Year 7 poor report

[Needahaircut81]

Hello,

My dd is just finishing year 7 and we received her school report last week. She is incredibly creative and is doing very well in Art, Drama, DT, Music.. Which is great.

Maths she received a 5 in end of year test, English a 6. Then all the sciences, RS, Geography, History were pretty dreadful.. She received a 2 in end of year in geography.

She doesn't have a diagnosis for any SEND, however really struggles with organisation and concentration - forgets books to take, regularly leaves school bag at school/on bus. She is at an independent school and does 1 language (normal at the school is 2) in place of a second language she has extra support in maths and English in small groups. Following on from school report, school have suggested she drops another lesson in year 8 to have 1-1 support.
As she thrives in creative subjects and can't drop a core subject.. The two potential options to drop next year are religious studies or geography.

Feel at a bit of a loss though. And wonder if she needs an assessment to find out if there is a specific issue such as dyslexia or dyspraxia and then look at ways to overcome it. Or do we just try the 1-1 support and hope that makes a difference?

She loves school and has made friends. I find it strange that she is doing ok in maths and english and yet can't seem to transfer the skills to her other lessons.

Any advice much appreciated.

Thank you.

Do both, an assessment may inform the type and style of support she receives. Is the school selective though?

Look at ADD diagnosis, often overlooked when the H is absent.

Maths & English she has done for years in primary, and she is getting extra support.
Other subjects this year is the first time she will have been taught by subject specialists and they all have their own specific skills to learn.

How much are you helping organisation at home? My DD1 who turned out to have dyspraxia needed much more help and scaffolding well into y9 with general 'packing her bag' type things, and then a lot of help with GCSE revision. She had real problems with identifying detail to go in essays.

My DD2 should have done Geography and RS for GCSE. I personally think RS is much more 'straightforward' so if she doesn't have strong views either way I'd drop that. (It was a lot harder identifying what was key info for Geography than for RS.)

Thank you for all replies.

@LIZSYes the school is selective, she passed the entrance exam but her result was a low pass which is why she is doing the extra support group.

@GoWalkabout what is ADD? I have not heard of that.

@TeenMinusTests yes that is a really good point. From what she says and her report she is finding it easier to approach the maths and english teachers for help. Science teachers said that verbally she can answer questions but she can't seem to put the answer down on paper. I actually have quite severe dyspraxia so getting myself organised is a challenge in itself and i have a stressful job which doesn't help. I think I need to be helping her more on an evening to be organised for the next day.

Attention Deficit disorder (can come with or without the hyperactivity). Tends to be the daydreamy girls but they don't cause trouble but just can't attend and concentrate or remember steps in a task. Or remember their PE bag because of poor executive function skills. Ask the school nurse if they can screen for it. I used to refer kids for diagnosis in CAMHS. You are right to get on to it so she understands herself before exam years whatever the problem is. She need not feel that she is not clever - but perhaps has some areas that are harder for her. (by the way It's unlikely medication would be suggested, if she is assessed and diagnosed, its more about strategies).

Although the other thing I meant to say is that this is one of the year groups most impacted by lockdown loss of education so maybe she just needs time to catch up with development?

OK, as you have dyspraxia yourself you'll know the importance of teaching her strategies.
Here are the basic ones we had in place for organisation:

• a place for everything and everything in its place every time
• a checklist for after school/tea and one for leaving in the morning
• tie PE kit bag to school bag
• if necessary, wrist band to connect her to her schoolbag on the bus
• everything written in planner - no expecting to remember messages (or on phone)
• phone reminders if appropriate, but don't turn them off until job has actually been done
• strong plastic wallets in schoolbag for work sheets (or even exercise books)
• timetable pinned up somewhere at home

Some tips for adding detail which may or may not help:

• look how many marks something is - so in science 6 marks means 6 distinct pieces of information, in English you won't get 20 marks for 5 lines of writing
• experiment with bullets / mind maps before writing so she doesn't forget the detail she was planning (decouples generating ideas from the actual writing)
• For History things like Point Evidence Explain (or whatever is used now) in separate sentences to make sure they are all covered. Every new point gets a new paragraph
• The examiner can only give you marks for things you show you know. If it is 'obvious' write it down anyway. If you don't think it is directly relevant but you haven't said enough then write it down anyway as it might be relevant.
• Follow the question answering structure you have been taught, they have taught it for a reason.

I would definitely get an assessment. Even if it doesn't lead to a specific diagnosis it can highlight what the underlying issue is.

@GoWalkabout thank you, i have looked it up on Google too, sounds a lot like her so will discuss with school. Though you are right about the impact of covid and she really didn't cope well with online learning, had only just started to settle into school before January lockdown and has been slow to adjust since going back.

@TeenMinusTests some excellent stragety suggestions, thank you.

What do the numbers actually mean? And what is typical for an average student?
Because if they are current GCSE level, she is absolutly flying, and will do very well indeed. If they are predicted GCSE grade from current performance and progress, you need to see some of the work that is causing the issues, and teach her how to answer questions in the others subjects.

Ontop of Teens list we also prompt DS with how many things he needs to bring home each day. So normally 1 - school bag. But could increase to 2 on PE days, and 3 if music lessons coincide with PE.

@PeonyTime i am not too sure what the levels mean. But when discussing end of year exams in report its says:
'she achieved just 18% (level 2) in exam which is a worry'

'x scored 52% which is a level 5, this is a fantastic achievement' this is in Spanish and brand new subject to her this year but its really interactive class and they learn in creative ways. So really suits her.

I will ask the school to clarify what the levels mean.

Hi just wanted to update.. So managed to find a local educational psychologist that assessed DD over the summer. She was diagnosed with dyslexia and high probability of autism. So we made a referral for an autism assessmnet which was accepted today.... Long ole 2 year wait until she is seen for diagnosis, but she can apparently access interventions whilst on the waiting list.
Thank you so much! I wouldn't have got her an assessment if it wasn't for your support and advice.

@Needahaircut81 she sounds much like my daughter - v creative and bright but struggles hugely with writing and maths. We have spld and probable ASD. Best of luck also waiting for assessment too