Streaming in reception

[Creole]

I found out yesterday that the school my son will be going to in sept, use some form of streaming in their reception year - apples, bananas and cranberries, with apples being the lowest stream and cranberries the highest

Does any of you have this in your kids school? Is this the norm for all schools?

[spidermama]

I thought this wasn't allowed and was very unfashionable. I have to say though, I wish they had this in my ds's school. I think it would help him enormously with his problems.

[Twiglett]

excellent .. far more chance your child will get the attention and lesson plans he needs rather than flounder in a class above him or be bored in one that doesn't stretch him

[spidermama]

Well put twig.

[Creole]

But they are soo young though!

[SoupDragon]

I would imagine there will be a fair amount of switching between the streams as the year progresses though and also different streams for different "subjects".

[spidermama]

Not too young to feel bored when held back, or frustrated when rushed forwards. We all develop at different rates so what's wrong with catering for this?

It's important the kids don't get wind of it though, of course, and feel they're being 'labelled'.

[Twiglett]

young children have different skills and abilities though just as older ones do, I truly fail to see any downside here

[hunkermunker]

Except a lifelong mistrust for various fruit...

[Gobbledigook]

I agree Twiggers. Makes perfect sense. Kids need know nothing about it at this age and much better to be with a group doing activities suited to their ability. Would be far worse to be bored rigid or struggling to keep up and feeling lonely.

[ScummyMummy]

lol, hunker.

My main reservation is that children DO pick up on these things- my sons can tell you exactly who is in which group at school, what colour each child is on the reading scheme and what that means. It can affect self-confidence in certain kids, I think. Kids become aware if they're considered "bright" or not very early on and I'm not sure that's very good for them, personally.

However, children are at such different stages at different times that I'm not sure what the solution is...

[Emod]

mine are streamed in recep

the bright ones go up to Class 2 and the others stay behind in Class I

as dd1 is staying behind I have to change my terminology sharpish...i mean some are going to Mrs Xs class and some are staying in Mrs Ys class

[ScummyMummy]

You most certainly do mean that E! And Mrs Y is by far the nicer teacher, no?

[Twiglett]

think we lost an awful lot when we tried to remove competition from schools .. life is competitive and you need to learn to win or lose graciously and take the knocks and plaudits when they come .. personally think we are too protective .. it is very possible to bolster ego and allow kids to compete against each other

[Gobbledigook]

Agree, agree. That's life, it can't be avoided and sheltering children from this fact isn't going to help them. All you can do is try to manage it well - if there is something they aren't so good at and they know it, emphasise what they are good at. Everyone is good at something and very few are good at everything.

That's how I intend to tackle it - I'm already storing up things like 'but look how fabulous you are at swimming' (he's the only one to get his 15m badge in his class this badge day , though I've not got to that point yet so I'm prepared to eat my words if ds1 turns out to be crap when he starts in reception

[Gobbledigook]

Actually, this will be an interesting thing to ask about when we have our parents meeting on 19th July. I hadn't thought about it actually - atm I'm just more anxious that he makes friends!

Sorry, hijacking...

[ScummyMummy]

My life isn't particularly competitive, twig. I suppose the odd occasion like a job interview or something puts competition into my life but on the whole no. And I'm pretty contented and doing ok, I think. Do you really think your life is based a lot around competition with others?

[Gem13]

What about those summer born ones who only start reception full time at Easter?

[Gobbledigook]

SM - I would say mine is not now either (well, except I'm a freelancer so I suppose I'm 'in competition' with others to win jobs), but it certainly is when you are getting through school, trying to find a job, going for promotion etc. Also if you are going to take part in sport or other competition of some sort or even just playing games - there are lots of instances in life where you might 'win' or 'lose' so it something you have to learn to cope with I think.

Although as I said, I think with children it's not about teaching them 'oh well, you're rubbish at that, that's something you have to live with' but more about 'ok, well you did your best/enjoyed yourself etc and that's the main thing' and then perhaps emphasising that they are very good at something else.

I think I'm waffling now..

[Gobbledigook]

Gem13 - my summer born (Aug 29th) will start full time straight away in the Sept!! No staggered intake here.

[Twiglett]

competitive: win or lose at sports races, get good grades (used to be a certain percentage got A's, B's etc), get a place at uni, get a job, get a promotion .. life is compeitive until/unless you drop out

[ScummyMummy]

Definitely definitely agree about emphasizing trying your best and enjoying it, gdg. I've found myself really stressing that to my boys this year because the competitive atmosphere at their school resulted in (temporary) underconfidence for one of them and (temporary) swelled head/"not trying cos I don't need to" attitude from the other. I found both of these quite shocking in such young kids. It hadn't occured to me that at six years old one boy would be thinking of himself as an educational failure and the other feel quite confident he was a genius! (I do think my feelings on this subject are probably exacerbated by having twins with different strengths, btw.)

[ScummyMummy]

Life is competitive unless/until you drop out?! Yes- that's a part of the picture, I guess but there's plenty more to it, IMO.
I have never entered any sports races as an adult. However, if I were to enter any, I would do so for my own pleasure/satisfaction/challenge. Winning or losing would simply not come into it. And although I agree that uni places and jobs are won through competition, it has similarly never really occured to me to apply for something in order to do better than someone else rather than because it was something I liked to do or believed it was important for me to do. I don't think it's bad to want to be top of the class for its own sake or anything but neither do I think it hurts to be motivated through interest in what you are studying/working at. It's what keeps me from dropping out, personally!

[toria77]

i think you are right scummymum, the children DO know what stream they are in- i think it is better to tailor to they individual needs in an less obvious way. we dont stream till year 3 in my school. it all depends on how your school approaches it though- speak to tem about it and try to gauge how they are using the streaming

[Twiglett]

think competition is important .. think ability to win and lose gracefully and take pleasure in your own and in others wins is very important

think the subject of competition is irrelevant at primary level and most particulary at reception class

sounds like this school is trying to do the best for the kids it has .. they are all at different levels at this age and don't start to level out till around 7 or 8 .. it makes sense to me to help them all get to around the same stage in reading, writing, socialising etc so that their strengths can rise to the top when they are older