Maths GCSE

[rainbowsandcloudyskies]

My son is in year 10 and struggles with maths. His working at grade is ‘1s’. I’m not sure what this means. His target grade is a 4 but I think he is a long way off this. He just seems unable to do any problems that are more than one step. He lacks confidence, panics and copes by guessing or copying. I’m concerned about the impact of his maths GCSE result on his post 16 choices. I’m just looking for advice about how best to support him. I’m happy to work with him but don’t know where to start. He isn’t struggling with other subjects in the same way.

Do you think this could be dyscalculia - a specific and persistent difficulty in understanding numbers? I would try to speak to his maths teacher and then get specific tutoring support for this.

Thank you for replying.
I do think this is a possibility but no teacher has ever raised this with us. No extra support has ever been put in place for him. It is becoming a bit like a phobia for him and he even worries about going to the shop and paying the correct money for things. Would an assessment be better done through school or privately? Or am I jumping the gun and should just chat to the school first? I feel like I’ve left this a bit too late…

Are you able to access private tutoring @rainbowsandcloudyskiesrain?

DS1 took the foundation a few years ago and got a C which I believe is the highest grade for that paper with the help of a tutor. It's not a subject he is particularly good at but the tutor gave him so much confidence.

DS2 was in top set but struggled during lockdown and his grades were just getting lower and lower. He was predicted a D and ended up with A* with the help of a tutor.

I'm not wealthy or anything near it but one tutor was a student with an A level in maths so it was considerably cheaper. I can try and contact her if it would help.

Ds year 10 had also lost confidence in his maths ability. We have got a tutor but have asked him to focus on confidence building first. So to help ds see what he can do rather than starting with what he can’t. We are hoping this will help him attempt questions with more confidence and learn how to work things out in his own way. I do not think it is to late, well I hope not!

I'm a TA working with y11s on the foundation/ intermediate borderline. My first thoughts are

1. There is time given consistent directed support, with from yourself or a tutor. You would need your child's teacher's help. For example, our teacher provides topics for each half term or test along with videos which show the methods used in school.

1. Many at this level struggle with the reading element if the questions. Your child won't be unusual here. It's a question of training them to be able to pull the maths they have to do out of the questions.

1. I would caution against automatically thinking the foundation paper is your best bet, although it might be. In our exam board the questions on the foundation paper needed to get a C are disproportionately hard. It's in fact easier to get a C on intermediate.

1. Our school uses talented 6th corners as volunteer tutors. You could ask about this.

1. For a lot of the skills needed, it's a question of sheer memorisation.

1. If it's possible your son has additional learning needs, we can in some circumstances access members of staff trained to modify exam questions to make them more accessible. If you think this might be true, I'd press hard now for assessment. We have kids in lower sets who clearly have ALN but no one has ever asked for an assessment. I can think of four in one set of 10 kids without even having to try. If they're not picked up by routine screening, they just fail.

Sorry for the typos

Thank you. I am considering tutoring but he is just so negative about anything to do with maths. I love the idea of starting with what he can do and I’ll definitely be keeping this in mind.

Rather than focusing on GCSE maths it sounds like he needs to go back to basic maths and get some confidence.

Maybe you could try something like this

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0964KZQFH/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Thank you Meryl. All really helpful. He is a good reader but definitely struggles to pick the maths out of the problems. He is doing foundation. The school have decided this. I don’t think we have a say. Memory is definitely an issue for him. I do think he has mild processing difficulties but they don’t seem to affect his other subjects so drastically. Who do I push for an assessment? Thank you for being reassuring about the time scale 😊.

Raise it with the school. My son struggled and his school arranged peer tutoring eg students who were easily getting 9s helped him several times a week. This had much more of an impact than any other help I'd arranged as they were on his wavelength and he didn't feel nagged or pressurised by them. Good luck.

Also get him assessed by the school to see if he qualifies for extra time. This can make a huge difference.

I will speak to the school. Thank you. I appreciate your advice. 😊

I'm a TA working with y11s on the foundation/ intermediate borderline.
There are only 2 tiers for English GCSEs foundation grades 1-5 and Higher grades 4-9.
The GCSE system is different in Wales and NI.
The comments about reading and other skills being important are still relevant though.
Dyscalculia can present as a Maths phobia, so it is worth asking the teachers about this.
In my area, post 16 pupils were allowed to resit GCSE Maths alongside level 3 qualifications provided that they had grade 4 in English Language.

I am considering tutoring but he is just so negative about anything to do with maths I hate to say it but you need an honest conversation with him, if he doesn't pass maths in yr11 he will be doing more of it until he does pass to better to eat the frog now so to speak.

A working grade 1 means that he is below the pass of a 4. Due to the way exams are marked there is a bell curve, so they look at everyone's mark and find the average which becomes the 4s and then they work out where the rest of the marks fall. It sadly does mean some children will gets 3s, 2s and 1s.

Does the school not have any online resources? My son has Hegarty Maths but the school pays for it. The videos from the fabulous Mr Hegarty are on YouTube so I would start with the playlists see how he does. Once he can identify what he can't do there will be other Hegarty Maths videos which walk him through the problem. I think it is a great resource. Maths is all about practise, the more you do the easier it should become.

I would contact the ALN (or SEN if they're still called that in England - I'm in Wales) manager and raise your concerns. They will almost certainly have a screening record and may be able to suggest further tests based on this. You may have to be quite determined in trying to ascertain if there is a problem as learning support is very short staffed where we are. There's not enough TAs to go around.

I would also ask for an interview with his teacher to get a sense of any particular difficulties they think your son has. They can sometimes do small things which are quite helpful. For example, my own daughter struggles with maths. Usually her class aren't allowed their books home but her teacher let's her because they know I'm at home helping and need to see it so I know what she's doing.

Op what sort of grades is he achieving or on target for in English? That would clarify if reading is at all an issue, which it can be for maths problems.

If he is at L1 in Yr 10 then Foundation is certainly the right tier. Yy no intermediate in England. See what his teacher advises first.

If he struggles so much he will not achieve grade 4 (the usual level needed for progrssion) you can ask post 16 about L2 functional skills. My ds1 has this in English, completed at college, and equivalent in terms of level to a 4/C at GCSE.

Thanks Clary. He is targeted a 6 for English, working at a 4. His reading age has always been above his age. He can read well and has good understanding (comprehension and vocabulary). However, he doesn’t understand the relevant maths bits within a maths problem or the calculations he needs to do to solve the problem. It is good to know that there are post 16 options but I think it is a shame that his struggles with maths will probably rule out him going on to his school sixth form.

Just to say that a lot of schools and colleges will let them retake gcse maths while doing the next level qualifications. It might be worth looking at the "functional skills" qualification which is designed for those who struggle to get GCSE maths but gives the basic maths level needed to go into a job or further education.

Functional skills

@rainbowsandcloudyskies
Some of the advice you have received is relevant in Wales not England. Your son should without a doubt be doing the foundation paper and putting as much effort as possible into getting a 4.

If you can afford a tutor, I'd first look for a primary teacher or someone well versed in ks2. They will be able to go far enough back to unpick your sons issues.

Dyscalculia is very unlikely and at this stage in y10 you don't really have enough time to get assessed etc before his GCSEs. You could ask school to assess his processing ability and whether he would be entitled to extra time. This assessment is done on screen and doesn't need an Ed Psych (in our LA anyway).

If he's working at a grade 1 that indicates some of his gaps are probably in his number knowledge and understanding place value. That's why a ks2 specialist will help as they can go back and build those skills from the start.

Two of his 3 maths papers will use a calculator, however he will need to practise working out what he needs to calculate to answer the questions.

Has he always found maths hard?

I definitely would like him to put effort into getting level 4. However, from a working at grade of 1 this seems like a big stretch. I completely agree that he has gaps from KS2 that need unpicking. However, the main issue is that he can’t work out the maths that needs to be done and he loses his way in anything more than a one step problem. He can’t apply taught learning to different contexts.
In hindsight, he has always struggled with maths but developed coping strategies and it wasn’t really picked up in KS1 or KS2. In KS3 he was put in the lowest set so I knew he struggled but no teacher has ever had a conversation with me about this.
Thank you for your replies.

He is doing foundation. The school have decided this. I don’t think we have a say.

A child working at a Grade 1 in Year 10 should most definitely be doing foundation. The higher paper is for children expected to get a 6 or higher and only has "harder" questions. Your DS will likely struggle to get a single mark on it.

I am very happy that he is doing the Foundation Level. Apologies if it sounded otherwise…

He (and you) do have time to support him and give him the best chance of getting the 4. For most students, passing at school is the best chance they will get. They get the most hours of maths tuition in school compared to college or sixth form.

As frustrating as it is that no one has explicitly said until now he will struggle to pass, at least you have the information now.

One tip is to keep the numbers easy and focus on the steps. If he can do one step problems, move to 2 step, then three. Build him up slowly.

A good tutor will identify strengths and weaknesses and which areas to work on. (They will also identify if any areas aren't worth the effort of learning).

Thank you. This is really helpful advice.