A. Hi,
I would normally suggest that you go to the Head of Maths to deal with the issue of sets but as your concerns are broader I think your first move has to be to go straight to the top and ask to see the Head Teacher. The fact that the school has been judged as outstanding could work in your favour. I would begin by mentioning the Ofsted judgement and say how surprised you have been by your child's experience and how you hope this is just an oversight/isolated case etc. and that clearly the Head will want to remedy
the situation. The Head has to take your concerns seriously.
Remember :-You may well be right about the lack of space in top sets but the school should cater for every child and if the work being given is not appropriate then they are failing in their duty. At the very least they should tailor the work to suit the child regardless of the set. You can try insisting that your child be moved but that won't necessarily get you anywhere, the crucial thing is the level of work being set and you can insist that this is right. This applies in all subjects and you could ask for an interim report to be carried out by all your child's teachers to get a picture of how your child is progressing in all subjects. This could highlight any other areas where there is a mismatch between your child's ability and the teaching group they have been placed in. Have this conversation first and give the school a week or two to respond.
If you are still not satisfied then contact the local authority. I doubt it would ever come to a situation where they would pay for tuition as it is the school that has to provide for your your child's needs.
Hope that is of some use.

A. I know how difficult this is and you have done exactly the right thing by trying to find out what the problem is from your daughter. However, if she is unwilling to tell you anything (don't stop trying though), there are a few other things you could do.
Are you friendly with any of your daughter's friends' mums? If you are, it might be worth having a chat to see if they are aware of anything, as girls often mention things about relationships between themselves and other girls or about issues between girls in their year. Something might have been said which another mum might not have registered as important but which might be relevant and if you explain why you are asking, she/they may be able to tell you something.
Do you know anyone who works in the school as a teaching assistant, secretary or dinner lady who might be able to keep an eye out for your daughter at break, lunch or after school ?
You can also speak to your daughter's form tutor. Tutors are often aware of friction between friendship groups and he/she should certainly have picked up any change in your daughter's attitude or emotional state. If you ring the school and ask for an appointment to speak to the tutor, most will be hapy to call you back to discuss your concerns in their dinner time or straight after school if you don't want to go in to see them at this stage.
Also, by this point in the year, your daughter's Head of Year should be familiar enough with all the pupils in the year group to have an overview of any major issues and he/she may have picked up on somethng relevant to you.
Again, a Head of Year should be happy to speak to you over the phone and as their teaching load is usually lighter, they often have the time to ring you at a time convenient to you. At the very least, letting both the tutor and Head of Year know of your concerns will enable them to keep a closer eye on your daughter.
It is also possible that she really is feeling ill or maybe that she is struggling with her work, but again, talking to the school should give you some idea of what is really going on here.
In the meantime continue to support your daughter as you clearly already are by being there for her. If circumstances allow and you don't already do this, you could try to arrange to have her friends over to tea or take them out for a day during the holiday.
I hope this has been of some use to you and I really hope you get to the bottom of whatever is worrying her.
If you do find out that she is being bullied ,your school will have an anti-bullying policy, so check it out if you don't have a copy and encourage your daughter to make use of advice which is available in lots of web sites, have a look at the Bullying section of this site as a starting point.
Best wishes,
Carolyn.

A. It is not clear from your email whether your daughter is in Year 9 or 10 but the advice I can offer applies either way really. You don't say what her thoughts are on all of this or whether you have discussed this with her but I'm guessing she hasn't given you much in the way of an explanation for her change in attitude and lack of interest in school, so you need to sort out what is going on. So here are a few suggestions.

Firstly, it is not uncommon for students to become disaffected or disengaged from school and studying, particularly during Year 9, for numerous reasons. The good news is that in many cases the student's attitude changes during the first few months in Year 10 because their courses change, they have dropped subjects they didn't like, teachers treat them differently, they are given more responsibility, feel more grown up and it dawns on them that the next two years are important.
However, this does not always happen and I am certainly not suggesting that you do nothing now and wait and see, because there are things that you can do now.

I suggest that you contact school and make an appointment to speak to your daughter's form tutor, or better still her Head of Year. They should be happy to do this over the telephone or face to face in school. They will, I am sure, be aware of her attitude and any change in her performance and effort over the last two years.There may well be other issues affecting her, friendship groups in or outside school for example which staff there may well be aware of.

Your starting point with school will be to identify what the obstacles are to her achieving success at the end of Year 11.

Schools today can offer much more than just the academic route through GCSEs, for example, day release to college, pre-vocational courses or a mix of these things tailored to your daughter's skills and interests should be available if that is appropriate. The best way for you find out what is available and to get their views on what might be best is to speak to them directly.

Has she had any careers advice from school or from Connexions? Connexions has lots advice for parents and students which as well as having local branches, is accessible on line too, so that might be something you could do together or she could have a look herself. It may be that she just needs direction, a goal, something to work towards.

I hope this has been of some use to you, but please don't worry about contacting the school, they are there to help.
Regards,
Carolyn.

A. The problem here is that Maths teaching has changed a lot over the years and your son probably hasn't done it your way! This doesn't mean you ca't help him, just that you want to avoid confusing him (and yourself).

Basically you need to get your head round the way he does it. I'm sure you've already tried saying ' Well you show me how you do it and then I'll be able to help' and as he probably isn't going to tell you, it might be worth having a word with his maths teacher and asking if there are any course books you could have access to. Failing that there are GCSE guides in the shops which would probably help you both, although again having a word with his teacher to find out what syllabus he is studying would be helpful.
Good luck.