Maths curriculum in primary schools in England

[mathsquestion]

Hi

After hearing some horror stories about the level of maths teaching in primary schools in England (3 years to learn time tables, no operations with fractions until secondary, etc.), I feel I need to do my homework before deciding on my son's school (English or following my home country's curriculum). We live in London.

Could somebody please direct me to some web page where I can check what is covered in the maths curriculum of state schools in England each year?

Thanks a lot for your help

sciencteacher - my ds is at a state school in Yr 1 and I don't think he's had the sort of homework you describe since the start of reception.

There's no need to slag off all state schools just because you have had an unfortunate experience with one - or even half a dozen.

And I HATED having to do 50 sodding identical problems and another 50 for homework, am delighted children who have grasped the point don't have to sit around getting bored these days. If you've seen one simultaneous equation, you've seen them all IMO. (Although I assume it does get a little more complicated if you do A level or a degree or something.)

Ha, ha, Scienceteacher - 'they' - do 'they' now?

I went to a v academic selective, 'top' independent school at primary level, and my ds, in a state primary, is doing maths at a higher , more complex and certainly more understadable and therefore enabling level than I was at the same age. afaics maths teaching has been revolutionised for the better. In a very 'non traditional' way.

My DDs in year 5 - independent school but they do the national curriculum for core subjects and she has been getting loads of calculations involving fractions recently for homework.

I think the homework aspect to it is extremely valuable. My ds1 is in the higher ability group having moved up and is given say 9 or 10 questions per week on a maths subject they ahve studied. I go through his answers with him and often these show up areas where ( as the questions get harder) he hasn't quite grasped the concept or how it links with other math areas. This kind of stuff only really comes out in homework .

edam, while I agree that doing loads of examples is boring, its not enough to 'grasp the point'. You do actually have to practise maths techniques to be able to use them.

My dd is in year 8. They do 5 examples of each new thing in maths for homework, then write a note to the teacher about how they found it. He says that if you understand there's no need to do more than 5 - if you don't understand you need more explanation. Seems to work.

Yes, I know, Grimma, but oh, the frustration of being quite quick on the uptake and having to spend 9/10ths of the ruddy lesson doing the same sum over and over again...

I do think maths teaching has improved so much since I was at school. All this showing children different methods and allowing them to choose which one suits them/the specific problem the best. And estimating is FAB. I used to get SO fed up having to do something in a very long-winded way rather than use the (to me, obvious) method which would allow me to get on to something more interesting.

(Am not particularly good at maths these days, like anything else I think you have to practice.)

But you are not doing the same problem over again. You are at least using different numbers, and move on to word problems.

5 problems per concept is not enough. They need rigour and repetition. They need to be able to apply their skills to new situations. You can't grasp this if you only have a glance at the topic.

Teachers should not be inhibited by the a child's inability to concentrate on something that doesn't involve instant gratification. It does no one any favours.

You aren't a member of parliament, are you, scienceteacher? Because if you're not, you should be. Your extraordinary ability to "spin" would be wasted other rwise!

You've got a perfect right to send your children to private schools, you know. You don't have to justify it by being offensive to state schools/state school teachers/state school children and state school parents!

pot, kettle, black - seeker.

Que?