school hasn't completed the GCSE syllabus

[jacobibatoli]

recently found out that dc has not completed all aspects of the syllabus for GCSE
school is hot on uniform, discipline etc.., and quite right too
and the parents need to do their bit, support the school and supply dc to school in correct uniform, attitude etc...
and if not there is a whole raft of punishments available to them and quite right too!
but in return we expect the school to do their bit like cover the whole syllabus or if not at least tell us so we might be able to do something about it
accountability is just a one way street

I would go further and say to parents with children starting in reception that their child's success at school will be dependent on the work they also put in to their child's education.

If nothing else this thread may dispel the "best to leave your child's education entirely to the school" argument.

"Buy a revision guide and go through the content. Problem solved."

If only it were that simple!

A recent article in TES estimates that up to 2 million children receive private tuition in the UK (similar to other countries in Western Europe). A quarter of 11-18 year olds receive private tuition at some point in their school career with 70% of this tuition in maths. Thank goodness my dc are top set maths as I don't think I would be able to help them with their maths GCSE when the time comes.

And class sizes are getting bigger so it's only going to get worse. 35/36 in a set 1/2 is not unusual in my school.

I'm a maths teacher too. My top set (predicted A-B) have seen the whole syllabus but my middle set (predicted E-C) will only see content that is appropriate for them. No point in them seeing A content that they won't understand and having to miss out C grade material to do so.

In an ideal world you would fit everything in from grade E-A* for the higher paper but realistically less able students need more reinforcement of the lower level content and so there isn't the time to fit the whole course in.

Clavinova, you could help by getting them on to Khan Academy or Hegartymaths of buying the revision guides and workbooks. There is lots you can do without having to know the syllabus yourself.

There is also the 6 weeks holiday coming up. Spending a few of the weeks doing some academic work for an hour or two each day will be a good way of them improving their grades, no matter what year they are in.

Snowberry you like other maths teachers who have posted on here can make that professional judgement. My point concerns whether you and the others have formally communicated that to parents and pupils so that they know what topics you have deliberately left out and don't spend wasted effort trying to learn them. Or, if teaching resources are insufficient, again missed topics should be communicated formally in sufficient time so that if possible gaps can filled at home.

Thank you JustRichmal I might just do that - they are at independent schools but we are aiming for A*s/9s and this thread has me worried as it highlights the advantage of those dc whose parents are competent at maths themselves.

Summerends i can only speak for myself as a maths teacher in terms of communication. I communicate clearly to students in my set 2 that we cover everything up to a B and some A topics. I have no need to communicate this to parents and if I did it would take far too long to explain why precious jonny isn't covering A* stuff. The kids know what we have covered, they get a list of topics each half term. If parents ask I can tell them. Kids also know where and how to access other resources if they want to aim for an A.

Forgotten to say hear hear to jjstrichmal

Penelope that all sounds fine but why not email the same list of topics to the parents for those who have to cope with last minute panics from their DCs about which questions they can't tackle, as in the OP's case.
Also I can understand that some parents may be time consuming but it saves everybody a lot of time and is transparent rather than defensive if the HOD just tell it straight to the parents what the expectations of the different sets are re covering the syllabus topics. You can't have it both ways and expect parents to be involved with their DCs maths education but at the same time not tell the parents what will or not be covered in class.

My DD is sitting her GCSE maths in 5 days time.

She has not been taught the whole syllabus, though she has been vaguely exposed to it. I am completely happy with that. She is on target for a B grade, but some of the harder topics completely blow her mind.

It is much more useful for teaching time to be spent on for example getting her confident with rearranging equations (which is also needed for physics), than on completing the square.

She has no problem with knowing that the questions toward the end of the paper may be beyond her. On a higher paper where you only need around half marks if that to get a B, it is fine not to have been taught absolutely everything.

However if a child really is clearly capable of more (eg consistently doing well in tests), then surely any decent school would be moving them up sets? DD was moved end y10 so she would get exposure to A grade material.

Summerends, the list is at the front of the child's maths book should the parents want to look. We tell them this.

Tbh sending an email like that to 1000 parents in school would result in approx 100 phonecalls. We don't have time to deal with the calls to explain. We tell parents at parents evening and send a letter saying look for the list of topics. Anything more becomes too much information leading to extra pressure on overworked staff.

Yep as Penelopepitstop says full exam spec is given to all students and stuck in books. Scheme of work for the 2 years is also given out so parents and students can see what is coming.

We explain it at parents evening to those parents that are interested and want to know.

Penelope sounds as though your school does everything that is needful then as the parents are pointed in the right direction plus the DCs have a textbook with the list of topics. I can see that spelling it out further by a general emails may take away teaching time by the phone calls however you are spending the time anyway at parents' evening discussing it with the parents plus repeating yourself potentially unnecessarily.
Ideally a school that consistently produces appropriate results for its cohort would be trusted by the parents but a lot of knowledgeable parents posting here seem unsure of gaps what they should be filling in or not.

I communicate clearly to students in my set 2 that we cover everything up to a B and some A topics. I have no need to communicate this to parents

I think you do.

Some of us have children with communication problems which you may not have time to work round. Some of us asked at parents' evening why certain topics hadn't been covered and got blank looks from the teacher, rather than a simple explanation that they weren't expecting to cover them because of the child's predictions.

Kitties I explain at parents evening if asked of course. I just don't need the extra phonecalls about something that realistically makes no difference to most pupils education.

Penelope I am not sure that I get you. Only the parents of DCs to whom it would apply to would be sent that general communication. I assume that would be middle or middling upper sets.
Experienced parents with DCs who had already fallen foul of the system or are teachers themselves might ask you but why should the others until the crisis actually happens?
It would be more helpful of a maths department not to wait for parents to ask so that it is an even playing field for all parents concerned to have access to the sort of information that might be helpful for them to support their DCs.

Thanks Penelope.

This thread has been genuinely useful. I've tended to be a bit hands off with my younger two in the early years of secondary, assuming that they could find their feet, progress at their own rate and still cover everything if they were slower starters.

I know now that that is not the case. It had never occurred to me before, even when DS1 seemed so unfamiliar with large chunks of the maths syllabus. As I said, we just assumed his teacher was a bit crap and/or DS had missed bits for health reasons.

DD has yr 8 exams shortly from which they will be set for yr 9. The poor kid has found herself doing rather a lot of maths revision over the past three days though I'm not sure we needed the discussion of hexadecimals over the tea table, thank you, DH

Going back to what Bronya said up thread about self-teaching by using revision guides - that may be possible for some subjects (she cited IT) but I'm not sure many kids could do that for A* maths topics.

Errol, I think maths is now one of the more accessible topics for self teaching, Not only are there revision guides, the are also excellent websites.

I think the problem lies in attitudes to learning maths. Lots of people think you are either someone who can or cannot do maths. So they read something they do not understand and conclude they must be someone who does not get it. However maths does not work like that; it takes time to sink in. One of the best ways of understanding maths is just to walk away from it for a bit. When you return it will somehow seem easier. I am sure if more students had this attitude to learning it, it would cause them less anxiety.

When I was a teenager I didn't listen much in lessons and got my GCSEs entirely thanks to Letts revision guides. As and A*s. I was pleasantly surprised last year when helping my friend's DD to discover that the same is possible now. I helped her with the maths a bit but she did the rest on her own. Science, IT, Textiles, History and several more.

Yes - but what proportion of kids have the self-motivation and persistence to do that at the age of 15/16? It's also not much of a panacea for kids who don't have good internet access and a quiet place to study, or parents willing and able to buy them revision guides.