Sats year 7

[loulou]

Hi sj355

My child achieved 2b in his Year 2 SATs and was consistently well below average. At this stage it was also mentioned that he needs language therapy, does not properly understand English etc. I ignored everything

.

He then proceeded to achieve a 5a in his year 5 SATS in Maths, writing and spelling, and according to his year 5 report had already finished everything that is going to be taught in MATHs in year 6. He is currently just started doing year 8 Maths in his year 6 class (together with 2 other kinds in his year 6 class, in a small very average state primary comperhensive) and has jumped at the front of everthing in his class (despite being the youngest) including Science, English writing and Spelling.

This made very interesting reading. Were the changes down to you or down to the school? ie. did you coach or have your child coached or did he improve of his own accord with the schools help?

I personally am very impressed by a state primary that encourages a child who is obviously bright to do year 8 maths ( helping them fulfil their potential rather them just drift because the will get level 5's without additional teacher effort ) when they are only in year 6. Which school is it? - can we all join!!!!!!!!!

[Cofused]

Sj355,

Agree with Loulou, interesting stuff. Would also be interested in the answers. Also would like to ask what you mean by 'burn out'. Whilst at school all high flyers, from primary through to secondary, remained at the top. Personally therefore I saw nothing that I think you are eluding to, so could you please clarify.

Thanks

Confused

[jah]

Burn Out is perhaps the wrong term. Kicking over the traces, perhaps, or finding there are other things in life apart from work. For some people it shows up as having to re-sit their A'levels, perhaps with a change of subject and a change of direction. For other people it can happen as late as 30, with chucking in their job and sailing around the world. The later it happens, the more likely it will have a positive effect, rather than be a disruption to their education.

[sj355]

Dear All,

I admit that I may have used the wrong term. Level out is perhaps more correct, but the effect is the same if the other people that flourish later fly over your head as you stay static.

I originally come from Greece. I just scraped into a University in Athens as an undergraduate to do Statistics with a major in Economics. (I was literally the last). On the fourth and final year of my BSc I graduated top of my class among 200 students. I then did my MPhil in Cambridge and my PhD in UCL, London.

Quite obviously if my son is now top of the class someone that used to be above him is now below him even if he/she continues to be as good as he/she used to be. It is all in terms of relative positions or rather relative speeds.

I do not know about being good from primary to secondary (I will let you know as my son progresses to that stage) but many (not all) of my students that come to the University I teach do indeed change. Many with good A levels are just relieved to be in University and relax, while others with more modest A levels start working enormously hard and easily surpass them. It is the realisation that there other things in life apart from studying for the former group, and the realisation that the are other things apart from taking it easy for the latter group. Very clever people (that will do well no matter what) and very slow people (that will do bad no matter what) are very rare in student life at the University.

Coaching? Mmm let me see. I am (given my profession) very enthusiastic in Maths and since my kid was very young we used to do Maths just for the fun of it. We still do. However it is only in the last 10 months that he did establish the confidence to show his Maths ability at school. Hence it is definetely an age related development.

For the literacy I hired an English tutor 9 months ago, and yes she is very good and my son goes there once per week for 1.5 hours. However the suddenly enthusiastic reports from his school started to appear almost precisely at the same time so I do not know whether the "click" in his mind was age related or tutor related.

I think that for a school to run an advanced group in Maths for children in the class two things are needed: a) a good class teacher and b) a critical mass of children to do this (4 is enough, as in this case). As both conditions were satisified this year this has happened. Chalgrove Primary (the school my son attends) aways runs maths, reading and writing in each year in groups according to ability. Is not that the case everywhere?

INEX

Burn Out is perhaps the wrong term. Kicking over the traces, perhaps, or finding there are other things in life apart from work. For some people it shows up as having to re-sit their A'levels, perhaps with a change of subject and a change of direction. For other people it can happen as late as 30, with chucking in their job and sailing around the world. The later it happens, the more likely it will have a positive effect, rather than be a disruption to their education.