Best working towards a 5 at Foundation Level maths rather than the higher paper?

[EmmaWithTheGreatHair]

Ds (Y9) is in the foundation group and from contact with his teacher, he thinks he’s capable of achieving grade 5. Recent review indicated he was currently at level 3, based on recent test.

I’m new to all of this so am clueless but from what I’ve read you have to answer so many more questions correctly at FL to gain a 5, whereas the HL paper you don’t, but there’s a risk of failing this paper completely.

Ds did have a tutor but she’s told me she really doesn’t think we’ll need her if he’s not in the higher level group. She thinks Ds is more than capable of achieving a 5 but judging from her reaction she sees the higher level as the better option? Although Ds is great on a one to one level, he will often lack focus in the class and gets easily distracted, so I’m not sure how he would fare in the higher level group.

After honest opinions on which option you think is the right one for those borderline dc.

@EmmaWithTheGreatHair I really am hoping he will one day realise I only want the best for him

I tell my sons that. I don't want to see them struggle unnecessarily sadly they have a person in their lives who does earn very little and they see that struggle first hand. They know the astronomical cost of childcare as their cousin is only 3.

I think giving it to them on a level they can understand such as when all your mates are buying the PS8 (or whatever it will be by then) and you can't afford it that would make me sad, to be excluded.

I have one son who works his arse off, got incredible GCSE results and is in year 13 and I have another son who struggles at nothing and gets amazing grades.

We have also couched it that no one wants to be stupid or uniformed, so the more stuff you apply yourself to now the less like Joey Essex you will appear

What is his literacy like?

I teach science rather than maths, but reading the questions on the higher paper and understanding them is a big barrier for a lot of students.

Very often, if students are unsure, they will leave a question blank, and so not get any marks - even though the marks needed for a 5 are much lower on the higher tier, if you can't access half the paper due to your literacy, then it's not a good idea.

We do enter some students aiming for a 5 for higher but it depends a lot on their personality and their reading ability. Some are much better on foundation.

@ReindeerAntlerLights sounds like your sons are both on track to being very successful, well done to them and to you for guiding them so well.

I will certainly keep persevering and pushing Ds to work hard.

@SansaSnark towards the end of Y8 his literary was good, got to be honest though, I’ve no idea where he stands currently. Ds would certainly be able to read through the tougher questions, it’s just how he interprets what he needs to do with the maths, within the question that he sometimes struggles with.

@EmmaWithTheGreatHair We were lucky that we had a great primary school but also a friend who was subject head of department at a secondary school. We asked him if he could tell which students would excel at his subject and he said yes. We asked him why, he said they are the children who read around the subject, not just what they are taught but just a bit of wider context but also have a bit of knowledge about the world.

When the DCs started secondary we encouraged them to talk about what they did in a lesson rather than the standard have you had a good day line? This becomes a possible talking point and they can watch videos on it thanks to YouTube. So Ds had done a bit about the Grand Canyon in geography so we watched a short video by the park owners on it. Just little stuff like that, or watching a film and talking about it afterwards. A discussion. We have a family dinner every night and we all talk about our day (mine is incredibly dull as I am a SAHM who does a bit of volunteering but they still want to know).

Ds2 (year 10) recently watched Pride and Prejudice, he said I am not really enjoying this, my response was I never said it was enjoyable I said it was to put into context what life and manners were like around 1800 which directly links to stuff they will cover in English Lit GCSE (London by William Blake and A Christmas Carol).

I felt really stupid and uniformed when I went to uni, I was surrounded by people who had so much more of a world view than I did. I didn't want the same for my children.

@ReindeerAntlerLights thanks for another great post.

I’m still not sure what is best for Ds. I sometimes think Foundation but then I think the Higher Level would give him more of a push, more of a chance to obtain a higher level?

Tbh because it’s all been extremely chaotic since Sept, lots of Covid cases, three lots of isolation, Ds is struggling mentally atm too which is awful, their environment at school isn’t the best, pastoral care have said it really isn’t the best, all stuck in their bubble group, same classrooms, now going back to online teaching for the foreseeable. It’s so hard for them and the teachers.

Nurture the mental health, get through the pandemic.
Then see where you are.

I am a maths teacher, and we only put pupils into the higher paper if they stand a chance of getting a 6. The majority of pupils find it easier to get a 5 on Foundation than higher, because they have the easier questions at the start to give them confidence. On the higher paper, even the "easy" questions are challenging for someone aiming for a 5, and they get demoralised when they can't answer half the paper.

While there is a maths teacher or two around, what sort of % is needed on Foundation for a 4 or a 5? I known it varies by board and by year, but are we talk ~50% for a grade 4 or what?

It varies year on year - edexcel jumped from something like 136 to 149 out of 280 one year recently for a 4

@MsAwesomeDragon thank you. Would you think achieving a grade 3 now in Y9, would make it possible to achieve a grade 5? Suppose it’s a difficult question to answer without knowing the student.

Just going off what Ds’s tutor stated, she thinks we just don’t need her anymore if Ds is taking the foundation paper. I think she was under the belief that he would have been taking the higher paper, but then it’s different being taught on a one to one basis rather than a classroom environment.

Would you move a student to sit a higher paper if they showed potential or wouldn’t this be possible if they were only taught for foundation?

@TeenPlusTwenties absolutely our priority, it’s been so difficult for them hasn’t it.

We are waiting for counselling.

Along the same lines, I wonder what other maths teachers think are the most important higher topics to cover for a student who has previous been in Foundation classes, but doing fairly well and have suddenly decided they want a grade 6 so that they can do certain A-levels that sixth form college requires (not maths) - i.e., the easiest topics to pick up that are likely to give the most marks. I was thinking solving and plotting quadratics, given that they're already having to factorise. Maybe circle theorems.