So, how did it go, for those whose children recently finished a school year?
This is the first week of the school holidays for DS8 who just finished the fourth year of school, so let's call that 3rd although the terminology here is different. It was a good year, with no major issues.
This year was the first in which he had lots of specialist teachers (his form teacher takes them for English, history and geography, only). That was definitely a plus in many ways. He has his own work in maths, and that went well this year. His maths teacher is great, and the head of maths has also been setting him work and seeing him from time to time. We settled into DS's having a maths folder with him from home which we ensure always has some problem-solving work in it so that if it isn't convenient for his teacher to give him something he can always do something from there. Speed of working has been a problem, but less so later in the year. I think a lot of it is that he goes slowly on boring things, and the level of work they've been giving him to do has gone up a lot through the year. We were a bit concerned at one early point that the HoM seemed to want DS to get as polished at the papers for 13yos as this school's 13yos are, before doing more advanced work, because that really isn't going to happen just yet; but we had a good meeting, and it looks as though we are all on the same page now. Here's hoping this lasts into next year. DS did well in two maths competitions; we'll have to have some discussion about what he enters next year. I think these were, in their different ways, very good for him: one involves writing out clear solutions (no marks for right answer unsupported by explanation) and the other involves a bit of time pressure. Also, the maths competitions are the obvious way into meeting mathematical peers, eventually.
DS has always found writing hard, and this year has been getting some help from the learning development teacher. He's still not as fluent as his peers, but he continues to make good progress, and now says he enjoys writing stories. He still doesn't write much at home unless he must. Must find some way to keep him in practice over the holidays.
Other subjects have been good but not great; he often finds the pace a little slow, I think, but does learn things. The main challenge is writing. Socially he has a good place in his own year, but has experienced some teasing from children further up the school. This has been well dealt with, but it's one of many reasons why we're not asking for acceleration.
Somewhat to my surprise he hasn't minded daily games at school (new this year) and took the compulsory 22km hill walk in his stride - he's unsporty, but he's fit! He continues to play the piano and started 'cello this year; he's no prodigy at either but is making steady progress.
