Any Science teachers out there?

[fatmumma]

DD just received her progress check at the end of Y8. She is a pretty able child, acheiving level 6 in most subjects with the exception of Maths, where she is level 7. However for science she has landed in bottom set, and in her words it is full of kids who don't want to work and teacher spends most of time trying to keep control. She has acheived a level 4 in science, she is pretty disappointed. She tells me a recent tests she couldn't complete them as teacher ran out of time, as so much time spend trying to get the kids to behave. - I understand that science may not be her thing, however she does say she enjoys physics - I've emailed the school, but would really value some advice.

I would ask to meet her teacher. I would probably be asking to meet you if I was her teacher.
Where did the level come from? We did a mock end of year test with our year 8s. Lots of them underachieved because they had not got to grips with the idea that two years worth of Science would be tested. We did some intervention, and when they did the real thing, the results were much improved. The teacher should be able to go through the paper with you and identify the the areas where she is secure and where she is not.

keep contacting the school. teachers don't want to be spending teaching time on crowd control, but they get dumped in these situations, without any back up. It is TOTALLY unacceptable. keep complaining. hopefully the teacher will get some support. There is nothing a teacher can do on their own, without back up from parents and other staff.

Also, if you keep documenting, and keep contacting and complaining, the chances are your DD will get moved. Unfortunately it is the children with the pushiest mothers that get the best treatment. It should n't be that way, but it is. It's the best sticking plaster schools have got for the chaos of our education system.

get your dd some text books to work on her own at home. Science isn't hard for a bright child. She can help herself keep up. Also there are websites, like BBC bitesize which are very helpful.

thank you both so much for your advice - DD has told me that she could not complete her end of year 8 tests as teacher ran out of time to read out questions as she was trying to control class. DD has told me that she is pretty pleased with her mark "considering I hardly got any time to do the test". - I can only assume that the level came from these tests.

At parents evening I had a conversation with the DDs Science teacher, who I've just found out from DD has now left, when this was I don't know. aargh

I've emailed the deputy head, because I already have his email address

Where do I go from here though? - I've heard from other parents that these marks will determine whether she is entered for core, additional or triple science, which looking at these marks will be core (not that I have a problem with that you understand, but I think DD is capable of more?) - with level 7 in maths, do think i should be asking for her to be put in for triple science or double?

Reading out the questions? Not an exam paper? You need a meeting. There's no point in pushing for anything until you have more info. First port of call should be Head of Science.

right-o, fallen madonna, I will ask to see head of science.

thank goodness for MNet