How are your grandchildren getting on at school?

I guess that's why we Scots had separate exams, absent. This was discontinued long ago.

Arithmetic is a rather important part of maths. However, I think the increasing use of the word 'numeracy' is perhaps an attempt to distinguish arithmetic from the rest of maths. What most people mean when they talk about school maths should perhaps be called numeracy in its meaning of "being able to do arithmetic". That said, you might be surprised at just how much maths is done at primary schools nowadays. Set theory being introduced to six year olds (it came up on GN recently) is one example. Kids are also introduced to various geometrical concepts, e.g. through origami and other mathematical delights.

Don't you think, as well, that it's somehow deemed more acceptable to be 'rubbish at maths' than, say 'rubbish at English'? Some adults are quite blase about the fact that they never got to grips with maths at school, but would probably be mortified if they weren't literate.

Quite agree Anagram and it is one of the biggest problems that schools have in raising the aspirations of parents and children. "I was rubbish at maths at school so he/she won't be any good either". The other one is "My Dad says why I am I wasting time learning French."

My 5 year old GS finds learning to read really hard in spite of the various methods tried at home and school - the usual look & say, phonetics etc plus game type activities, not hard slog - and is aware that he's finding it hard going. Yet his vocabulary is fantastic - much higher than many children old than he is - and he understands the words he's using and soaks up new ones like a sponge. Dyslexia runs in the male side of the family so we're keeping that in mind. His sister aged 7 reads like mad since about 3 years old and remembers what she's read so that is probably a factor too in that he feels he can't compete.

Good point, nag.

My eldest brother's reading didn't really take off until he was nine. He's a GP now. One of my nephews struggled with reading too, until the age of nine or ten. His dad taught him to play chess. Nephew is now doing a mathematical PhD at Harvard. Struggling at five doesn't necessarily mean a thing!

We have five grandchildren. Fifteen month old twins in the UK who's mum is a teacher and three here in France. 11, 8 and 28mths.

The 11 year old is struggling at school she won't ask for help, say she doesn't understand and gets in a right state. Her brother of 8 is doing exceptionally well. He is way ahead of his class mates in maths and science and he adores both subjects but especially maths.

Their step dad is French and he helps with the school work as our daughter and we have found that they do things so differently here especially in the way they do maths. They have been here five years and are now pretty much bilingual they speak French at school and en famille, but speak English with us.

The biggest problem we, our daughter and son in law find is that the schools are not prepared to use our grandchildren as a resource when it comes to teaching English. Our GD came home one day and started speaking in a weird accent, she asked for a 'ponsil' er what 'a ponsil' we then clicked she meant pencil. We told her to talk properly as she could say pencil and had always had done! Then this week she came home and said 'April' not as 'ape ril' but as ap (as in apps/applications) ril. Her mum said you know how to say these words. Yes, but apparently the teacher says that is how you say it and even it they are English they have to say it HER way! Daughter has had lots of 'words' with the school but they don't like being told they are doing it wrong. It is like saying they can't do their job.

One time our gs when he was in grande section about 5 years old the teacher had some cards with pictures and was doing English by showing the card and saying what picture was in English. She held up a picture of a large cake. She said 'Cack' (which means pooh in French!) GS shouted 'no it isn't its cake!' she looked at him and hurried on to the next picture. Apparently he had to correct her on a few words she mispronounced! Unlike his sister he is not backwards in coming forwards!!!

I have heard this quite a few times on the ex-pat forums, BG. I seem to remember one child was told he was from a "brood"; turns out he was from abroad. I coach quite a lot of the neighbours' children in English and I despair at what I see and hear. Everything is written; secondary age children told "if you are not sure it is correct, don't say it"; a local farmer's son at agricultural college struggling with an incredibly hard "comprehension" about suicide in Scandinavia and best of all the young man training to be a chef / waiter who didn't do any oral work, but had pages of recipes to translate - well boeuf bourguignon is er boeuf bourguignon in English....
We used to practise "Can I help you" and "Is everything all right with your meal", but it didn't seem to be in the English syllabus for waiters.

I found that a French friend living in Britain was very quick to correct anything that I mispronounced in French, but very slow to learn British pronunciation - she still sounded extremely Gallic after twenty years.

Indeed Elegran. I should add, BG, that I taught English in primary schools when we first lived here (for the princely sum of nine euros an hour), but they decided that the classroom teachers could do it instead and got rid of us all, so "cack" it is I'm afraid.

I'm not going to tell you about my brilliant, talented GC. Let's please remember they are all individuals with different talents and interests and they all develop at different rates. The list of happy, successful and fulfilled people who didn't do well at school is very long indeed.

Well said, Hbear. It's good to remind people of that sometimes.

Thought that it was not a thread about kids being clever but demonstrating that schools were doing their job despite what some politicians and news media seem to be saying!!

Spot on, nanaej, it was absolutely that.

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So far, ours have all been happy and done well at primary, though each has their own strengths and weaknesses., as you would expect.

The oldest is in his second year of secondary now. He is quite a sensitive child, and struggles with his emotions, so found his first year at that school very tough. Going from a small village school where all the teachers knew all the pupils and vice versa and were very supportive, to a large school where year 7 teachers were extremely strict and demanding, and detentions handed out for relatively minor misdemeanours, plus encountering proper bullying for the first time, made the transition very hard for him.

When I asked recently if things are any better in year 8, he said that yes, many of the teachers were easier-going this year. I suspect that it is a deliberate policy of extra strictness in the first year, to prevent more serious problems from taking root.

He seems happier now, and is doing extremely well in most subjects.

When dgc 2 moves to that school in September, I think she will find the transition much easier, as she is a more confident child to begin with.

What worries me is that those of us who would postt positively will look as if we were boasting and crowing over those whose grandchildren have problems.

It also worries me that those whose children are having problems and who do not always have the highest self esteem , may blame themselves or feel crushed by those for whom everything is hunky dory.

What an ancient thread, reactivated by a not very good spammer.

Jaxjacky

What an ancient thread, reactivated by a not very good spammer.

Well spotted. I feel a fool now!

saim008

Gransnet often discusses education broadly, with input from professionals and concerns about school leavers. It would be insightful to hear directly from grandparents about their grandchildren's educational experiences. Questions on progress, literacy, numeracy, enjoyment, exam results, and preparation for the future in the twenty-first century would provide valuable perspectives.
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Reported

My GC range in age from 6 to 22!
Three little ones doing well in primary school. One of the older ones messed about in high school , GCSEs , let's not go there !, in her defence she had a lot to cope with having a parent die after a long illness just before her exams. In college now and doing well. Most important things I can do as Grandma is be there , love her , and build her confidence. It's not the end of the world and I am convinced she will be ok .

I have very mixed responses to this query.
my eldest g.son (now 23) is autistic, highlh intelligent but very childlike social graces. Despite his secondary school being vey carefully chosen by parents with a good SENs department, it was bad almost from the first term. By year 8 he was not even permitted to come into or leave the school at then normal times, and was confined with with his teacher's aid to having lessons by himself. Only after a huge and expensive battle with the Ed. department did his parents manage to get him to special school for autistic pupils where he thrived.

With four good A levels under his belt he went off to University, where the first two years was top of his cohort. Then he developed Long Covid which has left him terrified of mixing with people. Lectures online are not the same, and he has fallen further and further behind. He has been given a years extension, but we do not think this will help

Next g child down, always a B pupil, coped with A levels during covid lockdown, fortunate that her two closest friends were very high attainers, She is in her final year of Social work degree, a lot of it on work placement, loving it all and I am looking forward toher graduation later this year.

Three of my gchildren are in the same school year -9 (all at different schools. Two (one boy, one girl) are doing fine. No problems whatsoever. The third, puts social life first and has got herself into lots of problems due to this. It is hard being 14 years old!! She is a highly intelligent child, but is now falling behind her class mates. Boy friend problems and then the falling out with other girls in the school, left her truanting, etc. (Her Mum is an Education Psychologist!!!!).

However, I look at my own children. One of them had a horrific late teenage years, constantly truanted during her sixth form years, she ran away just before they were due. for a week she was missing, I was frantic. When found refused to come home, stayed with a friend, did manage to get a part-time job in a shop.

Over the past thirty years all my children have done well in their careers, but that one has done the best and is the highest flier. Found her way eventually into a career that she loves and got her degree when she was in her early thirties (she was then hungry for success and despite having a baby during those study years, breaking up with her partner (the father), and getting through the tragic death of her youngest sibling - she got a first, and began the slow but continual climb up the ladder. Now, she is virtually at the top.

Just saying, not doing well during the school years or getting on course for job/career whilst very young is not the end of it. Many people change course in their thirties/forties often with great success.