Would you get a tutor?

[Looneytune253]

My daughter has always been exceptionally bright. She is predicted fantastic grades but she really struggles with math. It's always been the one thing that is not quite as high as the rest. Even from a young age she couldn't grasp the times tables (not sure they're even fully grasped now at age 12). Her high school have now placed them in sets (only for maths) and she was placed in set 2. Now she is talking about how she would really like to go to Cambridge. As a low income, working class family I understand this will be hard for her to achieve but I obviously want to give her the best chance, if there's any chance at all. Would you hire a tutor even when she's supposedly predicted a grade 8 and is working above. I don't know whether it's worth it. You can't really speak to their maths teachers to find out the progress but set 2 would suggest there's a lot of room for improvement. Any advice, or tips to make her more confident in maths. Thank you.

Personally I might look into it! Have you heard about headstart, for nearer the time?

www.etrust.org.uk/headstart/whatisheadstart

Wow thanks, I will defo keep that in mind. She's looking to do medicine so very much science based too. There's a specialist stem school locally so that's very very tempting but the results are dire!! Especially when her particular talents are english/re/french. They don't even offer the 2 latter ones.

We hired a tutor, 1 hour twice a week after school, to help DS1 with the lead upto his GCSE maths, it was worth every penny, DS1 passed and said he wouldn't have done so without the tutors help. He took the higher paper and some of the topics he was really struggling with. If you can afford it, even 1 hour a week, one to one, can really help. I used a company called Tutora to find our tutor, after being let down by others. He came to the house, always on time and reliable and often stayed an hour and a half, it was totally worth it. Good luck OP.

If she's happy with having a tutor I would get one. I was a generally strong pupil but struggled in Maths and Physics. I had a maths tutor in Yr 7-8, and a Physics tutor for GCSE year and it made all the difference. I remember I went into Physics GCSE and for the first time could approach the questions calmly. Anyway, it meant all my GCSEs were very strong. This was 20+ yrs ago, and while Oxbridge should take into account different schools and backgrounds of applicants, in recent years I have found (as a teacher) that top grades (all A*s and As in old GCSE) do seem to function as a way of weeding out applicants (whereas in the old days you could sometimes get in with just really good grades related to degree). If she's considering medicine than Maths will become a bigger part of the sciences at A Level too. Anyway, I found having a tutor made me more confident (rather than worrying that I wasn't good enough) and one to one is hugely beneficial.

Than = then (typo, I promise!)

We hired one for 8 weeks in the lead up to exams,worth every penny. Only and hour a week but really boosted ds's confidence and he jumped 2 grades from his mocks.

H'mm if money is an issue, I would probably start to save now for lessons in the future. Could be more important in the future.
I would start with looking at some online programmes. There's a lot for learning times tables from what I can remember dn I wouldn't pay a tutor for this kind of thing. Could the school give some more work, or provide some more exercises for her to work through?

Get her a tutor if she is struggling. Don't make the mistake of waiting until Year 11

Can you afford a tutor?

We paid £25 p.h. for a private tutor BUT the centre my daughter went to also ran a drop in session for maths at about half the price. It might be worth looking into but only if you can afford it.

You don know whether it is worth your daughter getting a proper education? Seriously? You can get uni student tutors fairly cheaply-unless you are starving what else could you possibly spend that money on that would be more worthwhile?

I don't know what it is about this forum that makes people just be rude? I didn't say she wasn't getting a decent education and I didn't say that it wouldn't be worth it. As I posted above she's working at a very good level already just not as high as others. Wasn't sure whether it was worth improving on it now in order to think about Cambridge etc. The level 8 is approx equivalent to a* but with a tutor she may be able to get a 9. That may make the difference for Cambridge but I have no experience with uni generally let alone Cambridge/Oxford etc.

I don't know what it is about this forum that makes people just be rude? It's called the case of the keyboard warriors who wouldn't ever say that to someone face to face

Yes. Get her one from year 10 on.

If she is very bright but struggling with maths, the first thing I would do is have her tested for dyscalculia.

Her dad is dyslexic. I don't know much about dyscalculia but will would she not be much further behind than she is?

Not necessarily Looneytune253 If there is quite a difference between her general academic ability and her maths ability, I would definitely think about looking into it. Not being able to grasp times tables at her age is a bit of a red flag to me. Perhaps it's worth raising it with her maths teacher?

If she is very bright she will have developed coping mechanisms. That, together with being bright, could explain why she isn't in the bottom set for maths. If she does have dyscalculia there will be some maths topics she won't have a problem with and others she just simply won't be able to grasp.

To be completely honest she ticks a lot of the boxes for ASD but not all so they wouldn't diagnose (socially mainly) she has been seen by camhs for that within the last year or two. Think that's why she's so good with the literacy side of things because she has been obsessive with reading etc from an early age. Part of the reason why I'm not discouraging Cambridge as usually once she's got a hold of an idea she usually does it.

Might be worth talking to her teachers. I would imagine the maths teachers would have a good idea whether it's likely to be dyscalculia or not.

I wouldn't assume the teacher will know much about dyscalculia. It can be hard to spot and even then, there's nowhere near the amount of awareness and information about it as there is dyslexia.
It may well be that her strengths lie in the humanities. Is there a reason why she wouldn't want to study English at degree level if that's her main interest? She's very young so I wouldn't rule any subject in or out or any university in or out either.

She wants to be a doctor so will most likely be medicine. She has known that from an early age too. She is actually brilliant at RE she has such an open mind and is great at seeing other people's opinions. I'm hoping she may do that for GCSE as I think that will show she's good all round (and she's predicted a 9 so that will look good on a uni application I think)

They have only just started history and geography. They offer a different lesson in yr 7 to prepare them (as a more all rounded lesson) and then start his/geog in y8.

Tbh I'd talk to her maths teacher properly first. Chances are they'll be quite willing to offer her advice / assistance in the lunch hour or after school for both classwork and homework. (They do in my son's school.) They also run various intervention groups to help those that could do better with a little bit of input.

No advice on the tutor thing @Looneytune253 but I just wanted to say what a fabulous supportive mum you sound like. I grew up eldest of 5 in a low income working class family. First on either side to go to uni & it was down to great supports& belief from my parents. You're doing the same for your daughter & that just makes me smile!

Ahhh thank you so much @vlooby not sure if we'll manage it but we'll try our best. Thank you.