Scouts- Otter pack Leader!

Matthew was made the leader of the Otter pack tonight More sowing-groan.

Phonecall from Educational Psychologist

Just had a phonecall from the Ed psych, she has spoken to the SENCo telling him that Matthew should be in Set 2 for Humanity subjects..... and he agreed! She was expecting a "discussion" as the school don't like to be told where to set pupils, but Matthew seems to have made his mark as a conscientious pupil. The SENCo taught Matthew for Learnsmart last year and agrees that Matthew is the sort of boy who could cope (with the right help). He says that he'd like him to move straight up, but he has to consult with the Head of Lower School (the 1 who said Matthew didn't have dyslexia as he can read), he says there might have to be a stepped approach through Set 3. Personally I think that this could prove to be more disruptive for Matthew.
The Psychologist has volunteered her help to any of Matthew's new teachers who need help with strategies/accomodations to help him.
I'm so happy!

Result! An Educational Psychologist who understands.

We had the most fantastic education psychologist today. She wasn't frightened of using the word "dyslexia". The WISC IV IQ test was redone with some extra subtsets, we are awaiting the write-up. She had a copy of the letter we wrote to the current SENCo (see below) , it was great that he shared that with her. Matthew still has a gap between his reading and spelling and his age but it is moving upwards with his age.

Matthew most definitely has dyslexia- I could have cried, the first person who has not skirted around the issue whispering Specific Learning\difficulties, it could be this or that.

She believes he is a bright child who should NOT be in set 4.

Her 1st task is to write a pen-portrait for all his subject teachers with possible accomodations, this will be the 1st time they will be given his diagnosis of dyslexia.

She is going to tackle the Set 4 problem, but says she has had stand up arguments with teachers (HOYs and school managers) who won't accept that Dyslexic children should be in higher sets. She stated thar poor basic skills should not be a bar to higher sets. She says don't expect him to move overnight, but if there are 2 or 3 teachers who will stand up and say Matthew should be in a higher set then she stands a chance. I'm sure a good few of his teachers will agree in light of his "new" diagnosis.

Can you believe we are still fighting this battle after a diagnosis when he was 7.5 yrs old- bizarre!

Ed Psych Assessment on Friday

Here we go again! Dreading it really. Hate these timed tests they give out, different ed psych have different opinions. The Ed Psych phoned us to arrange a date that is suitable for us and for us to meet after the assessment. Got to get my act together, get some questions ready this is probably the post important test to date as we need to get some accomodations in place.

Top Mark in Maths - Set 2

Well he's done it again. At this point I want scream at the Head of Lower school "Why can't you Listen to the Parents". There's got to be some good/great teachers out there with some understanding of these great kids, who never give up trying their best.
He had 86% in the Set 1/2 maths test, top mark when you discount the other boy who cheated by learning his older sister's test from last year. The teacher called that boy to another room, all the class knew he cheated as he brandished his sister's test last week. If he had more enterprise he could have copied it and sold it LOL.
21/3 Just found out the average mark for set1 X =76% and set1 Y =84%

Mentoring Scheme

Click on image

Just had this letter in the post this morning- a standard letter, undated. It states that if level 3/4 are given (possibilty of not meeting target/unlikely to meet target) in 4 subjects or more the child will be mentored. (Hate the way we don't actually know what the targets are). This begs the questions why hasn't Matthew been getting this mentoring since Jan 2011, when the interim report highlighted this underacheivement in Dec 2010? Did a strong worded letter questioning the status quo have anything to do with it? Other children in Set 4 had it given to them in Sept. 2010. I've included Math's interim report of Dec 2010, wasn't that concerned about Art, Music and Drama to be honest, didn't even register with me, I am concerned about History as that could keep him out of set 3 and IT is a compulsory half/full GCSE so that is also a concern.

Biology Test

Matthew's first test in Set 2, 83% top 5. The set 2 booklet was given to him on the Fri and test was on Mon. The few missing topics were hurriedly learnt.
Extremely pleased with him as the test was actually a disaster, a substitute teacher came in to adminster it, as class teacher was away. The test was noisy, some children had their books out on their laps, the teacher was giving out answers. To add to this there was homework section stuck on the back, which the substitute told them to do. Matthew lost sleep over this as he thought he would have a low mark as he hadn't had time to finish (not surprising as he was struggling with the homework section) and he always likes to check his work as he usually misses out questions (which he did- he left 3 questions that were easy) and of course children were cheating. Add to this Dyslexic children need quiet to gather their thoughts, and noise just makes things stressful.

"Something to help me with my grades"?

Matthew reports he was taken out of class for 10 mins to sign something with a table on it (IEP?), and was going on a programme to help him improve his grades.
Something is happening but what it is is anyone's guess. Where's the comunication?