• Replies 27 replies
  • Subscribers 38 subscribers
  • Views 241 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Deliberate ‘failure’ with Year 6 school work?

Alix

Hello!

My son is in Year 6. Up to the start of Year 6, he was consistently achieving very well in all aspects of his school work right from starting school. In the last few months, however, his scores in English have dipped considerably to this week not even an age expected score in SATS mocks. He is a capable student, and often achieves perfect scores in maths. He claims to not to be able to read, that he can’t spell, yet his prior achievement in school and when doing homework or reading with me, does not bear this out. He’ll go from using more complex language with a high degree of accuracy, such as ‘spherically’, to consistently writing ‘tabel’, even after I’ve corrected this.

His teacher, the SENCo and I all think that there’s an element of him deliberately trying to almost ‘fail’ in all other aspects of written school work apart from maths. 
None of us have come across this before - his dad and I are also both highly experienced teachers. We’re at a loss of how to support him.

I’ve been trying to find something online which discusses this but with no luck, so am wondering if anyone else has had this experience or can point me in the direction for support?

Thank you for reading this.

Parents

  • I recognise it all too well. My son (11) has a lot of trouble with school work, he has a very spiky profile when it comes to what he can do. 

    He's very bright, and absorbs information, to the point his teacher said she would say he was gifted - the problem is although quality is brilliant, he can produce very little, an amazing paragraph to everyone else's page of writing. He gets locked up trying to get his thoughts in order to put them on the page, sometimes his little sister will try help him do his homework. Spelling went down this year too, he's doing words a level down from what he was doing last year. Maths is excellent, but he's allowed to do every other question to do it in time. His teachers thought he'd catch up with spelling as he was hyperlexic and could read from 3 1/2 years, so at first the teachers called him distracted and 'bad' as they could see he was capable, but thankfully now they get what he can do and can't do. 

    I worry for his ability to do exams when he's older. He's like a rabbit in headlights with any sort of pressure. They don't think he's dyslexic. He just doesn't always know how to start work. 

  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing

    Thank you for sharing this. Getting things down on paper is a real issue this year, and homework is only ever done when I sit there with him. 
    I'm working in the exams team at a high school, and it’s really brought to the forefront the need to be persistent in raising concerns about my son in case timetable adjustments or access arrangements are required for exams later down the line when he is in high school.
    There is a lot which can be put in place for students who need something different for public exams, but the evidence needs to be gathered in the school in good time to access these. It may already be in place, but if not, it’s always worth a chat with the SEN dept about if your son can trial some of the possible access arrangement options in formal assessments early in his high school to see if there’s something that can support him.

    Thank you again for sharing.

  • in reply to Alix

    We are in Scotland, so it's a lot harder to understand what he can get down the line with exam help, we don't get SEN plans or any rights to support - there is something written down, but I'm not sure what. He's lucky in the regards it's been a small school and same teacher for nearly all his years at primary, so they really know him now, but secondry school will be very different. He's at least got an official diagnosis now which might help with talking to the highschool staff.

    Sorry I didn't mean to derail the conversation, just to share experiences. It was more just to say pressure can really stop kids showing their potential (this can even be internally driven too). I was a straight A student, but even I had a panic attack in my final maths exam half way though (thankfully) and couldn't remember anything else. He might even struggle to put into words what happened during SAT's, it can be frightening to not be able to access your knowledge. 

  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing

    Nothing to apologise for. It’s so much less isolating (for me at least!) when I read what others are experiencing, as I don’t feel there’s another parent in his class I can talk to.

    Thank you again and best wishes to you and your son.

Reply Children
No Data