About to go (politely) nuclear on the school: reasonable?

[Devexity]

I've posted about DS's school before, but imagine the internets don't hang on my every word, so to recap: The school runs a grouped-by-ability-not-age daily phonics system which DS completed part way through Y1. He and his group trod water for the rest of the year, they left to go to the junior school, and this school year the head decided to have DS teach other groups rather than provide him with any instruction. We expressed concern, and they magicked up an independent topic work plan to begin in November.

So here we are.

The independent topic work started well (ish). The head gave him a topic, some library books and a notepad, then stuck him in a corridor to make notes. After three weeks, he stopped getting topics and library books. Or adult input. The day he told me that he did research by closing his eyes and remembering everything he knew about angler fish, I sent books in with him.

We picked his topics together. We chose the books. He wrote reports at the weekend. No-one read them. Last week he went to do his research and found that his chair and table were gone, so wandered around the school with a handful of books about the French Revolution until he ended up in the office where they found a space for him on the floor.

It seems to me that they are failing to supervise him, let alone educate him. And though he doesn't mind, I mind quite desperately that he's spending enormous amounts of time researching and typing up painstaking reports that no-one bothers to look at.

Apologies for length and thank you if you've made it this far. Any suggestions?

[Devexity]

Forgot to say - he's Y2.

[ChasingSquirrels]

he is yr 2 and they are doing this?
I would be going very impolitely nuclear.

although don't think I can be any constructive help

[3littlefrogs]

Sounds appalling. Very lazy IMO. What are the rest of his group doing? What is the teacher doing???

Shocking really that a yr 2 child is left to wander round the school in lesson time.

[paarrp]

Ask for a meeting to raise your concerns - it sounds as if they don't know what to do with him which is completely unacceptable. Is he that far ahead of other children that they he can't be accommodated within the lesson planning?

I rather like the idea of him helping with other groups if it is managed well and he is still learning - there could be good skills that he could develop as part of this. Better than being excluded and made to sit in the corridor doing 'work' that no one has acknowledged :(

How old is he?

How long do they spend doing daily phonics?

[TigersChick]

When exactly is he doing this? For how long?
I am not particularly on the ball when it comes to the KS1 curriculum but I'm fairly certain that independent research should take up a very smally part of it (yes, it is a good skill to have but not at the expense of proper teaching!)

Even if it is for a short session - while other children are doing the phonics programme that he has completed - I would still be irritated that he isn't being properly provided for.

[Catchthewind]

Bloody hell. Is there another school nearby? Can you move him?

This is frankly just crap.

[Devexity]

The phonics sessions are only 25 minutes a day, so he doesn't spend all day on his own in the corridor.

He doesn't have a group. He's the only kid who's finished the curriculum so far. I know that several other pupils will be finishing over the course of the year, and imagine that when there is more than one child doing topic work, there will suddenly be structure and supervision.

I agree that it's crap. There's no point moving him though - he's only got another 2 terms before he goes to junior school. Thank God.

[TheMonster]

Certainly doesn't sound like every child matters in that school.

[onimolap]

What do you want the outcome to be?

I'd be hopping mad that he is regularly in the corridor (can't see why he can't do independent work in the classroom, and would be concerned at the social effect of separation/exclusion), and think it appalling that his work is never marked - how on earth can the teacher understand his progress and abilities?

[FrostyAndSlippery]

Good grief. You will do well to be so restrained and polite IMO, not sure I could manage it. The school don't seem to be doing their duty by him!

[mrz]

Apart from the fact that he isn't being taught or supervised I would be concerned that the school believe they can't extend his phonics knowledge even if he is doing personalised work. Do they not communicate with the junior school? I'm sure they could provide appropriate levelled activities if not I would suggest Support for Spelling (free gov publication the school can easily access) which continues on from Letters and Sounds

[Devexity]

A2363: I think you're probably right about the scheme. He'd reached the top level by the end of Reception, so at the beginning of Y1 the scheme dictated that he should be a TA for the next two years of school. At that point, there was a little cohort of Y2s who were in a similar position, and the school added a few new levels. I've looked at the Support for Spelling document, and the levels/activities they added were straight off the Y3 pages.

Onimolap: I'm not sure what I want the outcome to be. That's part of my problem. When the independent topic work was proposed, I thought it was the outcome I was looking for. Not so much.

[Panzee]

As a teacher I'm ashamed and appalled for the way your child is being treated. Agreed that someone should be doing Support for Spelling with him. Free and easy for an adult to follow.

[beautifulgirls]

Time to look at other schools maybe. You are right to be unhappy about their lack of input for your son. Just because he is advanced does not mean he should not be given appropriate work for his level.

[mychatnickname]

I can see there's no point looking for a new school but this is appalling. Definitely think you should go in and discuss it in whatever tone you feel comfortable with right up to nuclear

I would be livid at this.

[stoatsrevenge]

I think this is a problem with separate inf/junior schools. In our grouped-by-ability-not by-age ks1 groupa, I access Y3/4 resources for my 24 Y2s and 2 Y1s who have finished the scheme.

There is no excuse for an infant school not to do the same thing, although it may be a bit more tricky financially. They should at least be differentiating the top phonics group's work with him in mind (and FGS keep him in the classroom ).

How long are their phonics lessons each day? Are you happy with the rest of the lit teaching?

[Berelin]

Hi from Belgium
Clearly you have to go ballistic that you child is not appropriately supervised, but as far as the content of his phonics period is concerned, don?t you think it might be more helpful for him if you were to suggest an entirely different approach.
Since his literacy skills are already very advanced, couldn?t that period be more usefully spent on something that departs from the primary curriculum, strictly construed, and has the potential to be extended to a more long-term project (to avoid the issue of failure of teacher to provide feedback on a weekly basis), yet remains ?school relevant?. If you want a key-skills related project perhaps something like ?fund-raising? in his school might work. He could look at how it works, interview PTA members etc. (planning interviews in his phoncs periods), interview pupils for consumer satisfaction, compare with other schools and so on; he might come up with some useful output. Otherwise, couldn?t he spend the period doing something that contributes to the school (assisting the caretaker, cataloguing in the library, helping in the central secretariat etc.)? Surely, any of these would offer him more opportunity for learning, and receiving credible feedback from within the school, than at present (provided they were sufficiently goal oriented).
This is all a bit derived from the Freinet pedagogy which I know has a few issues, but it?s on my mind since we?re toying with the idea of moving DD to a Freinet school from next September.

[mrz]

He's a six/seven year old child!! and not many primary schools have central secretariat or caretakers on site all day I'm afraid.

[spanieleyes]

He's also at school to be stretched and educated, not assist the caretaker!

[spanieleyes]

Sorry, that was rather abrupt, but the situation Devexity's poor child is in has me fuming! I teach yr 5/6 and have children working well into secondary school levels, I don't just sit them in a corner and leave them to it, I access resources which stretch and challenge them intellectually, it's not hard to find resources at an appropriate level, it just takes a bit of thought and preparation. The teacher concerned should be ashamed of themselves!

[Talkinpeace]

OP
What you are going through is unacceptable shite but can I ask permission to put a perpsective on it.

Moons ago I helped in school. Rapidly I was used to "challenge" the able maths kids as my skills were far above those of the teachers.
There was a lad with a photographic memory. Literally. He saw Question 1 and he could tell you what the answer to question 37 would be.
NO primary school is set up to cope with that.
I was there, he and I use to do advanced algebra, differentiation and quantity surveying. In our heads.
Without me, he would have been like other kids I saw, working out of a book, facing the wall.
The joke is that he remembers nothing of our sessions as it was all actually over his head but his then and subsequent teachers have commented that "something clicked"
DD and now DS are "coasting" year 6. I'm more chilled now that I know what a good comp throws at them in year 7

and remember
6 hours per day, 30 hours per week - school is 1/7 of their time
YOU are 6/7 of their time. YOU are the power.

[mrz]

now that I know what a good comp throws at them in year 7

[Talkinpeace]

mrz

I'm lucky, our over the border comps re REALLY REALLY good. 5 in a row all able to cope with every child from the carrot cruncher to the future minister.
I know how lucky I am. I also know how hacked of the lea that I live in is that they missed the boat.

but my point to OP still stands - differentiation in small schools hits the resources buffer very fast

[Takver]

stoatsrevenge - not sure it is always that much better in all the way through primaries.

It seemed to be inconceivable while in KS1 that dd could walk across the corridor to the yr 3 classroom to choose a reading book at an appropriate level - despite the fact that a week or so into yr 3, once magically she was KS2, and therefore belonged on 'that side of the school' she was being sent to fetch books from the yr 6 classroom . . . (ie, it wasn't a matter of us totally misjudging her reading ability).