How to get the most out of your child's start to Secondary school maths.

Now that we have hit August the shops have started their “Back to School” sales in their bid to grab the academic pound.  Whilst most teenagers will be returning to familiar terrain, around half a million youngsters and their families will be especially nervous this September as they move from their Primary school up to Secondary school. 

With all the concerns of moving to a Secondary school, how do you make sure you get the best maths education for your child?

    1.   Be in it for the long haul.

A good secondary school will develop your child socially and emotionally in partnership with you.  But, academic qualifications are the main remit for schools.  The aim of the maths department is to ensure your child leaves with the best GCSE grade (or level) that they are capable of.

Don’t worry if things fail to get off to an explosive start.  Schools often have very little meaningful data on students in September when they join.  (Indeed, more and more schools are testing their year 7 students on entry to get around this problem).  Don’t assume we have their SATS scores – we normally don’t!

In addition, Year 7 students won’t be the maths department focus for the first week or so.  Appealing GCSE grades, getting the right youngsters on the right courses in the 6^th form and ensuring the new Yr 11 have started their final year well will be. 

Things should be flowing well by the 4^th or 5^th week and if they aren’t use the next point (which you will have done in the first week of September) to find out more.

    2.   Get in touch with your child’s maths teacher.

The beauty of email allows parents and teachers the opportunity to communicate effectively at a time convenient to both.  Send your child’s maths teacher an email to introduce yourself and to let the teacher know that you are there to help support your child’s learning.  Ask what day homework is set and when it is due.  Additionally, ask if there are any resources online that the school subscribes to as most schools now subscribe to something (Mymaths, Mathletics, Conquermaths etc) that students can access from home. Teachers really value knowing there is someone at home supporting them and the school.

    3. Take the opportunities – send them on a residential.

A benefit of a bigger secondary school is that they have the finances and staff numbers to offer more things to the students.  Encourage your child to get involved in new things and broaden their experiences.  More and more schools now run year 7 overnight events to help students bond and get to know each other and the staff.  Make it a priority for your child to go on these as it will help expand their friendship group outside of their current primary school friends.

Teachers will always tell you that the academically most successful students are  the busiest having taken advantage of the extra-curricular opportunities on offer.  Encourage them to get involved in the school play, join an academic after school club, join a sports team or start to learn a new musical instrument etc.

    4.    Big fish, small pond.  Small fish, big pond.

Many students start year 7 in a cohort of 200+ having come from a primary school where there were 30 or 60 in Year 6.  They may well have been the best in the year group at maths at their old school and are less likely to hold that title now.  We all like doing what we are successful at so be on the look-out for declining attitudes towards maths as your child realises they aren’t at the top anymore.  Some students react positively to this change and work even harder (this is the response we want), some accept it and continue to do a good job and a few blame their teacher (this isn’t the response we want!) citing personality clashes…. 

    5. Understand the school’s attitude to your child will be different.

In Year 6 the academic attainment of your child was hugely important for the primary school’s league table results.  To that end, it was likely they would have had the best teacher available and as much support and intervention as the school could afford.  The same happens in secondary schools – but in year 11.

See this change as an opportunity to encourage your child to develop an understanding of maths, which takes time, rather than an immediate focus on “knowing how to do it” and moving on as there is an important SATS exam around the corner.

All in all, the overwhelming majority of students flourish at secondary school.  Make sure your child knows you value education (social, emotional and academic), keep in regular touch with the school and give the school the opportunity to iron out any things that do go wrong and you should have a stress free year 7!