Dispair at School ...

[HisButler]

So,
He's in Yr8.
We have already complained to the school at the almost non existent homework being set by them.
We have complained that we have no idea what he is learning in class, so we cannot support him at home properly. (They are not allowed to take class books home!)

Now before they are fixed, a 3rd strike ..
In the School Calendar, there are 3 weeks in February marked as 'Assessment Period Year 8'.
I was waiting for him to come home with revision homework, or at least a list of dates when tests would be, what subjects, or some information of any kind.

So we are now into the said 'assessment period', and with no information coming home.
A week into the 'assessment period' , I emailed the school at the weekend, asking what the situation was.
Today (Wednesday), he comes home and says that he's just had a maths test. He also found out that he is having a Science test tomorrow.

So no warning to the kids, no guide for the parents or kids as to which subject to revise ....

Is this normal ??
I really want to help him study and provide the best I can ... but I just feel that I'm completely shut out by the school.

If it is not normal ... then I will be onto my third complaint to the school in as many months. I'm starting to get paranoid - am i expecting too much ?

Many Thanks

I will play devil's advocate.....

the assessment period could be a check on what they have learnt rather than what they can 'cram' the night before

sometimes homework is set for no other reason that to follow school policy and has no benefit to the learning in progress

the lack of books home could be due to the number of students who failed to bring their books into lessons and this is how the school is dealing with the issue

I understand your frustration at the lack of details from the school but in terms of helping your ds - have you asked him what he is currently studying and support him that way? What are the other complaints you have made to the school?

I don't think you are expecting too much, but there are things you can do, despite no communication from the school.

First - get your DS to tell you what he did in class that day, each day, when he comes home from school. He should know enough about what work he's doing to give you as much useful info as the school could. Then, if you get hold of KS3 revision books from Collins or Letts, you can go through the topics they've covered so far with him in the run up to the test period.

TBH, they may be expecting him to manage his own workload by now, and not encouraging parents to intervene (not saying that's right or wrong, just could be their policy.)

Not having books to bring home (textbooks) is quite normal. There are not enough of them.

Email asking for an outline of the topics covered in each subject if you are bothered. No need to complain, just ask Year Head to get it together. Or you could ask your son.

Assessment week may well be tasks to be done in class rather than "tests". Which the child does not prepare for. Again quite normal.

Thanks to all replies, and it has made me a little clamer.
Not that I agree with the assessment approach, but at least the situation is no too uncommon !

We have asked the School many times before about sending us info about what topics/levels are being studied ... little or incomplete response received.

Example : Tonight we went to the schol website and looked up revision aids for Science Yr8. Found that the subject he's being studying since Christmas is not even there !!

We have some Lonsdale books ... but again, I have no idea if he's being tested on what he's studied this year, this term, since the last assesment, or ....?

I appreciate cricketballs comment, yet ...
I guess I am just thinking of any exams in the future, GCSE's for example, who would NOT revise & prepare for them ? I don't understand why this is any different.

Last test his results shot up a grade because of decent revision .... this time we did not get the opportunity.

Manging his own work load !?
I wish !!

It's not practical to let parents know what topics students are doing. I teach every single year group. TBH, if a secondary age child can't manage to pass that information on him/herself, I'd be worried. As for assessment, I agree it's likely that this is not something the school feels it's necessary for students to cram for. Mid-year tests in Year 8 are hardly GCSEs, and it's likely that the results are simply to help inform the teachers' planning and give an idea about how students are getting on. At my school, we spread tests over the year so as to spread the marking load.

When you say book, do you mean his class book or a text book?

He's yr8, not age 8.

I wouldn't expect to know anything about DDs assessments other than anything she might tell us. They usually get some warning of tests but not sure its always much.

They do bring books home - to do their own homework. She certainly does get homework set, though some of it gets done in school time. They have a homework diary which the parents are supposed to sign each week.

The more formal summer term exams are a somewhat different matter - she's yr 9 now, in yr 7 and 8 there was some revision guidance for those, they were definitely meant to revise properly for those. But not really much to do with us other than ensuring time and appropriate space to do it.

It sounds to me as though you're expecting too much involvement but OTOH the school isn't doing things quite optimally either.

I think you're worrying unnecessarily. If the tests were important (ie the counted for anything other than the school and the students knowing how things are going) then I'm quite sure that the school would have provided more formal guidelines.

As for the rest, I stand by my comment that it is impractical for teachers to let parents know individually what is being covered. Perhaps DS needs some help with organisation? Could you contact his form tutor and ask for this? He needs to be organising himself.

evil I agree that the results of these assessments are not going to be life changing. I too have a DS who certainly can't cram the night before and assessment like these would panic him and the resulting poor mark would stress him out. His school put on their intranet accessible to parents what would be assessed and therefore we don't have these problems currently. Surely this is not difficult for all schools to do. Thus the parents who want to know what their DCs are doing and want to help them can do so.

I also feel that these assessments are also important because DCs can learn how to revise eg arranging notes and methods for revision. In a few months there will be some posts from MNetters saying that their GCSE DCs are sitting in their rooms looking at their books hoping that something will go in! They will moan that their DCs haven't been shown how to revise? Surely these assessments could be used to help the learn these skills.

The OP did say that she knew about the assessments because they were on the school calendar. I'm guessing the kids knew about them too.

Revision skills are important, of course, but again I think it depends on the context of the tests. Mid-year tests in yr 8 are not likely to be formal, so it's possible that revision, in the sense that you mean, is not necessary.

Oh my ... !
Well first off, some comments that make me feel normal again; so I thank those with offspring less adapted to 'self managing', for sharing their experiences :)

On main topic ...
It seems a lot of the comments pivot their take, on what the tests are for .. and what the result of passing/failing are.

This I feel now, is the crux.

What we have been told at Parent's Evenings, is that pupils are assessed 3 times a year, and this influences which classes they are allocated to - Bottom, Middle & Top.

Hence if our boy does poorly in these tests, he could get put in the bottom class, which means studying topics maybe half a year or more behind the top class.
He will also be in classes with more disruptive students.

This DOES have an effect on his progress to GCSEs.

Yes but if no one is revising because no one is being told when the tests are then the setting will be a test of true ability.

I am sceptical however that your DS hasn't been told when his tests are. And also, why can't he tell you what topics they are studying?

OP, I am in exactly the same situation, with a Y8 boy who tells me very little. We have a parent's evening coming up, and I am going to raise this very matter with his tutor, just to understand a bit more.

I do think it's a good idea to step back a little when they are this age, so they can start to develop work skills for themselves. At primary (and to some extent in Y7) I looked after his homework planning, i.e. told him to do Maths now, Art tomorrow, but now I leave it to him to schedule his week and decide when he wants to do homework. Obviously I check from a distance, but if he fails to do it adequately then he has to take the consequences, which is going to teach him to be more self-sufficient. He knows full well that this control will be taken back if the school tells me he's failing to manage the tasks set.

I would however like to know if the school teaches them revision techniques, and if so, when. He has exams in May.

But I don't see the point in him cramming for regular tests/assessments where no-one else is, then becoming disillusioned and demotivated because he's in a stream that's too high for his true ability.

BaloonSlayer & Maryz,

I agree that it is valid to ask whether son has been told and forgot, or not.

However, I have historically had experiences of both parties telling 'off truths'.
Proven.

In this case, given that I have emailed the School asking about assessments, and they have failed to reply to me .... what conclusions can I draw ?
If they cannon answer a direct question about assessments when asked, how likely is it that they share information when not asked ?

BaloonSlayer, again, I agree in principle, that if no one is told about the tests then all is equal.
However, consider that there are 3 classes for each subject (top, middle, bottom) , what if one class is informed, and the other not ?
Quite often the top class has the best permanent teachers, the bottom class has stand-ins .. and communications go awry.

In addition, if no one is told, the the test become a exercise in one type of memory ability.
GCSEs are not a test of this type, and people who need to revise for longer periods in order to maintain information are given that opportunity.
Why should these test be different ?

But you said the tests were on the school calendar - so you did know about them. And your son did too. You also know that there are tests each term.

I think you need to stop organising your ds and his school. At some point he will be out in the big wide world and will need to have developed the skill to know he has to do an essay/presentation/interview or whatever, and to plan his time accordingly.

And yes GCSEs are sadly a test of one sort of memory ability.

Doesn't he haver a planner to write test dates in etc And surely you can tell from his exercise books wjhat topics he is studying

I am not convinced that the OP is interested in any opinion that disagrees with hers.

I also agree that by year 8 a child ought to be developing skills which enable them to manage and organise their own work. The more a parent tries to 'help' them with this, the less likely they are to become independent learners or be able to cope with the big wide world in just a few years time.

When I taught secondary we sent sheets home which highlighted the key topics, with a few bullet points below each, taught in that subject that year.

I now work in primary and we do the same, but half termly, this also goes onto the school website. DD's primary does the same, as does the secondary she is going to move onto in the summer - the latter uses a student portal thing.

Similarly we always sent out exam timetables even for mid term assessments and pupils were told the key topics so that they could revise beforehand. Again - this happens at DD's primary and at the secondary she is moving on to.

I do think a secondary school pupil should be able to pass on this information themselves, without it coming direct to parents. But I do think that the information should be issues to pupils at least.

Maryz - Y8 is 12/13.