Child struggling as behind expected standard for 3 years school refuses to help

[AlexG17]

Hi - I would really appreciate advice. My son had a very difficult year (in France) in year 2 and we moved back to UK partly for him to switch back to UK system which he finds easier.
He started year 3 very behind the others, at least one year, and has struggled for nearly 3 years now, never catching up, but making enough progress to tick the box I assume. His teachers in year 3 and 4 denied there was a problem but in the start of year 5 his new teacher finally did say 'he's a year behind', in November parents evening. Since then she refuses to discuss his level, there have been no opportunities to meet of course and in the March parents consultation she refused to discuss anything except his mental health (policy of school), and said I must contact the head teacher. She also declined to discuss if there might be a learning difficulty.
The situation has affected my sons confidence badly and he considers himself 'stupid'.
Am I being unfair to want to know exactly what level he is working at (year 3 or 4 or..?) and how do I get this information from a school which seems to completely circle the wagons at the slightest problem? Thanks for your help!

Have you thought of getting a tutor in to see where he’s up to ?

I did in year 3 and he had effectively lost a year, but ongoing I am a single parent one one income with no other support and the cost of private tuition is not possible. I don't understand why the school refuse to discuss it?

Ask them for their complaint policy and contact the Governors.

Have you directly contacted the Sendco? Do you think he has learning gaps or potential additional needs?

You've posted this in the Secondary school section, but do you mean he's in Primary school? What do his reports say about the level he is working at?

What is it that you want from the school, what have you asked them to do?

Thanks for the advice, i am about to contact the deputy head according to the policy now, but I do worry the hostility will only get worse?
For SEND you have to go through the class teacher and she refuses to communicate further, my last email has gone unanswered?

Sorry I haven't used the site before. I would like to school to tell me how behind he is, if he has a learning difficulty and to collaborate more on helping him?

I have noticed a tendency for some schools to avoid noticing/discussing kids who are a bit behind but not dx sen. I think it is partly a culture of talking about attitude to learning rather than attainment. Also probably they don’t have the resources to do anything about it so avoid the question. My solution to this is tutoring but if you don’t have the resources you will have to force the school. Sometimes it is necessary to be polite but stubborn to make things happen.

You have to contact the head and if no joy there, complain to governors. It’s great you’re being proactive about it

Don’t worry too much about antagonising them, he will be going to high school soon, and they have a duty of care to your son.

I'd definitely ask the deputy head about those exact three aspects then OP, it's nice and clear. They may not describe it as being behind though, just the level he is working at or at/above/working towards expectations (they were the terms used when my child was at Primary).

So you may not get a clear 'he's working at the level of x year' as they tend to measure against the expectations of the year they are in. Hence the 'working at expections', working above or working towards.

Is he going into Year 6 in September? You may find that they start doing assessments for future SATs at that point which may identify any areas that come under the 'working towards' category.

Hope you can find a way of working with the school OP, it is so frustrating when you feel you are not being listened to.

Have a look on your County Council's website at their Local Offer pages.

There will be a section for parent support, look on there and you may find a group who can advise you how to get your son's educational status assessed via a charity.

You should ask to meet with SENCO. State schools in the UK do not like to discuss levels. You need to focus your discussion in that he is struggling academically and keeps falling behind and this is affecting his self steam and that he is unhappy. He needs to get an educational psychology assessment

You could always do a Subject access request. They should give you all the information they hold on your DS.

You really shouldn't have to go to such lengths, but if they're refusing to share the information that you're entitled to, then they haven't really given you much choice!

@AlexG17

Hi - I would really appreciate advice. My son had a very difficult year (in France) in year 2 and we moved back to UK partly for him to switch back to UK system which he finds easier. He started year 3 very behind the others, at least one year, and has struggled for nearly 3 years now, never catching up, but making enough progress to tick the box I assume. His teachers in year 3 and 4 denied there was a problem but in the start of year 5 his new teacher finally did say 'he's a year behind', in November parents evening. Since then she refuses to discuss his level, there have been no opportunities to meet of course and in the March parents consultation she refused to discuss anything except his mental health (policy of school), and said I must contact the head teacher. She also declined to discuss if there might be a learning difficulty. The situation has affected my sons confidence badly and he considers himself 'stupid'. Am I being unfair to want to know exactly what level he is working at (year 3 or 4 or..?) and how do I get this information from a school which seems to completely circle the wagons at the slightest problem? Thanks for your help!

You're not being unreasonable to want to know, but it can be a difficult thing for schools to give an overall 'grade' for, as he might be on target in maths and science but behind in English.

Try and make an appointment to see the headteacher and have a meeting with them to discuss your concerns. They should take your concerns seriously and take action to ensure your son is getting the support he needs in school.

If you think there is a possibility he has special educational needs then you could also ask to speak to the school SENDCO to discuss screening for this.

The school should be supporting you and helping you to help your son with his educational progress. I work in secondary, and will admit that we are exceptionally stretched at the moment, partially due to Covid and partially due to years of underfunding. However, it is a schools duty to act upon concerns of parents and we would always do our best to make that a priority.

Also, email if you can! Some teachers/head teachers/school staff respond to emails better than they do to having a quick chat at the school gate. Plus, it gives you a record of what has been said for you to look back upon.

Hope this helps!

With a disrupted education he may well have gaps in his curriculum knowledge. The school really won’t be able to state he’s a year behind! They teach the curriculum for the year he’s in. What you need to know is where his weaknesses are and what help he can be given to improve. Ask what the assessment data tells the school about his attainment and progress.

Then ask how the gaps will be closed? What are they planning to do? This could be small group learning. More attention from the TA in the classroom. More guidance to you in terms of what he needs to practice. Suggestions to help with reading etc.

In many schools around 40% of DC are not naming expected progress. It doesn’t mean they are all SEN. It does mean the school needs to think about how these dc are taught in order to improve.

Mine are at secondary now but when they were at primary the system changed from telling parents an exact level a child was at to just saying if they were working above, working at or working below the year they are in. You didn't get given much detail at all, only time was SATS results really but I think they have been cancelled this year.

Children will be working at different levels and as he has had so much disruption with lockdown and changing countries its not surprising that he is working below. Children almost always stay in year in the UK - my husband is from France and he said there a child may be moved down a year if struggling but that is very rare here, I have only known it happen once.

I would say the main subjects to concentrate on are maths and english. If your son already knows French he will be going into that with a head start. If you have time I would work with your son a bit at home and try and improve his levels in maths and English, you can get workbooks from somewhere like WH Smiths for English and Maths or if he prefers the computer Mathletics is great for Maths and can be adjusted by year. There are also free resources here:

classroom.thenational.academy/subjects-by-key-stage/key-stage-2

I would do maybe an hour a week with him if you are able and then hopefully you will see his strengths and weaknesses but always be positive with him. I would phrase it with school that you want to improve his levels rather than as a complaint and hopefully they will work with you. From what they have said it sounds like he is a year behind so maybe start with a year behind work. Around us secondaries assess either in the summer holidays or at the start of year 7 or both so you will get more then.

@Silkiecats
Although the descriptions changed for assessment, there are very detailed assessment policies in schools. The teachers therefore do know what “working below” etc actually looks like. They have judged the dc to be at that position. If there wasn’t a coherent policy applied to the DC’s work within the curriculum, how could assessment without levels ever work or mean anything? It couldn’t. The schools do have detailed info about DC and they could tell parents why a child is working below etc. It’s very lazy not to give parents better info so gaps can’t be worked on. When I was a governor, assessment was rigorous and progress, or lack of, could be articulated to parents.