<sigh> wwyd to make up for inadequate maths teaching year 9

[EvaHarknessRose]

Dd keen to do well and in a good set. New maths teacher is not coping and complaints are rolling in. Of course I expect school will address this and hopefully the situation will improve.

In the meantime, beyond supporting with homework, wwyd?

I am thinking of buying study guides, or looking at online learning or a tutor (would the Tassomai Common Entrance Maths 13+ be the same topics or of any use?) CGP do a KS3 and KS3 Higher Level workbook. Theres a Year 9 maths for dummies book. Any other suggestions gratefully received as I would rather not throw everything at her.

She is self motivated, has time and is already using MyMaths or other online sites to go over topics before doing homework as she Is not understanding it in class.

When you say KS3, have they started the GCSE syllabus yet? Just asking because I've read that some schools do.

I'd get the foundation GCSE maths busters from CGP books. It a computer based learning/ revision system. She can work through materials from easiest to hardest, there are written explanation and videos on each topic area and it should be about the right level for year 9 top set. I am a maths tutor and use it a lot with higher level Key stage 3.

Don’t count on the school being able to fully address the poor teaching, there aren’t scores of amazing unemployed maths teachers waiting in the wings.

If she’s Y9, what sort of GCSE grade is she hoping for? A good pass, or good enough for A-level?

corbettmaths.com/contents/ the videos on corbettmaths are really clearly explained, with worksheets and practice questions on pretty much every topic. You could ask the school for a copy of the scheme of work or at least topics to be covered this year to try to keep up.

If you can afford it, a tutor.

Her flight path target is a 9 (obvs I know this is questionable). Other subjects are targeted at 8s and one other 9. She had an excellent teacher last year who has marked her as making ‘green for good progress’ towards this target grade at the end of last year and excellent for all her learning behaviours. Its a good school generally (state) and I think they do start teaching the GCSE syllabus in Year 9. I have asked for some info on what topics they will study and be tested on.

Thanks for the suggestions, off to look them up.

I think maths would be one of the possible subjects she would choose from for A Level.

She'll be doing GCSE grade 4+ work already I would think, based on what my DD2 is doing in y9.
I'd go for a CGP Higher tier revision guide and the associated workbook.

'GCSE Syllabus' doesn't really come into it much for maths does it? It's all cumulative. She'll get all the key maths, and you can worry about 'GCSE style wordy questions' next year.

They have been doing the wordy questions (at the end of year 8 they all struggled with their tests due to this, but revised and redid the test and all got better). Yes, of course you are right about the content.

Thanks for your advice the resources look great so we will sit down and decide what to go with .

If she’s keen and motivated enough to be looking up topics that she doesn’t understand, already in Y9, then she’ll be fine :)

Thanks noble.

Tutoring companies are expensive.

I use CGP books with the children I teach because I personally prefer them. I often use them as a guide in my tutoring sessions with the children. What about those online websites for math skills etc?

Sometimes they’re good.

Look at the curriculum booklet for her year, it will describe what she is expected to be able to do for maths. Use it as a starting point for revision. You can find it on the website.

She’s going to do well. I love mymaths too. We sometimes use it to reinforce concepts not understood properly during lessons. They have a levelled approach to teaching math.

www.mymaths.co.uk

Another vote for Corbett maths.

I paid sixth formers to help mine.

I went on to cimt.org.uk where you can download a unit by unit teaching guide and worked examples / questions for each year group for secondary. We used this during the summer as a quick revision for things done in Year 9, and to reinforce a few units that DS was hesitant with, and found it was brilliant.

Another vote for CGP, or the Letts revision guides. Dd used these and then looked at Khan Academy videos for explanations of the difficult bits. I would also look at Noble's advice for resources. Work books and practising maths at home will hopefully see her through to a better teacher next year and the level 9 she is capable of.

Check out www.mathsmadeeasy.com. It has topical work sheets, videos and answers. Basically it curates the best of resources online and it is all free. Shows the level of the topics as well.