Concerns after parents evening - also private vs. state

[treepose]

My daughter is in year 3 in the local state primary. She is in a class of 30. We had a 5 minute slot to talk to the teacher on parent's evening. The teacher showed us two papers, one with test results of a maths test, in which dd had done well, and the other with an English composition. Remarks for the English composition were "she was away when we worked on this so she can write at a higher standard than this". Other than that the teacher said our daughter worked hard (150% !!). I asked whether there were any areas she could improve in and any suggestions to help, the teacher said "no, just keep doing what you are doing".

Now, while there is nothing as such wrong with this, I am decidedly underwhelmed. Maybe it was just being shown the results of the tests with no mention of strengths and potential except "works hard"? Am I being unreasonable and slipping into PFB - ness? Do let me know if I am!

I've also heard from someone who works in the school that the class dd is in, is considered to be a "hard" class, and academically they are not achieving what they should be. This is because of misbehaviour during class by many of the kids. My dd is happy there though she mentions the misbehaviour. I feel that she deserves something better than being in a class where the kids don't give a damn? Am wondering whether we should make a financial sacrifice which I am not sure we can afford and send her to private school? Another factor is that the school she is in now does not prepare for 11+ and feeds into local secondary which was failing until a year ago.

Any thoughts appreciated. I'm aware that I can be a bit over-neurotic sometimes but I can't help wondering whether I'm doing best by dd.

My DD was level 1 in Yr 2 and got no assessment apart from what we paid for ourselves. We found out she was dysleic and she gets no help at all from school.

I just wanted ask a quick question about levels.... OP mentioned earlier that her dc was a 3a at the end of yr 2, Is this correct / possible?
ds1 was a 3c at the end of y2 for Maths and got 100% on the paper. Do different schools do different papers?

The school told me I couldn't apply for a statement. So I haven't. Have no idea if they're right or not though.

There's some advice on assessments and statements here;

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/SpecialEducationalNeeds/DG_4000835

Looks like you have to go through class action and school action first. DD is meant to be on class action but I have a feeling the school haven't done it. Am going to see her teacher about it tomorrow.

treepose

I would not accept educational disruption. I would not accept the lack of detailed understanding of your DD's strengths and development needs.

So, if you can afford it go private AND it's worth going private for primary NOW. There's a massive difference.

"I would not accept educational disruption. I would not accept the lack of detailed understanding of your DD's strengths and development needs."

Op - I think before you agree that your dd's teacher has no undestanding of her strengths and development needs, I suggest you arrange another meeting. Patents evenings in schools with big classes are necessarily brief, and often the parents of children who are doing well are just given the"keep on keeping on message' simply because there is only 5 minutes. This does not mean that the teacher would not have a lot more to say if there was more time - and she should give you more time on another occasion if you ask for it. Ask and see what happens. If it then turns out that the teacher is useless, then think again.

And on the subject of disruptive classmates - there are some difficult children in my ds's class. I like the fact that her is learning that there are unhappy, troubled and downright horrible people in the world and that he has to learn how to co-exist with them. This is, in my opinion, and incredibly useful life lesson.

OP if your daughter is happy in the school I would firstly make a longer appointment with the class teacher and mention your concerns. If you still feel worried after that I would talk to the Head.

At the same time maybe you could go round a few of the private schools and see what you think of them.

I think the advantages of private primaries are that the smaller class sizes mean that a good teacher should have more time to give each child attention and work suitable for their standard. However you can still get the odd teacher who is not that good in the private sector and if the class size is too small or there are not enough girls in the class your daughter might be less happy socially.

What are the teachers like further up your DDs school? Maybe if your DD had a really good teacher next year things would feel different.

The other thing many private schools offer is more sport, more music, traditional lunches, assembly every day, feeling of community (I know some state schools are very good on these but not all)..these are the kind of things that would tempt me in the private sector, but so far my DS is very happy at his state school and the academic standard seems high so we are happy to have free education for now.

One other thing..are your daughters current friends going to try for the grammar? If you were to move her to private school maybe she would make a load of new friends and then not end up in the some secondary school as them (if they stay private), whereas if your DD stays put she will move up to secondary with some of her friends.

I'm with Seeker - there's more to school than SATs levels and learning you can deal with tricky kids from all backgrounds is far more useful than lots of academic stuff and you might well get horrible kids in a private school too. Sounds like she's doing really well and is happy. I'd be delighted if it was me.

Ingles, I think most schools don't break Level 3s down and a 3 is assumed to be a 3c, because what they've covered in Year 2 is only just into Level 3. So at our school all 3s are counted as 3c, even if some children are actually working above that. They are simply reported as a Level 3 to parents though. Schools are only obliged to tell parents sub-levels within Level 2 at KS1, so can report Levels 1 and 3 as a 'whole' level.

Hope that makes sense!

My understanding (ready to be proved wrong) is that a 3 is actually a 3b, and that a borderline only just 3 is recorded as a 2a. Certainly that's what happens in our school.

Thanks Singersgirl. That makes sense in our school

Extension work in state schools doesn't have to be dull repetition of what they know already. Dd's class were doing Year 8/9 stuff in Year 6 and lots of problem solving, and despite having no previous interest in maths, she was thrilled by it.

Seeker, a borderline 'only just' level 3 could be recorded as a 3c if their teacher assessed the child to be genuinely performing at this level. If they are not, i.e. their classwork does not back this up, then they could 'Teacher Assess' them to be 2a.
Also, it's a well known fact that a Level 3 piece of writing in Yr 2 can look quite different to a Level 3 in Year 3. Bone of contention to Year 3 teachers across the land, who are supposed to move their childern on by two sub levels in the course of a year!

BTW, this should not vary from school to school at Key Stage 1 as every school has to send a member of staff and a sample of tests off to moderation.

My lad starts school in September and last July (armed with all the Ofsted reports) I visted the 3 state primary schools in my area and the 3 independant/private schools. I was less than impressed with the 3 independant schools - the curriculum was no where near as broad as the state schools, the teachers wer not as well qualified and as for the sports/science/library facilities - non existent.

He will be going to one of the state schools - I was impressed with them all.

So was my sister, who came to look at all the schools with me, who is a Deputy Head in a Primary school.

You can't tar all schools with the same brush and I wouldn't do that about the independant/private schools near me - if I did, I would think they would all be terrible.