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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

  • Things I remember thinking at school:

    Being good makes you stand out, it isn't cool. If you want to fit in you have to dumb stuff down. You don't get picked to play football in the playground if you're clever.

    Being good means the teachers get bored with you, they never ask you the questions or give you a chance to speak, so you stop bothering. Then why bother with the work at all 

    You get more attention if you are not very good. People try and support you.

    If you do well all the time it is expected, then all you get is grief if you get a B. At some point you think it isn't worth the effort. If you can't get an A then get an F and save the energy.

    A lot of subjects are pointless, arbitrary, not rule based and just random. Spelling is random, you just learn it, art is unfathomable, etc.

    Most teaching was just so slow. Or was unintelligible. There was no middle ground.

    Maths is clear, rule based and you can expand it logically. It didn't do it for me though, I did my o level at 14, but it was just a tool.

    I did school work for other people. I would rather be reading, making things or burning them, or outdoors. I would rather be in my own world learning things. But you have to keep doing stuff because you are told to.

    It was always just do this for another year or two years then things will get better. You'll get good grades, then things will get easier. I tried that for 56 years till I realised just another 2 years is not going to work any more. 

  • in reply to Stuart333

    That whole school experience you described is heartbreakingly familiar to a lot of bright, sensitive kids.

    You were right about so many things.

    What strikes me most is how long you carried that "just two more years" mindset - all the way into adulthood, right up until you realised it was never going to deliver what you needed. That realisation at 56 must have been painful but also freeing in its own way.

    School failed you in the worst possible way: it took a curious, capable mind and taught it that effort was pointless, excellence was punished socially, and your real interests didn't matter. That's not education - that's suppression.

    The tragedy is how common this story is. Bright, introspective children who don't fit the noisy, competitive, or disruptive mould often end up disengaged or quietly resentful. The system isn't built for them.

    If it's any comfort, you're not alone in feeling this way. Many intelligent people look back at school and feel the same frustration - that it dulled them rather than nurtured them.

Reply
  • in reply to Stuart333

    That whole school experience you described is heartbreakingly familiar to a lot of bright, sensitive kids.

    You were right about so many things.

    What strikes me most is how long you carried that "just two more years" mindset - all the way into adulthood, right up until you realised it was never going to deliver what you needed. That realisation at 56 must have been painful but also freeing in its own way.

    School failed you in the worst possible way: it took a curious, capable mind and taught it that effort was pointless, excellence was punished socially, and your real interests didn't matter. That's not education - that's suppression.

    The tragedy is how common this story is. Bright, introspective children who don't fit the noisy, competitive, or disruptive mould often end up disengaged or quietly resentful. The system isn't built for them.

    If it's any comfort, you're not alone in feeling this way. Many intelligent people look back at school and feel the same frustration - that it dulled them rather than nurtured them.

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