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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

How much TV in Year 1?

29 replies

Wigeon · 05/12/2013 22:00

How much TV does your a Year 1 DC watch? I have been slightly surprised that DD watched some of Lion King last week, some of Shaun the Sheep (more than one episode in one sitting) this week and two Numberjacks in the last week or so (arguably educational, but they do seem to be about very basic maths concepts, when DD is now happily counting in 2s, 5s, 10s and doing basic addition and subtraction in her head). She's also mentioned she's watched Finding Nemo at some point (last few weeks). And there may be others she hasn't mentioned as she doesn't tell us everything that happens each day.

I get that Y1 might be pretty tired, coming up to the end of term, but I'm still slightly surprised that the TV seems to be wheeled out to deal with this. But then again she is my PFB and first experience of primary schools, so I don't know what's normal / ok.

Any experiences?

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simpson · 05/12/2013 22:45

Does she watch DVDs on the same day/afternoon each week?

My DD is in yr1 and has also watched The Lion King (she cried!) in Golden time.

mammadiggingdeep · 05/12/2013 22:50

No experience but number jacks does seen bit basic for year1.... It's for pre schoolers really...

mydaftlass · 05/12/2013 22:57

More than I would like. As far as I can tell, they watch at wet play, golden time, when teachers need to do something. It really winds me up!

Fuzzymum1 · 05/12/2013 23:39

Almost none - an occasional episode of percy the park keeper during wet playtime but never (that I'm aware of) in lesson time.

Wigeon · 06/12/2013 12:15

Thanks for replies. Went in for the Christmas play this morning, and saw that afterwards (about 10:30am) one of the Y1 classes were watching a cartoon Thumbelina! The Deputy Head was in the classroom too...

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PastSellByDate · 06/12/2013 13:38

Hi Wigeon:

There's tv viewing and there's tv viewing.

To be fair to the school they do often watch whole films or part of a film to teach other subjects: so DD1 (Y6) is watching Goodnight Mr. Tom and learning about evacuation of school children into the countryside from urban areas in WWII. She's started to talk to her grandmother about what it was like to be evacuated and how her great grandfather taught school in bomb shelters and lost a group of kids to a direct hit (which he narrowly missed himself; saved by a parent haranguing him in the street about not doing enough for her boy - see all PITAs aren't bad!).

However, there are periods of time (especially before holidays when they seem to watch movies for pleasure). It's part of party season or 'golden time'.

our school do this less now but there was a tendency to put on a film so the teacher could mark optional SATs.

I think the only solution as a parent is to talk with other parents. If as a group you express concern to the school about how much tv watching is going on - it will get Sr. management's attention.

In effect this is probably a problem of poor management - teachers should be given about 1/2 day a week for marking/ planning during school day and often aren't. Our school is better at this now - using things like PE/ Forest School/ Assemblies/ teacher rotation (i.e. Deputy HT teaching a unit) to give teachers the space to do this kind of admin work. Although I'm certain it's not enough time and much more is done after hours - it is a better situation than before and the staff seem a lot happier for it.

wasabipeanut · 06/12/2013 14:26

Hmmm. I have a bit of an issue with this - particularly in the light of quite pissy letters coming out of our school about attendance. I am quite happy to ensure my children are not taken out of school during term time provided they aren't dumped in front of a film while they're there so their teacher can get on with something else.

autumncolour · 06/12/2013 17:26

Doesn't happen at all in DS' school - and to be honest I am quite glad it doesn't.

Galena · 06/12/2013 17:40

I just asked DD in YR about if she ever watched TV at school, and she looked at me puzzled and said 'There isn't a TV at school...'

Hulababy · 06/12/2013 17:43

Galena - I suspect most children aren't watching films and shows on TVs in their schools. They will view it all through the whiteboards via the teacher's laptop or iPad.

I did show our Y2s a short film yesterday - Wallace and Gromitt. Lasted half an hour I think. However, it was relevaent to the curriculum. They are produing their own animated movie next term and we were doing some prep for it The final part of the day, instead of story time this week, I showed them a well made animated movie.

Hulababy · 06/12/2013 17:47

Our children do sometimes see TV programmes at school. They are usually linked to the curriculum though - Horrible Histories clips, Magic Grandad (History), etc.

They also may get to watch a film before Christmas ad/pr before they brak up for summer. It depends on what they chose as their class/year group treat. If a year group we may have 203 different activities at this time, one being a film, which they can chose.

Wigeon · 06/12/2013 21:28

I am totally up for children watching film / TV which is in some way relevant to the curriculum, eg DD watched an episode of Tinga Tinga tales whilst doing her "Africa" topic, and also watched some footage of Kenyan children, both of which sound like a good idea. Also understand about a film or TV being an end-of-term treat. But the recent TV watching seems to fall into neither category. I don't know if the TV is being used as a babysitter while the teacher does prep work etc - I'll ask DD if her teacher sat with them.

Galena - as Hulababy says, I'm pretty sure DD is actually watching a whiteboard, not a real TV...You might need to quiz your DD a bit more specifically, if you want to know if she watches TV programmes / films at school!

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MillyMollyMama · 06/12/2013 22:35

Mine only watched selected programmes to aid learning in a particular topic, but it was fairly rare (twice a year). I think this sounds a bit lazy of the school and a waste of valuable time. There is so much more they could do!

SockPinchingMonster · 08/12/2013 19:41

I think my children's school has them watching far too much tv and to be honest if it carries on after Xmas then I think I will have to complain (don't want to because I don't want to be known as 'that parent' but it's getting ridiculous now) They watch at least one DVD a week, sometimes 2. One day a few weeks ago they watched Lion King 1 followed by Lion King 2 all in the same day. I wouldn't be too bothered if I were happy with the teaching that was going on, but I'm not. My yr 1 twins have maybe had their reading listened to by a teacher or TA 3 times since September, they have only done guided reading a few times - they are good readers so I think the teachers ignore them a bit. I don't send my kids to school to watch TV, they can do that at home - it's really starting to annoy me.

mrz · 08/12/2013 19:45

My Y1 class don't watch any TV

Wigeon · 08/12/2013 19:55

Thanks for further replies. Maybe I need to poll a few other parents. It does make me a bit worried about what else goes on in the classroom - as a parent I am finding it's really hard to have any real idea of the quality of your child's education.

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Galena · 08/12/2013 19:56

To be fair, I know that the school have a DVD on Friday afternoon for whoever wants to watch it as part of golden time, but DD won't choose that.

I don't have a problem with a bit of TV if they are learning what they need to.

Wigeon · 08/12/2013 19:57

mrz - what do you do when the children are tired and finding it hard to concentrate? I imagine that'll be the school's answer to why they are watching TV. But there must be tons of other strategies before turning on a cartoon...?

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mrz · 08/12/2013 20:05

sing, dance, play games read stories, dough gym ...

averywoomummy · 08/12/2013 21:11

Yes our school does seem to consist of quite a lot of TV. I don't mind a short clip that links in with a topic or a special film at the end of term but DC tells me that they have a DVD at "story time". I asked her if the teacher read a story to them and she said only sometimes.

I does annoy me a bit as they have a teacher and a TA so even if one of them needs to get on with work the other can do any activity such as Mrz suggests to keep them amused. Also I like to keep an eye on how much TV DC watch and it can be a bit annoying if I let her have 30 mins after school and she then tells me she watched a film at school that day!

Wigeon · 13/12/2013 15:44

Today they watched a cartoon in the morning, and the whole of a film in the afternoon...

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planestrainsautomobiles · 13/12/2013 16:07

The only TV they've watched in Y1 was a one-off for Golden Time and it was linked to their learning (the teacher chose some clips on youtube). I don't think they watched any in YR.

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planestrainsautomobiles · 13/12/2013 16:09

A whole film?????!

I would definitely need to clarify with the teacher if they watched a whole film as well as TV in the morning.

Wigeon · 13/12/2013 16:21

Yes, I asked DD twice and she said it was the whole film. I think I will see how it goes in the January term as I'd feel a bit mean going in the last week of term, just before Christmas, to raise it with the teacher. I don't mind the odd bit of TV at school as a treat and right at the end of term, but this seems to be pretty frequent and definitely not linked to the curriculum.

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Wigeon · 18/12/2013 20:25

Yesterday they watched the film Anastasia, but apparently didn't have time to finish it...This is getting silly...

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