Should state primary be doing more? And what should we do as parents?

[Wildwild]

DD has just finished year 1 at our local primary school. There’s loads we love about it, it’s at the top of our road and the catchment is really small so all her friends live within a five minute walk. This means it has a really great community feel. Her teachers have been lovely, she’s got a nice group of friends and seems happy there. For what it’s worth, the school received an outstanding Ofsted rating a few years ago which was maintained just before Christmas when they were inspected.

Whenever I have got any feedback (usually at parents evening) the teachers have said that she is performing well above average. Her year 1 teacher said she was so far ahead she could in theory skip Y2 and just go into key stage 2 but they’re not allowed to do that (and I’d hate her to be singled out from her peers). Apparently their main concern is that she’ll be bored and become disengaged.

But nobody is telling me how I can resolve this. They give the odd bit of homework sporadically on Google classroom but she does it in 30 seconds and asks for more. They never send home spellings or times tables. My mum (ex primary teacher) just keeps telling me I should move her to private but I can’t afford it.

I was wondering whether I should go to see the new class teacher at the beginning of term and ask her about how the school differentiate brighter children so they’re being challenged and what we as parents can do to support her. But I’m really conscious of being “that” parent!

Any teachers around who can advise? Am I over thinking and should just go with the flow or should I be doing something more? Should I get her a private tutor to give her new challenges or will she end up further ahead? Should I turn up at the local prep school and get her to read a copy of the Sunday Times to them and see if they can help with the fees?! (This last one is light hearted)

@Needlenardlenoo Goodness me! Proceed at the pace of the slowest?? So that’s the Sen dc then - with learning difficulties? Really? I’ve been a primary governor and that’s not what a good teacher does. Often the least able are revising the basic curriculum with a Ta to get them up to speed to access the new curriculum. They actually do get a more bespoke offering. Other dc are given the hardest follow up work straight away after the teacher checks they have understood the lesson. Any decent maths or literacy co-ordinator will be guiding and advising on this. Again it’s a more bespoke approach. They can be set homework that challenges too.

So many schools just don’t seem to help brighter dc or sen sc in the way they should. They both have needs.

I'm a secondary teacher and by no means an expert on primary, but it's worth bearing in mind that the vast majority of classrooms across the age range have only got one adult in them, so if you want to extend anyone you need a) resources and b) the kind of students that actually want to extend themselves and don't feel socially constrained in doing so.

Or setting/streaming but that is out of fashion.

Just to add that some of the most able students I've taught have had SEND.

If you have a bright DC they'd be held back at the bog standard state primary school. Honestly I feel at primary at least most of the stuff you can just home school them.

In year 5 I was teaching my DS polynomial long division and he was understanding it and getting it right. There were other children (not SEN) who were working at year 2 level. Come year 6 the school had to take these certain children to a separate room and tell them the answers for the SATS.

@Needlenardlenoo it isn’t out of fashion in primary schools. Dc are working with similar dc at their tables or might be set for English and maths for the mornings. This way schools get more through beyond expected and the borderline up to expected. As far as possible!

I know this is an older thread, but I came across it while looking for ideas for keeping bright kids engaged at primary school. I’d definitely speak to the teacher first rather than jumping straight to private tuition. Even simple extension work, science activities or hands-on projects outside the normal curriculum can keep things interesting without pushing her way ahead of her class.

We booked Wild Science for a children’s event and the educational side was what surprised me most. The kids were actually getting involved with experiments and animals rather than just being entertained, and it gave them something new to think about afterwards. For a bright Year 1 child, that kind of extra stimulation at home could be a nice middle ground.

An outstanding school should be stretching the dc who are above eg my dc had additional maths lessons

Such rubbish!

All those!

Can she knit, does she keep a diary, does she recognise birds and bird song, trees, wild flowers. Does she play an instrument, does she go to Brownies or Rainbows. How many sorts of big cats can she name? How many types of pasta? How many sorts of places where people live? Types of transport?

if you want to work on numbers with her then make sure she is really confident with the number system . Can she count backwards from 50 in fives? Can she count forwards in tens starting from another ten number and going over a hundred, or starting from a number that isn’t a ten number and going forwards and backwards? Start to teach her the easier times tables. Point out the multiplication twins 5x2 , 2x5 etc.

Maybe it depends on the school. It’s true from what I’ve seen.

Sounds exactly the same situation as my DS. Found KS1 super easy. So I just booked him in for every 1:1 extra curricular during school that I could (piano, singing, LAMDA, extra lunchtime french) all to give him a reason leave the classroom for a bit and also to make him to want to go to school! I also sent him with a good book to read (they can sit in the side-room and read quietly if they have finished their work) so they always read alot.
By year 4 I could see some extension work was being done - not loads but some that was a bit more challenging. Like you maths doesn't come as easily to DS as the other subjects, so they did have to put in some effort to stay at the top end of the class.
The workload increased again in year 5, as in his school this is the head-down hard working year, before year 6 becomes the SATs revision year. I don't know how I feel about this, as the children were getting stress about SATs by the end of year 4. They are ignored by the secondary he will be going to, but that's another story/thread!
Don't get a tutor, just to tutor school work that they already find easy, but do invest in music, languages and sports inside and outside of school. Mine does a 1 hour MFL lesson via zoom (teacher doesn't live far away but it's more convenient) that isn't too expensive, lots of cheap sports like badminton, cricket and swimming and because they play an instrument they must practice every day for 30 minutes. I think he is too busy now to complain about school - he goes there for a rest and to mess about with his mates.