Education advice needed

alm721

Just another thought. Do you know what her target grade is?You say she was doing intermediate but has now dropped. Was this her choice or have the school put her in a different group? Just wondering as it will affect her potential grade. I know that with the exam board at out school you cannot get a grade C if you are in the foundation group. Not sure if this is the same for all exam boards but if you know she is aiming for a c or above then when you talk to the school you should check that she can get that grade in the class she is in and if she can't then insist she is moved..

FriendlyJ

Hiya alm721
She was C - B if she tried, but is now an E :eek:. Seems to be that the answer is a private tutor, the good thing is that her attitude has actually improved & she has taken the bull by the horns & got on with the bitesize. Do you know if Kumon costs the same throughout the country & how much it is? Still no word from the school :mad: will call again on mon.
Thanks J

alm721

I really think she should be sitting the intermediate paper if her orginal target was a c. When did her grade change? Normally gcse grades are predicted using either the NCT results (sats) or some other school data at the end of year 9. It seems very early in the year to have therefore changed her predicted grade to an E. If they have changed her predicted grade to an E then I would be asking them why and what are they doing about it. If its simply a case of she has got an E in a recent test then this is not reason alone to downgrade her prediction, especially if its due to poor teaching. If she just had a poor result on one test then dont panic she still has plenty of time to go to the end of y11.
Its really common for pupils to not do too well in y10 but improve for y11. I inherited a class last year at the begining of y11 who had 13 students who were potential C's at the start of y10. When I got them 10 had average grade E's and 3 were D's. With some good coursework and a lot of hard work all barr one got the C's they were capable of in year 11 (and the one that did'nt only failed to get there because she didn't attend one of the final exams). Anyway the point is there is plenty of time for her to pull it round.

With regards to the Kumon. The cost is the same accross the country. There is a £15 enrollment fee and then the monthly fee is £45. This is pretty good value when compared to private tutoring as a good private tutor will set you back around £25-30 per hour. Most Kumon centres open a couple of times and week and you can go as often as they are open. The student also a small amount of work to do at home every day which is marked by the parents and then corrections are done. The whole idea of this is that a small amount every day is better than a lot once every now and again and by doing corrections each day you prevent misconceptions being built up. It does take effort on the part of the parents as well to make sure that the homework is done and marked before goin back to class but it really does make a differnce to the students progress.

Anyway sorry for waffling on again. Any more questions just ask.

FriendlyJ

Thanks alm721 - Its good to know that she can turn it around. She was a C in sats & the school test last year. I feel a lot more empowered from everyones advice so I will be going to the school with the right questions. Thanks again J x

seven-day-weekend

I can echo the benefits of a private tutor. We had one for our son as he failed his mock GCSE (with a D) but with the help of a tutor for the last few months managed to pass with a C.

Also past exam papers, I totally agree with! My husband was a Geography teacher (now retired) and he gave our son several past Geography papers and got him to do them at home. Instead of his predicted grade D he got a B!

These are strategies I would take in the OP's circumstances as I think it is too late for her daughter to change schools.

Make sure she goes to a different school though if she wants to stay on in the sixth form (Years 12 and 13).

mrs_deadline

Priced at a similar level to Kumon (£50 a month) there is also an online private tutoring service called tutorvista. Considering you get one-to-one help on demand, I think that's good value. It's become very popular in the US, and maths is one of the subjects they do. From the press reports when the site was launched, it sounded as though the tutors were based in India/Asia.

https://www.tutorvista.co.uk (and I don't have any connection with them)

I haven't used it as yet but would certainly consider it if my kids weren't achieving the maths grades they were capable of.

FriendlyJ

Definately won't be going to sixth form at this school - will be moving before then as youngest dd will be going up in a couple of years & don't want her to go to this school.
J

Gingham_Ribbon

My maths teacher was a nightmare. My parents sent me to a council run adult ed evening class to get extra maths help.