Bright Y8 boy coasting - can he be motivated?

[kitnkaboodle]

Hi

Got DS's Easter report and DH and I find ourselves muttering 'could try harder' etc etc. Not wholly delighted. His grades are fine, but what's disappointing is that for some pretty 'solid' subjects: Science, French, History, Geography, Music, RE, he's been given a '2' across the board for effort/classwork/homework. That's the second grade down (so equivalent of a 'B for effort' I guess) if you see what I mean. Maths, English, ICT and DT are all 1s across the board, so good for him.

I recently (before this report) took the time to look through all his schoolbooks - meant to do it earlier, but you know how things are .... I was decidedly about a lot of his work. He'd fulfilled the brief, pretty well, got good enough grade, but teachers' comments were always "good, but you could have expanded/written a bit more/done extra detail" etc etc. So he's doing the minimum production to say that he's done his homework, ticked the boxes, but never ever going the extra mile to produce something impressive, neat and rounded. Homeworks like Maths, where you have to just supply the right answer are no problems. It's the writing/analysing, etc, that he rushes. Looks like he just can't be arsed to push himself that little bit more.

Is this a Year 8 thing?? A boy thing? I can remember at school wanting to produce really careful work - often to please the teacher! Don't boys do that? Is Year 8 a 'coasty' year? I don't want him to get into bad habits.

Drip feed time now in that he is exceptionally able intellectually. I asked to know the results of his CAT tests in Y7 and found out that he'd got the top mark of his whole year (about 120 kids). I wasn't surprised (but haven't told him). He has no trouble at all grasping info and concepts and remembering them forever.

People might ask about his levels. They're good. Projected for end of Y8:
English 6b
Maths 7b
Science 7c
Art 6c
Drama 6b
DT 6b
French 5b
Geog 6c
History 6b
ICT 6a
Music 6c
RE 6a

Have I got unrealistic expectations? I don't have any worries about the school, btw. Just rather disappointed/puzzled about all the 'B's for effort when I know he's quite capable of pulling his finger out if he had something to motivate him.

I think most yr9s will be having exams maliceaforethought, certainly around here they are.

There used to be official SATS in yr9 but they were scrapped a few years back, most here still do them. DS is at a standard comp and they are doing them in exam conditions in the hall. Some in April, some in May, we had an exam timetable through a week or two ago.

I have one too - S2 so roughly year 9 i think. Very able but not putting in much effort, just not interested I think. He is very well behaved so flies under the radar. I've also suggested that he even try to look a bit more engaged as some of it could be perception as he strolls about with very little sense of urgency but keeps up simply because he has long legs - so his short pals look like the are making effort and are keen to get going - he looks like a giant sloth.

We never had comments like we get now when he was at primary but I'm now thinking thats becasue he was at a low attaining primary with a lot of behavioural issues so of course he was a total star being bright and well behaved whereas he is at a very high attaining High School with able and mostly well behaved children so its all a bit different for him.

ragged, to be fair to dd, homework at least is not the massive battle it was in primary. She may do the minimum acceptable, but at least she turns something in without input from us (she has at the least to not come home with notes in her planner, or she gets serious grief from us ).

It's an interesting question as to whether it matters if you coast. I unquestionably coasted all the way through my O levels, and I can't say I worked that hard at A level either. But I think back in my day there was less competition for places at uni and for jobs.

DD is (as I was) at a pretty low attaining school on average, so her mix of l6 and the odd l5 at end yr 8 puts her comfortably in the top few of the top set. So no incentive to work harder or risk slipping sets.

I also think that the introduction of coursework plus exams early in GCSE years makes a massive difference. They can't do what I did which is skive massively then learn the curriculum from the revision book in the Easter holidays before O levels

You haven't met DS, Takver... but yes, I know kids often surprise us.

I know I'm in a minority. I am very comfortable with coasting in yrs7-9 because they are dealing with so much socially & emotionally at this age. When you have a kid who won't go to school at all, your priorities shift.

True, Ragged, but believe me, we used to have full on several hour long meltdowns with tears and shouting over almost any written homework in primary . . .

Seeline - no he doesn't spend a long time thinking about or doing it - ever. Homework in our house starts at 5pm - gadgets n TV off after an hour+ slobbing around after school. Say he has geography - write for and against arguments for nuclear power. He'll appear 15 minutes later saying he's done it. Not wanting to be a total harpy, I might not say anything. OR I might look at it and see that he's quickly written something with the nearest available instrument (red pencil, etc). It will be really scruffy and will probably have 2 well-argued and well-spelt sentences for each side of the argument. Tick - job done and reasonable grade assigned. But no forethought and no care

"I also think that the introduction of coursework plus exams early in GCSE years makes a massive difference. They can't do what I did which is skive massively then learn the curriculum from the revision book in the Easter holidays before O levels"

They will be able to again- the current year 9s won't have a course work element in their GCSES!

I'm not sure if that's going to be true in Wales, though, Hakluyt. I hope so as it would suit dd much better!

If your ds's teachers accept a scruffy piece of homework written in red pencil etc. on a regular basis then they are part of your problem I fear - ds1 also year 8 would be asked to redo the work in pen at the very least.

Not sure why you're worried tbh. You already know from your older DC that secondary school is a long game, and they are unlikely to have a fantastic year academically five years in a row. You need them to peak in Year 11, sounds like he's doing enough for Year 8. So long as he's happy at school I think you can just let him be, for now

I do think Yr8 is a bit of a coasting year. In Yr there tends to be focus on levels and then Yr10 & Yr11 GCSE starts in earnest.

I think the levels are fine - if he is doing homework, knows how to put together an essay and is generally responsible and organised then I think he's doing well. By Yr10 the pressure starts to mount and he will will need to spend several hours working on homework/revision.