Problem With Maths Teacher

[MRSJWRTWR]

DS1 is in Y8 at an independent school. He has always enjoyed maths and along with science it is one of his favourite subjects. He achieved level 5 in his Y6 SATS at his state primary school and has been in the top sets for maths since starting this school.

According to DS1, his maths lessons consist of working through exercise books question by question (is this fairly normal practice at this age?), and then if anyone is stuck on a question the teacher just gives them the answer. No explanation, nothing. DS1 says that he got to question 7 the other day without actually having to do any work.

He got A* for his end of year report, with a level 2 grade for effort. This was due apparently to his being a bit 'relaxed' in lessons. My feeling is that this was due to his growing frustration and lack of interest in the lesson. He is starting to mutter about doing work incorrectly so that they would drop him a set and allow him to have a different teacher.

The thing is I'm not sure how to approach this with the school. He hasnt had a Parents' Evening yet, that isnt until next Feb. Should I wait until then and should I talk to his class tutor first or perhaps his head of year?

I'm really quite sad that DS1 is losing his enthusiasm for a subject that he has always really enjoyed.

I'm quite sad that you're paying for this. :(

Doesn't the teacher introduce the topic and explain it and do examples before the book work? Is there no discussion of methods?

Written practice is very important in maths and nearly all lessons will contain some element of working through questions. However it does sound like the teacher isn't particularly engaging. If bookwork is all they do and they are essentially teaching themselves, I'd be very concerned

It appears I need to question DS1 a bit more closely about what is exactly going on in the lesson. Thank you.

I used to do this, but that was because I was working ahead of the rest of the class. It was unusual that I needed any explanation other than out of the book. I enjoyed it, and particularly finding a better method than the one in the book.