Year 6 primary too easy?

[crashtestdummy]

After the pressure of the 11 plus my daughter is finding her final year at primary a bit of a cruise and feels she isn't being pushed enough with classwork. She is bright and passed both the Kent and Bexley 11 plus quite comfortably. I don't blame her teachers in any way as they are excellent but have 30 kids to teach. Should pupils be given one day a week at their future grammar school to familiarise them with the transition and make it less of a shock or have grammars got enough on their plate? She can't wait until September but it seems a long wait!

[Guest55]

Year 6 haven't got an allocated school yet! There are the KS2 tests in May which are brand new including 'old level 6' content. If she's bored then ask for extension work or get her to read for English and look at http://www.nrich.maths.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for maths.

Secondaries are very busy preparing their students for GCSE and A level examinations - they have no 'spare' teachers or rooms to cater for additional classes.

[crashtestdummy]

Thanks Guest55, that's good advice.

[PurpleDuck]

I think a vast majority of 11+ kids are in the same situation as your daughter, as they've already covered most of the current year 6 curriculum. I'd imagine teachers are well aware of it, so if you have a word with your daughter's teacher and ask for some extension work, he/she will most likely be happy to give her something extra to do. My DS has a lovely maths teacher this year, who hates seeing kinds bored and disengaged in class, so last week he taught a group of 4 boys on my DS's table Pythogoras' Theorem and gave them a few simple problems to solve. He usually gives them all sorts of maths and logical puzzles to work on to keep them busy after they have done what everyone else is working on. Other than that, I've told my DS I don't expect him to do anything other than his regular homework for the rest of this schools year and I'm happy for him to enjoy a bit of an easy ride for the rest of year 6. He will have an hour of homework a night to deal with soon enough.

[PettswoodFiona]

DD is so fed up with school too (and we are paying for it and she is typically learning Y7 curriculum level and still not stretched) so we are home-educating for the last term of Y6. Lots of really exciting things are being added to our plan. I know there are some things often at the end it Y6 that are social milestones but she's done trips away with school in Y5 as well as with Brownies and Guides and she had no desire to go to the end of school party and is invited back for the party if she did want to go as it isn't on the school premises. We pretty much know which school she is going to for secondary based on 11plus results and what we put on our CAF but of course there are no guarantees.

[Guest55]

. My DS has a lovely maths teacher this year, who hates seeing kinds bored and disengaged in class, so last week he taught a group of 4 boys on my DS's table Pythogoras' Theorem and gave them a few simple problems to solve. He usually gives them all sorts of maths and logical puzzles to work on to keep them busy after they have done what everyone else is working on.

Why teach them Pythagoras's theorem? I have a lovely task that explores this and leads to this theorem - it will be spoilt for anyone knowing it already. There is sooo much out there without accelerating - the second sentence sounds perfect .... they could do the UKMT junior challenge or the PMC or NRICH or ....

[yoyo123]

I have a box of maths games, often have games on the class computers and/or puzzle of the week for thise children who have finished their work.

[mumsdarling2]

Could they not do some fun/skill-building extra curricular activities outside of school for rest of the year as they may not have that much time once they start year 7? I meant after school of course.

[PurpleDuck]

. My DS has a lovely maths teacher this year, who hates seeing kinds bored and disengaged in class, so last week he taught a group of 4 boys on my DS's table Pythogoras' Theorem and gave them a few simple problems to solve. He usually gives them all sorts of maths and logical puzzles to work on to keep them busy after they have done what everyone else is working on.

Why teach them Pythagoras's theorem? I have a lovely task that explores this and leads to this theorem - it will be spoilt for anyone knowing it already. There is sooo much out there without accelerating - the second sentence sounds perfect .... they could do the UKMT junior challenge or the PMC or NRICH or ....

I think the teacher just showed it to them as something interesting while they were working out co-ordinates of triangles on a grid, rather than teach it as such... I'm afraid I don't have any more details of what exactly happened - I was lucky to get anything at all out of my DS in reply to my 'what have you been doing at school today?'... His usual answer is 'nothing much' or ' I don't remember'! You are right, though, there is no point in speeding up if there are a lot of other interesting things they could do. The task you mentioned sounds very interesting - is it something you could share, please? If it is, I could try to take DS through it in a few weeks's time - maybe he will forget the formula by then!

They did do the junior maths challenge, quite a few of them got through to the second stage. I think we have been very lucky with teachers in Y5 and Y6 - they are all really good and do push those kids who would do with a bit of a challenge. Sometimes, parents may need to have a chat with a teacher if it's a bright child who would happily get away without having to do too much, but once they are aware, they don't let them hide.

[PurpleDuck]

I have a box of maths games, often have games on the class computers and/or puzzle of the week for thise children who have finished their work.

Lucky the children you teach! I bet it's a great incentive for them to get on with the work and finish quickly