Teaching in Primary schools

[Guest]

My son is at a catholic primary school.Over the last year the Polish population has swelled the schools numbers by 50.
There are now 7 non-speaking polish children in my sons' Y2 class.
There are 25 children in the class.
Guess who needs all the teachers attention, all the time.
My son is very able and has a reading age of 14 years(just turned 7),and is a whizz at maths.
Yet daily I have him crying that he hates school,that he is bored with the work.
I have spoken to the teacher about enrichment -to be told that it doesn't happen at this school.
The teacher says that he is able and should be getting on with his work on his own.But he needs attention too.
He gets to sit next to the Polish children to help them come on with their English work.
Every time I complain I am sure that they think I am just another neurotic,pushy parent.
This has got to be a great example of a primary school failing their students.
As long as they get Level 4 SATS for Year 6 students they feel that they have done their job.
By the way not one of the 20 Year 6 students that took the Grammar school test passed!!!

I beg you to investigate a high achieving prep school if you have one locally. The teachers you are talking about sound like card-carrying Marxists, intent on producing nothing but the average. They will get a shock once the Poles are up to speed with their English, they are not renowned for taking things easy at school. However, in the meantime your son needs proper attention to suit his ability, and it is your duty to find it for him. Of course he is bored, poor little chap, the days must drag for him. IAPS prep schools are normally very ready to discuss a discount for a very clever child if you would have difficulty affording the fees. If they're not, you could try murmuring the words "Charitable Status" and see if they go pale.

[Guest]

Thanks for all your replies.
We are definitely trying for a scholarship in March and hopefully we can change direction then.
I know from talking to many friends that their schools are the same.
All his teacher says is that his handwriting needs improvement and that he lolls all over the desk and keeps saying that he is bored!!!!

We do alot of extra work at home which he does with great relish.
He could read extremely well from age 3 and we really encouraged him at home.
But it is such a heavy cross to bear because he is so far ahead of his peers at school that i wonder if we did the right thing.
The poor child has been bored from Reception onwards.When other kids were learning their alphabet he was reading Stage 9 reading books.
He has been free reading since Year 1 but we have to supply huge quantities of books from the local library because the school have'nt even got time to take him to the Junior school to select books.
How sad is that!
I can see him being completely tuned out by Year 6.
We spend vast amounts of time trying to keep him motivated,optimistic,and challenged because his personality is such that he finds it hard to discuss his feelings very well and we can end up with huge temper tantrums.
Shame that there are no grammar schools for Primary children.

[Guest]

Its interesting that so many of us have had poor experiences of our children being stretched at primary school . A grammar for primary might not be such a bad idea!!

[Bad Dad]

I don't think it is fair to blame the schools and the teachers, who in my experience do a wonderful job for little thanks. They do their best but the system rates them primarily on their achievement in bringing all children to an acceptable standard. I can understand from a purely utilitarian perspective, when there are limited resources, they have to be directed at ensuring children can read and write properly before they can help gifted children reach their full potential. Illiteracy causes huge social damage.

I realise that is no consolation to you, and I am not anti-elitist. I have 2 children on the Gifted register myself and know well the experience of sitting in a little chair at parents evening battling to get the best for them. I wouldn't begrudge any parent using all the resources at their disposal to get the best they can and I think your child sounds absolutely amazing, but I can also take a step back and see why the schools have to prioritise as they do.

btw, well done capers for telling it like it is. The T word is a bit too pejorative for my liking, but the sentiment was spot on. It is nice to think that we can say what we want to say here without fear of poiltical correctness or people taking needless offence. I could never talk like this in the real world, I am far too shy! But I am quite happy for people to trash my pathetic opinions here.

[capers123]

We do alot of extra work at home which he does with great relish.
He could read extremely well from age 3 and we really encouraged him at home.
But it is such a heavy cross to bear because he is so far ahead of his peers at school that i wonder if we did the right thing.
The poor child has been bored from Reception onwards.When other kids were learning their alphabet he was reading Stage 9 reading books.
He has been free reading since Year 1 but we have to supply huge quantities of books from the local library because the school have'nt even got time to take him to the Junior school to select books.

Reading schemes. Ha. Some teachers are more than happy to let children skip books, progress fast. But one at the school - Year 1 at the time, (who is excellent in other fields, but only worries about the lower end of ability) insisted on each child working methodically through the scheme, 1 book per week. Result - bored child. Following year, different teacher, free reader within one term - happened with both my children at that school.

From what you say, I would be 99.9% sure that you have a child in the G&T spectrum. I'm not keen on private schools as such - often they have a large number of less able children, whose parents pay for them to get the attention that they thought they would't get at a state school. Interestingly, one very wealthy family has moved all their children (including at least 1 special needs) to our state school because there were too many children with special needs at the local prep school - and they were not progressing well enough! They have lots of scholarships to try & keep the results up.

One other private school in Gloucester I would strongly recommend - friends with a son on a choral scholarship say they cope very well with G&T - so check very carefully before you sign up!

[Drastic Dad]

In my son's old school (a state primary), he was left by the teachers who were too busy trying to bring other kids up to the standard. He felt really left out and bored and complained that teachers ignored him. Those teachers were not very happy when the first private school my boy went to, snapped him by offering him a very generous scholarship. He is very happy now and feels positively challenged

A clear example of buying your way out!!

You missed the scholarship bit. "Buying your way out" my ****

[Bewildered]

The Finnish have obviously got it right...
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools ... 39,00.html

Perhaps we should learn something from their education system...

[Guest]

Sadly although my son has many gifts,a tuneful singing voice is not one of them.
Therefore we can discount Kings although it does look like a fantastic school.
Maybe son number 3 could try out when he is seven.Although only 2.5 he is very tuneful.Maybe music will be his forte?

[mousaka]

My son is at a catholic primary school.Over the last year the Polish population has swelled the schools numbers by 50.
There are now 7 non-speaking polish children in my sons' Y2 class.
There are 25 children in the class.
Guess who needs all the teachers attention, all the time.
My son is very able and has a reading age of 14 years(just turned 7),and is a whizz at maths.
Yet daily I have him crying that he hates school,that he is bored with the work.
I have spoken to the teacher about enrichment -to be told that it doesn't happen at this school.
The teacher says that he is able and should be getting on with his work on his own.But he needs attention too.
He gets to sit next to the Polish children to help them come on with their English work.
Every time I complain I am sure that they think I am just another neurotic,pushy parent.
This has got to be a great example of a primary school failing their students.
As long as they get Level 4 SATS for Year 6 students they feel that they have done their job.
By the way not one of the 20 Year 6 students that took the Grammar school test passed!!!

The world 6 times champion=do not mess up with Poles:

http://www.theworldsstrongestman.com/ws ... owski.html

[capers123]

Guest - I guess you're in Gloucestershire? Could you register then send me a private mail - I'd like to chat.