Primary school curriculum concerns

[Lola36]

My DS is in his final year of primary and I'm concerned he's not doing enough core work and is doing things like music and drama, arts and crafts, outdoor visits and outdoor play rather than maths and english and learning to focus and complete tasks before he moves up to high school after the summer. I feel if I raise my concerns with the head she becomes defensive and suggests we do homeschooling, which we do do on a Friday with him. I'm concerned that the school has more emphasis on wellbeing and less on knowing times tables, how to construct sentences, am I really behind the times? I understand the essence of the CofE but I am concerned that the kids are being let down by not being taught, rather they set their activities, for instance last week he was cleaning out the school gym cupboard and I can understand that this could be a lesson in responsibility and good behaviour but it's the balance between activities like this or playing in the local woods for the morning, and more traditional learning activities that I'm concerned about. I will address the head and the parent council when the meetings come up but just wondered if anyone else was feeling similar with their kids' schooling in Scotland?

As a secondary maths teacher I couldn’t agree with you more @Cfe . Everything you’ve stated is correct.

So much for closing the attainment gap, the CFE is doing nothing to help that.

5-14 had its faults of course,but at least we knew what was involved in each level. A child has achieved level D,then they can do X, Y and Z, or have at least seen it! A child is working at level 2 silver or consolidating or whatever word they want to put after the 2 means what exactly? 🤷‍♀️

I have children in primary school too and I do extra with them at home because I feel they aren’t getting the rigour required at school. They are so keen to learn when they are wee, I wish my S2’s were as keen!

I still remember my daughter telling me she only needed to spell words from that particular week’s learning intentions properly, when she was in p3!

I'm not surprised by the teachers' responses on this thread regarding CfE, about how they find it woolly nonsense, although I've asked some of my teacher friends and they don't have anything bad to say about it. There is a belief that it supports inclusivity and encourages independent thought and self confidence by allowing the pupils to 'drive' their own lessons as I understand it. So, if I'm correct, the teacher may introduce a topic and discuss it with the pupils, who then may come to their own conclusions and ideas about how to tackle the topic. This would, as I imagine, lead to pupil led learning, where the pupils choose their path of learning and the teacher guides and oversees the results. I imagine this leads to more communication in the class and pupils have the opportunity to think it through for themselves and how they react to something, which I think is good because it allows them the chance to explore the topic in their own way. The down sides of this, as I can see it, are that the basics of the lesson ( the concept the lesson is built on) may get lost as pupils go off on their own tangents, the teacher's job is incredibly difficult as he/she has to assess how well the pupils are grasping the concept by observation and discussion, not the traditional writing down in workbooks. My DD has a probationer teacher who is great, don't get me wrong, but I imagine it must be very tricky for her to establish how well the individuals are doing in her class when it's her first year on the job and there aren't the old fashioned jotters etc. where work would be marked. My DD's work isn't marked all the time as I understand it. She does it, then it's popped in her drawer. I would've thought that correcting mistakes is important, and getting the pupils to go over their work if they haven't done it correctly but, as I understand, that doesn't always matter too much, it's more about whether the pupil is willing and confident in attempting to do the work.

"Old fashioned jotters" are very much in use in my dc's primary and secondary schools!
I honestly think this one school is taking a very individual approach .

Yes, of course work should be marked. It's not whether a child is confident or not that indicates if they've achieved the expected level! This is basic.
I'm not sure why you're not complaining to the school or education head at Fife council IF you've double checked with the teacher and the HT that what you're saying is in fact true.

for going to high school the cluster primaries moderate their curriculum so that the children all go to high school at the same kind of level (obviously there can be differences in attainment amongst children).

I am sure the school know what they are doing and that the children are at an appropriate level in literacy and numeracy to progress in secondary school.

This is definitely true mind you! My eldest is in s5 so used now to tracking reports with working and predicted grades on, so a bit of a shock to the system for my s3 to go back to one with “working within 4th level” etc

@staggie I am. I've got a meeting, although not confirmed, with the head to discuss my DC's progress as there's not a parent interview till June. The first ones were affected by the strikes in November so seemingly the second ones are being postponed till June, but that's a bit late in the day I believe, as there's only a couple of weeks after that and then it's the summer hols.

@staggie I'll find out what happens at the meeting with the head but I'm also of the opinion that it's her mission to change the school's working ethos for the better, in her eyes, so I feel that the changes she's making are in line with her vision, which may suit some, but I also have become aware that there are a number of parents of the school who are also concerned about aspects of the way it's changing. It's difficult to gauge a full picture though, sometimes, because it's such a sensitive subject (where your child goes to school is so important and there's so much hope and expectation in that) and people don't want to criticise when teachers are doing such a difficult job for our kids.

Why can't you meet with the class teacher instead? They can answer your questions about the child's progress much better than the head. The head is more for it being a complaint about the school.

Scotland’s continuing poor and declining results in international tests suggest that it’s a bit risky to just trust the schools and assume things’ll be all right.

I think getting books and doing work with children at home is a good idea.

@Snowontheblow sure, I've arranged a meeting for next week so hopefully I'll hear all about their progress, thanks.

Chatting online about this has helped me and I've contacted a couple of parents of the school to find out their concerns because it can be quite a lonely business if you feel like you're the only awkward parent! One has removed her DC from the school to another because of the way things were going and another has lodged a stage 2 complaint with the education manager some time last year and has told me that one part of the complaint was addressed but the other part wasn't and she claims the head 'chatted' her way out of the complaint. It seems this parent is also concerned with the lack of learning at the school so it helps me to feel a little more justified that it's not my paranoia. I have addressed the head and the teachers several times over the past year so it's not like I'm not communicating directly with the school.