Help- Y3 parents evening tonight, am I expecting too much?

[Lookproperly]

I have had some concerns since my son started Y3 5 weeks ago (early start of term in our area). So far I've not said anything as I am aware that there is a lot for each teacher, and child, to sort at the beginning of each year, and I don't want to be a PITA parent.

However, I'm not thinking of biting the bullet and being brave at parents evening tonight. I would really appreciate any thoughts that more experienced parents / teachers may have, so I can decide if I am right to be concerned.

My son has done no guided reading yet (i.e. not read to anyone at school). He is a pretty good reader, above average, but I still feel he should read to someone occasionally. This also means that he has not been assessed to see if his reading book level from the end of Y2 is still ok for him. I should say that I only have his word for this, and I will make sure he isn't mistaken about the guided reading before I say something.

He is in a large class (at least 30), in other years much of the teaching has been done in ability groups (by one teacher). This year they are learning as a whole class. According to him this is 'boring', and the children who finish tasks first are messing about and distracting the others. I'm not concerned about the boring thing- but it seems a strange way to approach learning compared to the ability groups previously used.

My son has seemed unsettled since the term began. He has complained of tummy aches, headaches and feeling sick to get out of school. Twice he has been sent home when he seems well, full of energy and perfectly healthy to me. I haven't been able to get to the bottom of whether this is simply because he would rather be at home, or because something is troubling him. I tried to discuss this with his teacher, she was very dismissive and said its fairly standard 7 year old behaviour. I'm not so sure- he is a happy, enthusiastic boy, doesn't usually tell lies as far as I know and is generally very eager to please and behave himself.

I don't want to make the teacher's life any more difficult, but I am concerned about these things- can anyone tell me if I am expecting too much?

[temporarilyjerry]

Many schools do not do guided reading but teach reading in English lessons. In KS2, there are often fewer TAs and so children may not read regularly with
an adult, especially if they are good/average readers.

There is not harm in asking a general question about how reading is taught.

I think the move to year 3 is a big step, like the move from Reception to Year 1. However, I think the teacher should not be dismissing your concerns.

[DeWee]

I would go in with he seems to be not settling very well this year, is there anything you've noticed?

But ds is year 3 and there's a lot in his year that are unsettled at present, it's not uncommon to see 3 or 4 of them in tears on any given morning, and they were all fine in year 2. Just it's slightly uppped the expectations.