Parents Evening :(

[SoccerMum]

Well we had parents evening tonight, I have 2 kids, DS aged 11 and DD 9 and a half.

My DS teacher has really put the wind up me and Id appreciate any advice or comments from anyone really!! Especially some of the teachers out there!

She said basically that he has ability but lacks effort, in her words he is just 'there' in class, you dont notice him for bad reasons or good. He doesnt participate unless prompted (but when he does he has good ideas and is usually correct). He is a 4c in maths but has only gone up 1 level in maths since KS1. He is putting in more effort at home, but this is not replicated in class and if he doesnt pull his finger out..I quote...he'll be special needs class in secondary.

Honestly I was gutted I know he isnt academic particularly and he as always done the minimum required, up till now I thought that was a boy thing as none of the teachers before her had ever said he was anything less than 'average'...only in October she said he was steady, but now less than 4mths later he is verging on special needs?? How can that be?

I dont know what I can do..surely my role is to help him at home, which we do, but I cant go and motivate him in his classroom that should be her job right? Ive explained to him tonight why he has to put more effort in and I think he understood...we've also sad he has to do 30mins of Sam learning every evening and he goes to Springboard at school which is for the kids that need extra pushing...

AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!

Any thoughts on my mind dump!

anyone?

I'm not surprised with the AAAAARRRGGGHHH! I can't quite believe that his teacher said he would be in a special needs class in secondary school when he is already working at a level 4c for maths; I've had children in my Y6 classes who've been level 3 or below by this time in Y6 and many of them haven't been given extra support at secondary level.

It's disappointing too that she sounds rather negative when she could have told you about all the strategies she's going to use to push your son to participate. I'm also wondering what sort of tracking systems his school have if he's managed to get through KS2 making only one sub-level of progress per academic year... I think there are lots more questions you need answers to starting with why on earth his lack of progress hasn't been picked up and tackled before now and what, apart from Springboard, the school are going to do to encourage his participation and make up for the missed opportunities in Y3, 4 and 5 to accelerate his maths progress. You may find they say that his KS1 result was inflated (this is a common complaint that KS2 teachers level at KS1 teachers!) but regardless of that the school should have identified him as someone who would benefit from some more input (and something rather more motivating than, "you're going to be in the SN class in Y7" which is downright mean).

Ask to meet with the teacher again and the maths co-ordinator/SENCo to see if you can get them to pull their fingers out and maybe your son will take his lead from them.

Gosh - what a thing to say at parent's evening! I am a teacher - of year 6 in a middle school - and always feel that parents evening is not about springing surprises onto parents!

My first thought was, if your DS is 4c in maths then that is 'average' for this time in Year 6 and he should get 4b in the SATs and be exactly at the target level. Having only gained one level since KS1 is more of an issue although the testing at age 7 may have been the issue there as the curriculum broadens.

What is your DS's level in English? Other subjects?

If I were you I would arrange a longer appointment with your son's teacher and see if you can get to the bottom of this.

I teach many children who, given the choice, just 'get by' in school. I agree that the teacher needs to find ways to motivate him and that seems to be backed up by your support at home. Speak to the school...

Also, in transferring to secondary school make sure you meet the new teachers and possibly the SENCo in preparation - if you were coming into our school concerned about SEN in maths then we would not have much to say! 4c is fine - so was the teacher talking about other subjects as level 4 is not going to lead to SEN classes?

Thanks for the input...as far as other subjects go, in literacy he is 4a or c (or a whichever is the higher!) and the only thing letting him down is the structure of his writing.

In all other subjects she said he is making steady progress but her main concern is the lack of progress in maths.

She did comment that his homework had really picked up over the last few weeks....the ruined it by saying she thought it was only because he knew parents evening was looming.

She didnt have any strategies at all that she shared with me, and I was so floored by it I didnt ask her, so I agree I definately need to see her again!

He is aleady average for end of year 6, so how could he be special needs for seconadry??

Is this a very high acheiving school? Is he going to a selctiev school or very high acheieving seconadry wher average means special needs in comparison to the others??

You are right if he is not motivated, it is because she has not manged to motiavte him. she needs to be thinking about how she can do this, rather than running him down to you.

All the comments seem very inappropriate to me, you may need to write this year off as a bad year for him with a negative teacher, but worth going back in to quetsion her more i'd say.

Thank you Brideshead.

Our school is above average (gotta hate that word) but not particularly high achieving...its a catholic primary, and will be going to a non-selective catholic secondary that achieves approx 68% A-C at GCSE.

Its so frustrating...he's Y6 now, this is the first and only year in this school that he will have the same teacher throughout. Last year in Y5 he had 3 teachers and in Y4 they had 5 teachers through the year. There a re a few very bright kids in the class and he is always telling me ''miss said I have to be as clever as Daniel''

Two years ago I had the parents evening from hell when DD's Yr6 teacher told me she was lazy, wouldn't get a level 4 in Maths and then went on to tell me how hard it was to get out of the bottom sets in High School. DD did get a level 4 in Maths is currently expected to end year 8 on a 6a/7c and the only bottom set she is in is for PE. A 4c in yr6 is not a special needs case at all IMHO so take that with a lorry load of salt. Do what you are doing now and just encourage him to do a little extra at home.

Thank you

Feel much better now

If the teacher isn't going to make the effort then your ds won't. It's her job to bring him on. It sounds like she's given up with him. 4c is average as has already been said. A child doesn't just 'become' special needs because they are underachieving. What does she mean he's only gone up one level since KS1 anyway? Did he do astoundingly well in year 2?

She said that in his first SATS he got level 3b, but then she said it could have been a fluke, or that the grade was inaccurate and that he had never shown that flare before or since.

She did say though that she didnt think it was a fluke...but that she knew he had it in him...if only he would show it.

Well that's 2 levels then anyway. The school need to investigate why he isn't making progress. They should know if it was a 'fluke' or not. Is he stretched do you think?

Cornsilk

I think he is stretched, at the beginning of Y6 he went up a set in maths, following a short family numeracy course I did with him at school. This was too much for him though and he dropped down into the middle group which he is still in.

I certainly dont think its a case of needing more of a challenge!

what do you think is happening then? Do you think the school's expectations are too high?

I think he is suffering a crisis of confidence, I think yes the teaches expectations are too high of him, rather than look at individuals they seem to be expecting everyone to achieve at the level of the brightest children in the class.

He seems to put spurts on when he is boosted, when we did the course together he really started to take pride in his maths and was proud of himself for doing better, then his confidence was knocked when he couldnt really keep up with the work in top group. Now we have been working really hard together on his homework he seems to be picking up a little again.

The teacher looked at me as if I was bonkers when i said he doesnt respond well to being compared with others.

When he goes to secondary they will do their own assessments - the SATS result won't matter. He sounds like he's under a lot of pressure with all this extra work.

Thanks Cornsilk

I feel much better this morning, your right, im going to have to watch I dont pile it on him even more. He likes the Sam Learning as its like games and he can see his progress against others in the class

Im going to make sure I reward effort rather than results too.

Thanks everyone for your comments, relly feel much better about it this morning

M
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