If I email the maths teacher will I be 'that' parent?!

[MidnightVelvetthe7th]

This is my first experience of secondary, DS1 started this September. He's academic & usually does well in all subjects, and I'm a parent who trusts the school & upholds respect for his teachers. I'm not a teacher, I don't know the curriculum & I don't second guess teachers. However I've had a letter from his maths teacher & I don't really understand it, could someone tell me in plain English what it means please?

Dear Parent/Carer, Following the outcome of the recent progress check, your child has been identified as a student who is currently not within their ‘progression flightpath’ in Mathematics. This can be that they have not currently reached the expected level of progress from their KS2 result or they have underperformed in the recent assessment. As success in Mathematics is so important and we want to ensure that all students make rapid progress, I have set some extra Mathematics work that I would like your child to complete over the Christmas holidays. This will be work based on topics that we have covered so far this year to ensure consolidation and practice in topics that your child may have struggled with during Mathematics lessons as well as keep them busy!

So he's behind, I get that, but he's in the top maths group. This is the first time he's fallen behind (at any subject) & does it mean he had a bad day or does it mean that he is consistently failing to meet the standard? In his SATS last year he got an 'exceeding' mark, I had to take his books back in for the staff to pass to someone else & surely if his maths was bad that wouldn't have happened?

When I got the letter I mentioned to him that there was some extra maths to be done over the holidays, I didn't tell him he was behind but I asked how he was finding it & he said maths was fine & he wasn't struggling. So he will do the work, that's not an issue but I'm wondering what's going on with his maths?

I haven't emailed the teacher as I don't want to be the parent of perfect little Johnny whose mother is outraged , but I want to get an understanding of where he is in maths & how badly he is failing & what the teacher thinks has caused it.

So I thought I'd ask you all? :)

My DS is in a similar position. He is in Yr9, he has been predicted high grades by Midis? They have termly subject tests and a small underperformance looks like he is going off track where it can just be one question that he wasn't secure on and 20 mins going over that topic will solve the problem.

Is it midyis that is used to set the targets or ks2 sats? Dd in year 8 has got lower than target in 9 subjects, but i honestly think the marks she got were the best she could do. She does work/behave well etc. She had no tutoring at ks2 so that hasn't falsely inflated her ks2 sats, in fact did slightly less well than expected in them.

It may be an end of year target. It'd be sensible and quite understandable if you emailed to clarify your concerns and ponderings.

If school does not respond in a way that you are happy with you may wish to suggest that his slower than expected progress is due to poor maths teaching, rather than lack of effort on DS part. A classic response from schools where teaching is weak is to blame the pupils or the parents. Since he is in top set it is unlikely there is a significant major problem with your DS.
Personally I would be concerned that teacher is choosing to tackle this by raising it at the end of term and setting extra work in Xmas holidays, looks like a 'teacher back covering strategy' rather than a 'support pupil strategy'.
Check his books and look at how much written work there is (should be dated), whether it's been marked and if so any teacher comments.

Hi all, an amusing little addendum following my OP :)

(I didn't contact the teacher in the end as he did all the homework & has submitted it, its not due til Feb but he just got it all out of the way in one afternoon so its not affecting him at all.)

Just had a letter from school saying he's been selected for the LEAP program as he is one of the 'most able and highest attaining students'. Lots of talk about uncapped levels of aspiration and potential & extra sessions that feel like uni lectures etc. Along with how they will closely monitor his progress & offer extra guidance so he receives his aspirational target grades

Just wanted to say thank you as you were all correct :) that letter before just threw me for six and you all helped me to understand it & not worry about DS!