DD's report is nothing like DD

[BaffledMum467941]

So, we just got DD1s first report. She is 5 in March and in Reception in a state primary in a fairly deprived area.

It is nothing like her! There are gradings of 1 for above expected for age, 2 for meeting expectations for age and 3 for working towards expectations for age. She has got all 2s, except for 3s in writing and creative development.

(This is where I am worried about being flamed, but I need advice, so...)

She is much cleverer than that. I know she isn't about to take her gcses or anything, but I take an interest in these things and I know she is working well above where she should be in most areas. Even when I sit and only list the things that she can do on paper with absolutely no prompting she is ahead. Family and friends, some of whom are respected teachers (one close family member is a head of year and assesses children for dyslexia in a large primary school, and is close enough to tell me if I was talking rubbish - she has also looked after DD a lot and says that DD was easily working at Y1 level when she was still in nursery) have all said she is notably clever.

The written bit of the report could be about another child. The teacher says that DD has mastered counting to ten and adding or taking away one object, but needs to work on counting how many are left when more objects are taken. DD has been doing written sums involving plus and minus under ten since before she was 3, and in fact asks for harder ones at home.

The report says that DD needs to work on learning her phonics sounds (with a list of the sounds) - DD definitely knows these as she teaches them to DD2.

The report says that DD can only form letters with help and has trouble hearing the sounds in cvc words. DD writes letters and stories by herself at home and leaves them for me to find (OK, they won't win the booker prize, but you can read them and understand them)

The report says DD doesn't pay attention and needs to concentrate more, but at home she reads three books to me in a row - I get bored of listening before she gets bored of reading!

We had the same kind of thing, when the nursery report said she could only count to 5, but we dismissed it as just one of those quirks of the report system, but it happeneing again has me worried.

I should say, I do agree with some of the report - she does prefer her own company, she does need to work on getting dressed and going to the toilet (that is a whole other thread - we have tried everything) and she is very happy with the climbing frame (she talks about it constantly)

Argh. What should I do?

[DuchessofMalfi]

I feel for you. When DD was in Reception (in another school to the one she's in now), the teacher hadn't got a clue who she was talking about at the parents' evening. I came away thinking she really doesn't know her yet. We eventually switched schools because it just wasn't a very good school, and the teacher was disappointingly bad (it never got any better).

[PotteringAlong]

Is she doing it at school though? Could she be 'playing down' what she van do at school so the report is a true reflection of what she does there, but not what she's capable of?

[BaffledMum467941]

The school seems lovely though, and there is a teacher and two TAs for the class of 30, so it isn't a lack of staff.

It is so incredibly different to DD, all it can be is that DD is not showing her abilities in class for some reason.

[BaffledMum467941]

x posts with pottering.

It is parents evening next week - how can I bring it up without sounding like I am arguing with the teacher?

[Iamnotminterested]

Or she is simply not demonstrating that she can, reliably, for them to tick the box?

[Iamnotminterested]

Had a similar thing with DD2's reading in year 1; they said she couldn't understand and explain enough about what she was reading, I said she could. Long story.

[mrz]

Remember the child you see at home may act very differently to the child the teachers sees in school. Take your daughters stories in and talk to the teacher she can only report what she has seen.

Is your daughter forming letters correctly or is she "writing" letter shapes?
She won't be doing written sums so can she work with concrete objects and most importantly will she do all these things independently without an adult around?

[Bonsoir]

My DD is in her fifth year of school. TBH, I am now pleasantly surprised when she has a teacher who has noticed anything pertinent about her! You'll get used to teachers not knowing the first thing about your child in due course...

[Quodlibet]

Could you approach the teacher with a concerned but non-confrontational question, ie 'DD's report is very interesting, but I'm concerned that she's not demonstrating things at school that she can do very easily at home, like X,Y and Z. How can we work together to make sure more of what she knows makes it into the classroom?" To be fair, the teacher will just be getting to know the class and might have missed things if your DD is a nice quiet well-behaved non-problematic child - but you'd be right to bring it up.

[Insomnia11]

It could be the teacher is just trying to make sure she has mastered all the basics. While she might be well ahead in some areas she might be below average in others because she hasn't mastered that skill yet or at least hasn't had chance to demonstrate it at school yet.

[BaffledMum467941]

I think she is forming letters properly. Mostly anyway - she knows how to do them all, although does sometimes go back to "drawing" the letter, like you say.

She can definitely work with concrete objects - I see her using her fingers all the time, and she uses the numbers on a ruler as a makeshift number line if needed too.

I'm probably more worried than most because I had such a bad time at school - I'm terrified she will end up being as unhappy as I was because teachers just didn't "get" me. Or I didn't "get" school. Whichever. I got tested at 18 by college, who found I had an IQ in the top 1% but such severe dyspraxia/dyslexia/whatever that the woman was shocked it hadn't been picked up when I was tiny. (I'm not even sure now that it is dyslexia etc, from what I have read, aspergers fits the bill much better) My chest tightens even now thinking about being told off for not walking on stairs with holes in or getting dressed quick enough or writing messily or asking the questions that occurred to me but apparently sounded like I was being disrespectful or not concentrating (because the questions were not part of the syllabus).

But anyway, enough about me. The point is, there is no way ON THIS EARTH that I am letting my daughter put up with that. No way. If she is ringing alarm bells now, I am going to stand up for her - if she isn't feeling up to showing what she can do, when at home she chooses writing and doing puzzles over anything else, that is a sign of something not being ok - she must be unhappy.

She is four - why would she not want to show what she can do?

[mrz]

It's not a case of not wanting to show what she can do but the teacher has to see her doing these things independently in her play not by sitting her down and asking her to demonstrate what she can do ...

[BaffledMum467941]

Apparently she "flits" between activities, which I have seen her do if she is overwhelmed, but then I'm sure most people would.

A huge room with loads of people doing loads of things with no idea when it will start or stop (she can only tell the time to the hour atm) or what she is meant to be doing is going to be confusing - surely that is the same for everyone and not me? Or else workplaces and high schools would just let people wander about aimlessly.

Gah. Sorry. I'm just worried.

[BaffledMum467941]

Also, DDs play mostly revolves around playing schools, playing dead (by various ways - her current one is by poisoning because she loves Boudicca - thank you horrible histories!) and er, reading books/doing workbooks. Oh, dancing too.

So there isn't much scope for literacy and numeracy to come up in ways that wouldn't be seen as formal, iyswim - books and playing schools probably wouldn't count.

[Chaotica]

We had similar last year - I feel for you. DD apparently was the level of a 2 year old in most things.

I would politely raise it at the parents evening. Ask if they could find some harder things for your DD to do (even if it's just reading).

TBH it was mostly the school with DD, but there was a problem in reception that she didn't like the confusing busy (and often violent) setting. Now she's in Y1, she is fine and loves it.

[mrz]

www.amazon.co.uk/Like-Bees-Not-Butterflies-Child-initiated/dp/1906029768/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322166538&sr=8-1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21
might help you understand why an early years setting is organised the way it is and reassure you it isn't as chaotic as you seem to find it.

If your daughter is playing schools or dead that certainly would be considered evidence of independent application of skills and knowledge ... playing schools/dead isn't what you refer to as "formal"

[cory]

Are you sure you are not projecting your own experiences on your dd?

If she does not perform in exactly the same way at school as at home, why does that have to mean she is unhappy? Dd didn't perform to anything like her own ability at school at that age, but I strongly suspect that was because she was too busy having a good time. The fact that her reception teachers may not have known exactly what she was capable of hasn't affected her later studies at all: she played in reception and when the time came that she needed to work she worked and once she worked teachers saw that she could do it.

You do sound as if you expect your dd to be overwhelmed and unhappy- has she actually told you that she is overwhelmed and unhappy?

[Runoutofideas]

We have just had dd2's parents' evening tonight and been told that she doesn't choose to fully demonstrate her capabilities - which I think is probably the same for your dd. DD2 is an August birthday so the youngest in the class and she is quite emotionally immature and has taken a long time to settle in. She still cries when I leave her every morning, but comes out happy.

I think she is overwhelmed in a new setting, as your dd seems to be, and will show her abilities in time to the teacher. The difference seems to be here though that my dd's teacher has noticed, and is telling me that she's hiding her lights under a bushel, rather than having to have it explained to her. Maybe give it a bit longer and see how she goes beofre panicking too much - although I can understand why your own experience could colour your judgement. Hope it all works out ok.

[choccyp1g]

mrzThu 24-Nov-11 19:41:
It's not a case of not wanting to show what she can do but the teacher has to see her doing these things independently in her play not by sitting her down and asking her to demonstrate what she can do ...

I know this is how the early years framework scoring is done, but Mrz, can you explain WHY it is scored this way? I cannot get my head round the logic of saying that a child's ability can only be "counted" if they do something spontaneously.

Later on at school, they don't say that DC are not capable of doing (for example) long division, because they only do it when asked by the teacher.

[mrz]

because there are hundreds of children out there who can happily complete reams of "sums" sat next to an adult but are unable to actually apply it in "real" situations. Schools across the country complain children can't do maths "problems"...
Actually later on in school they do say that children can't do long division if they can't do it independently.

[VivaLeBeaver]

She's just not maybe settled down enough in reception to be doing these things yet, its very early days. She may well not be paying attention as its all so new and exciting and once she settles in she'll concentrate better and demonstrate her ability more.

[choccyp1g]

Mrz, yes, independantly, not spontaneously

I do get what you are saying about applying the knowledge though.

[Bonsoir]

I think the point about being able to apply knowledge rather than just regurgitate it is very interesting; it certainly seems to me (with children in a different education system) that if there weren't the long summer holidays, my children wouldn't have any opportunity at all to practice applying knowledge since all school does is the formal/conceptual part.

[5moreminutes]

Last year my dd "learnt" numbers 0-10 as part of a pre-school programme at Kiga.

She was 5 and (like most 5 year olds in the uk) already knew the numbers, how to count, recognise and write them (which was all that was taught - we are abroad, school starts at 6 and it is frowned on to teach kids anything academic before).

She is a rather overly socially aware child and would come home and explain that she pretended she didn't know things, so she could learn them again with everyone else ??? She didn't mind this situation at all and it was like a game, and only half an hour a couple of times a week not a whole school day...

Just a radical opposite interpretation to the autism/ aspergers one to why a child might not show above average for peer group knowledge or ability...

She is fine now at school, turns out 3 other little girls can read too (reading wasn't even touched on last year) - they don't differentiate work here but the 4 girls are book monitors (because they can read the names on the books to give them out to the right child) and read instructions/ poems/ stories out to the class, so the teacher did spot them despite the 1950s school system here, no ability groups etc. and dd's tenancy to adapt herself to fit in!

Hope you find a non confrontational way to address this discrepancy with the teacher - I agree bring in a story she has written all by herself at home - and that she can settle in and be happy and learn at school.

[redskyatnight]

I understand you are concerned that your DD may be overwhelemed and unhappy at school - but has she shown any sign of it? She's probably still settling into school and finding her feet - how she is assessed at this stage (or any stage) of Reception really matters not a jot. In fact you may find that she's getting the "meets expectations" because the teachers haven't yet assessed her against "higher" criteria.

DD's Reception report highlighted that she wasn't able to use a computer. DD can use a computer perfectly well, but at school she preferred to do activities in groups with others so never went near the computers. Now she's in the more formal atmosphere of Y1 she is obliged to do ICT and has been able to demonstrate this.