is 99 and maths 87

I'm now very worried ad her teacher says she's really below standard

I assume 100 is average?

99 is perfectly ok (100 is expected level) but 87 is quite low. Can you do a little bit of extra work with her over the Christmas holidays? Ask the teacher for advice on where her weak points are. Don't worry, she's got loads of time to catch up.

Thank you, I was really worried about it!

She cries when we try to do maths at home so we've not done anything at home. The teacher is looking to give her some extra lessons in an intervention group.

As worried as you are, it sounds like the teacher has recognised and flagged an issue and has moved to put support in place. She’s communicated with you and I’m sure would answer any questions that come to you following the meeting. It may be good to ask if there is anything complimentary to the intervention that you can do at home so that a consistent approach is maintained.

Yes I'm so grateful they've picked up on these problems now, she said they are putting a plan in place. Is 87 very low for Maths?

A score of below 85 would mean a child is not accessing the year group curriculum, so a score of 87 means they are only just accessing the curriculum. Depends what papers your school uses, but I would imagine your DD got at most 5 questions right. I’d practice at home if you can, even if it’s just tiny bits to build her confidence.

99 wouldn’t worry me though regarding writing. That tells me she’s only just below the expected level and can almost definitely reach it by the end of the year.

I appreciate she gets upset if you try and do “sit down maths” with her but are you doing “fun and useful maths” with her?

She presumably is spending her days at school struggling with maths so is always going to struggle when you start trying to get her to practice her 9 times table. But what about playing Monopoly with her? Or any game with two dice to add up. Or even something like Rummickub or cards where there are numbers that you need to be aware of. Or doing some baking but halving or doubling the recipe. Or going shopping with her and paying with cash? (“I have £10 and we need to get milk, apples and cereal. If we have any money left then we could get you some sweets. Hmmm - not sure - what is £3.22 plus £2.68. Ooh - it’s only £5.90 - how much do we have left. £4.10 — I guess we can get you some Haribo.”)

Maths and numbers are a useful tool. Right now she doesn’t see them that way. She sees them as a horrible battle that she is losing. The aim is to get her to see them as a tool.

(I’m a mathematician. My poor kids have grown up in “maths world” as that is where I live.)

Writing is teacher assessed so I’m not sure how they’ve reached a score of 99? Do you mean reading? A scaled score of 99 is broadly in line with the expected standard. 87 is quite low. It sounds like your little one is struggling with basics so I would concentrate on times tables and number bonds which will feed into calculation and make it much easier for her. Simply put, if she hasn’t got these number facts then calculation becomes really complex and difficult. It would be worth asking for a copy of your school’s calculation policy to see which methods she needs to work on.

@JimmyGrimble thanks I think i got muddled with reading and writing!

She recently moved schools due to bullying. The old school had a helper teaching maths for 2 years and she list a lot of skills then. In Y3 they were just given worksheets and no help. I think thus is why she's fallen behind. I'm glad the new school are offering help.

Bribery is the way forward in our house for helping dc with learning at home! Well worth it can ultimately turn things right around. Good luck OP

Ah that’s really common and unfortunate. Lots of schools still do this in the hope that they are doing the best thing but it actually isn’t as the withdrawn children just fall further behind. Current thinking is to have the vast majority in their year group lesson with in class support and catch up available. This is best done alongside some form of daily arithmetic / basic skills / methods and models practise. It sounds like your little one has had her confidence knocked and is becoming aware of what she doesn’t know. Try your best to get hold of details of the calculation methods she needs and practice these alongside the number bonds and times tables. She’s really not too far behind if you / they work to plug those gaps now.

Current thinking is to have the vast majority in their year group lesson with in class support and catch up available.
What sort of catch up is available @JimmyGrimble?

Just to pick up a couple of things:
There are no official tests that take children's scores in Y4 and extrapolate scaled scores. Therefore there is no 100 expected standard because that only applies to official exams set at Y2 and Y6. Without knowing the specific assessments she has done, or the way the teacher/school has chosen to interpret the results, it's impossible to know exactly what those scores mean or how far behind they place her. They could be raw scores, teacher-chosen converted scores, external company coverted scores, etc.

Focus more on the information the teacher has given. If she/he says that your daughter is working below/towards the expected standard then that's the key information. Ask what you can be doing at home and what they are thinking about doing in school and then just focus on that.

If she is underattaining in Maths at this age, it's likely due to an insecure gasp of number and bonds from earlier in her schooling. I'd recommend downloading the 1-minute Maths app made by White Rose Maths and having her do their 1 minute activities several times a day. The regular exposure will create more automaticity with number bonds which is essential for staying on track.

I'd go right back with maths to something she can do easily to rebuild confidence. Then gradually increase difficulty. Similarly with length, start with 5 mins then increase. Reward/praise after each session.