Child suddenly doing badly in one subject.

[WendyMoiraAngelaDarling]

Dd has autism. She's doing brilliantly. Her school is a great fit and she gets a ton of support. All her reports say how much effort she puts in and how hard she works. Last term a new teacher started in one of her subjects. Her report for this subject was pretty poor. In ONE term she had basically dropped two effort levels from exceeding to average. I don't want to use the words the school actually uses as it might be outing but they mean the same. She used to love this lesson and I even had a phone call home from the teacher of the time to say how well she is doing, but with the arrival of new teacher dd is now completely disillusioned and doesn't enjoy it anymore. The teacher apparently shouts a lot and tells them they're not trying and she can't believe what she's seeing blah blah blah. It's not an academic subject and its not one she will choose at options so I don't feel any particular urgency to make any waves yet. But it bothering me. We worked so hard to get her to the point where she's so positive about school and her studies and I just feel a bit sad that it's changed so quickly for this one subject. Any thoughts please?

Disappointing..... you say you don't want to make waves so I would say there is little you can do except for talk to your DD and new teacher about to to see if you can improve the situation.

I really would not worry. Chances are the new teacher simply benchmarks slightly differently and assessed more cautiously. Maybe your dd comes across more reserved as she adjusts. Unless it is an important subject to her future see how it goes.

How does DD feel about the subject (her grade aside)?

I agree with PP that effort is really subjective. DS has subjects where he puts in literally the minimum effort possible (probably less) and still gets high effort marks. In his favourite subject, he works really hard and has made fantastic progress and yet his teacher has never given him an above average effort mark. Every term we look at it and scratch our heads! (The teacher actually agrees that he is really pleased with how hard DS works, but still doesn't increase his mark!)

Oh - just another thought since you say it is not an academic subject. Is it possible the "thing" they are studying this term is something that DC is less strong/interested in? My DD loves art (is taking it for GCSE) but this term they are focusing on sculpture which she hates and has no interest in. Last term they were working on fine art (which she loves). I fully expect her marks for the 2 terms to be very different! She's also had 2 different teachers for the 2 terms, but I really don't think this is anything to do with the teacher, entirely the thing they are studying.

Are you sure the new teacher is aware of your DDs autism, and the specific challenges it gives her? I’d be concerned (I support a girl with autism in school) that she will be going in to her next class still unsettled from that lesson and will find it hard to focus as well as she could there.

It might be worth a gentle word.

I would send an email with your concerns to the HOY or whoever is in charge of pastoral care for your DD. I wouldn't compose it as a complaint just that you're concerned for the reasons you've described above. I would ensure that the teacher is aware of DD's autism and whatever adaptions she's got used to.

Wait a while. It might just be that this teacher has higher standards, or some of the kids are mucking around for a new member of staff.