Another thing, SATS

FluffyChicken":34i0qdme said:

As far as I know it doesn't matter what she gets in the SATS, it's just to get an idea of where your child is and how the child is doing compared to what was predicted (a school then then also be graded on how well it got to getting that estimate grade some time back, they call it Value Added).

Tell them not to worry and if she doesn't get what was expected of her then ask the school why and what can be done to help.

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The trouble is that your end of primary school tests put you in the group you'll be in in secondary school and using my experience if you end in the lower sets, like I did, the school thinks your not even worth educating so they put no effort into you. I'd hate that for my child, I know she is bright and really good at argument but academically she struggles.

Alison

andyz":3mufktf0 said:

Iwasgoodonce":3mufktf0 said:

Our daughter also struggles with maths and has really benefitted from some extra tuition. Just an hour on a Saturday has really made a difference.

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Totally agree with this. One hour a week has changed the attitude of our middle son. His tutor is a well-known local pillar of the community, quite posh, which he found a bit intimidating to start with, but now he even dresses-up smartly when going to see her, and always does his homework. The difference in his attitude is very noticeable, and pleasantly surprising to be honest!

We can't afford it either really, but at £25 a week its worth the sacrifice.

Cheers,
Andrew

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I guess you'd think I'm sacrificing my daughters education by not spending £25 a week on her but we struggle to pay for groceries each week, Dom has a money piece of software and we have to stick religiously to it just to make sure we can pay our rent.

Alison

It does depend on the secondary school's setting policy (which might be worth finding out) - if a school sets after the first term then SATS scores have less weight as performance over the autumn term is taken into consideration.

From experience iIt's quite hair-raising how some schools set in core subjects...

It depends how the school sets them, but they can move between sets if the school thinks it is better for the child. If your school, senior, doesn't teach the the lower sets well or try to increase their achievement then for a start they are a poor school, their results will show this. Lower groups will usually be pushed as they are where the scoring counts. Higher groups are the owned that tend (or did when I was at school, not so much now though) to get left to their own devices as they'll pass the c grade anyway.
Swings and roundabouts.

bbc-bitesize etc are all great ways of making maths/english fun etc, i use it for college students now. the government are really pushing
for improved maths and english skills and i can agree with them, their approach is not great though at FE level.

my advice to you and your children is to pretend the work relates to something they enjoy, for example dividing their pocket money up for treats etc, or calculating how much mummy has spent on retrobikes lol

its not easy but the hard work will pay off, .....as long as secondary education gets better!!!