maths summer school for child in year 11

[NotSuchASmugMarriedNow]

probably been asked before but does anyone know whether i could enrol my dd in some kind of maths summer school programme this summer. she is desparate to improve her grades is predicted to get a C but really needs an A for what she wants to do.

Any info on summer schools or "crammers" would be really appreciated.

If you find one, make sure you speak to her school before the end of term to find out where she is now and make sure the course will be appropriate.

You also need to make sure the school are planning to enter her for Higher paper (or happy to do so if she has the progress after the summer) otherwise all will be a waste of time.

If you do this, she needs to go back to school in September, into year 11, capable of being in a set sitting the Higher paper.

(Foundation papers go up to C Grade and Higher to A*)

Oh, wait a minute. Is she already in year 11, sitting Maths for the first time in a couple of weeks?

thanks kez100 she is in year 10 now.

you might be better off finding a really good tutor who would see her 2 or 3 times per week rather than a summer school as such?

I have to say, I was thinking that. If the school could say where she actually is currently and a tutor could come regularly and leave work for the days in between, as you suggest. To some extent, it will be a case of where she is now (how close is she currently working to a C Grade) and when the exam is as well.

I do think you need a lot of information from the school to be able to employ the right sort of additional help for her.

My daughter had to gain two grades last year between start of summer and November, which she did. Hers was Grade E (where they found she was working at just before the summer holiday in year 10) to Grade C and she managed maximum UMS in the November of year 11 foundation exam. She did it with a combination of revision (at least 10 hours a week) over the summer on Grade F, E and D Grade questions and then from September to early November exam, one whole past paper a week (calc and non calc) with extra questions on the areas she was getting wrong - in addition to any work put in place by the school! It was intense, but it worked. She has to be up for it though. No way could you make a teen do this level of extra if they weren't motivated.

My honest opinion as a Maths teacher and tutor. With the right amount of hard work and the correct attitude, it may be possible to get her from a C to an A. There are a lot of extra topics though such as Trigonometry and simultaneous equations that require understanding. Is she working flat out to get a C? If so, an A may be over-ambitious.
My real concern would be the future, if I could get her up to an A with a combination of repetitive method learning and simple to follow methods, she probably would not have the genuine understanding of what she had learnt and the feel for the mathematics. If she needs Maths for Science Alevels then she may really struggle as when asked to apply this knowledge, she will have difficulty. Getting an A is not just a case of learning a bit more info or all students would do it!

It is worth going for it, if it is what she has her heart set on, but it will not be easy and she will require further tuition through the future course.