Really cross with my sons school

[JCrakers]

My sons secondary is an ofsted outstanding school so I expect high standards :p he's in year 9.


He isn't very academic and they have given him a lot of support with his English. Since starting the school in year 7 we also realised he found maths difficult too so he's been having lessons in a smaller group which would be great but out of the 8 children in the group, 6 of them couldn't care less so mess about a lot. My son is easily distracted (verging on ADHD and also verging on dyslexia) so he's made hardly any progress. hes a level 4 so quite low.

So, I get a newsletter this morning saying 'thank-you to all the students who have taken the extra maths lessons after school on weds'.....WHAT?!?
Why did I not get any information about this...I'm so cross..they asked the students and obviously my son didn't volunteer, being quiet, laid back and not particularly bothered. So I will be having words with him later but I'm also cross at the school as they didn't let me know of the extra maths that he could benefit from so much...grrr

[QualityCare]

I think its fairly normal in secondary schools for children to be given the responsibility for deciding about attending after school support sessions and don't inform parents individually, my childrens school informed us through the news letter when groups would be starting and each week all extra curricular groups were on the timetable included on the news letter. I do agree however that the school could have informed you as he he would benefited from the extra help.

[jillplum]

It is possible that the after school maths help would not be at the appropriate level for your son. They may run different sessions for different levels. Worth checking with the school.

[silvermist]

I had the exact same thing with my son, he also has ADHD.
I rang to complain that I hadnt even known they were offering extra tuition and the school said that they asked the pupils if they would like to attend!!! I was absolutely fuming because my son was never going to volunteer to do something he disliked and struggled with!
I understand that high schools see our children as young adults but you would think they would inform parents too!. I hope you get somewhere with your sons school!

[migimoo]

Well my dd has just told me she has GCSE mocks on Tuesday and had an English exam that counted towards her final grade today....with NO notice.....we are told NOTHING by her school-she's already refusing to come to the next parent's evening with me as she knows it's gonna kick off...yes...I am THAT parent:laughing:

[RuthJ]

I'm not surprised you're fuming! Does school think parents don't need to know these things?!

Also can't believe school didn't tell you about exam, Migimoo.

Thinking back to my secondary school days though I'm not sure we ever had letters sent home to parents about exams and extra lessons. I think the responsibility was on us to tell them. And I always did because I was a good girl :o

[tulip0803]

We rarely hear anything from our secondary school too. My daughter's exams, controlled assessments and mocks are told to her and she may sometimes pass it on too me! She missed a maths exam grade C by 2 marks so was resitting in Jan so I said I would get a friend who is a maths teacher to tutor her as she was struggling with division - day before exam she says I have my re-sit tomorrow. Thankfully my friend rushed round that night and spent 90 mins helping her so she could do it!

However the school have learnt as they sent me a GROUPCALL text this week to say that she had been identified as a borderline C in English so would be getting an extra lesson. She is very cross because I know and because she is missing a lesoon of drama and geography to do English. She is dyslexic and English is not a happy subject for her but I hope that the extra lesson works for her.