No support for maths student in year 10

[Allagooly78]

My daughter is now year 10. She is not gifted at mathematics and has always struggled. All other subject she is at the right level or exceeding. The last 3 years at her secondary school there has been no additional support for struggling math students. Now in year 10 she is at at lower stage than ever before.

I have raised my concerns in year 7 and asked for advise and support to which I got no response. Each annual parents evening I asked the same, still nothing.

With maths being a compulsory retake if you fail I’m at a loss as to what to do. My daughter is getting anxiety now saying she is going to fail and won’t be able to go college or sixth form and the teachers are not teaching anything and only care about the over achievers.

The school received an ofstead report last year of requires improvement and are in receipt of pupil premium for my daughter yet therebis no support or interest in helping so far. I’m not in a position to afford a maths tutor but without help she will more than likely fail.

22 students in her math class and not one graded above a 3 in last weeks term assessment. 100% fail.

My question or advice is how do I approach this with the school and get some action and support for her before it’s to late.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will be along soon but I will add support from my own experience.
Maths is not my forte either but the thing that helped me a lot was going through a lot of past papers with a family member who was good at maths. I ended up getting an A! Are you or is anyone you know good at maths who would be willing to help her?
Also I believe a big part of my improvement was a change of mindset. When I believed I was rubbish at maths I was and when my relative helped me they gave me confidence. I still didn't think I was great but I gained more confidence in myself to give it my best shot.
Can't advise on the school side of things as I have no experience of this.

unless I'm misunderstanding how your school grades tests, getting a Level 3 at the start of Year 10 doesn't sound too bad - she has well over a year to improve to a 4 (or higher). If there are 22 students in her maths class, that sounds like a smaller than normal class - and it sounds like they are all over similar level - so can see the school may well think that is sufficient support?

The national pass rate for maths is about 70% so in an average secondary school with 200 in a year group, you’d expect 60 kids to get below a 4. A class of 22 sounds like a low set, so them all getting below a 4 wouldn’t be unusual, or a sign that the school is terrible.

Obviously it would be nice if all students who were headed for below a 4 could be pulled out for some intensive intervention that boosts them over the line, but financially and practically this can’t happen.

There are two things which might get your DD some additional help above that of a smaller class, and those are that she is PP and that it sounds like she might pass English (the headline figure for schools is for those who get English and maths so it’s worth paying extra attention to students who are on track for one and close for the other. It depends on how close she is to a 4 in maths).

You could enquire if PP money will be spent on helping her in any way to pass her core subjects (look on the school website, how PP is spent has to be detailed on there).

If you can’t afford a tutor, then ask the school if they run a maths revision club, or if they subscribe to a website like mymaths or hegartymaths that she could start working through at home. You could also buy revision guides and workbooks (my school provides these for PP students).

The highest score in class was a grade 3 but most pupils scored grade 1 or 2. I have seen no improvement only decline in her levels in 3 years. I have little confidence with school can provide the education during class only to make her pass grade 4. She completes all homework, we go through it together and she doesn’t miss school. If I sit back and do nothing no intervention with the school and she has to retake it will devastate her. She tries so hard I just don’t know how to work with the school to help her improve

What did she get in her KS2 SATs? From what you’re saying it sounds like she has always struggled with maths.