Plan of action for children 'below' required standards?

[WillowRobin]

We're looking for some advice please on what to do. At a recent parents evening we were told our son was 'Below' where he should be in literacy. Obviously as caring parents of a happy and cheerful boy that concerns us, but what was most dissapointing was that the teacher did not seem concerned and didn't suggest a plan of action of how to get him up to where he should be. Instead she blamed him for not asking for help if he doesn't understand the instructions and for being slow to complete pieces of literacy work or hasn't written anything by the end of the session. He is a shy and quiet boy and not likely to put his hand up to ask for help.
We went home and chatted to him - of course, we didn't tell him the verdict on his literacy ability, but just asked about literacy in general (after telling him how great his work was and how much effort he is putting in). He said he gets sat between two boys who are 'naughty' and they poke him and distract him so he can't always get on with his work.
I mentioned this to the teacher and the response again blamed him - that he should be telling if this was happening. We are livid and feel that the teacher doesn't care. It's an outstanding school but this particular teacher does not have a great reputation. We've always given the teacher the benefit of the doubt and my first port of call would always be to work with the teacher to help my son - in a way that means he doesn't feel any pressure. However, I don't think the teacher is approachable for us or my son and we're tempted to contact the headteacher or senco as we are so unhappy and worried our son is going to drop behind. However, he has this teacher for the rest of the year so we don't want him to have a bad time and ruin his enjoyment of school.
Anyone with similar problems have any good advice? Thanks in advance!

[TeenAndTween]

How old is your son?

He does need to be encouraged to speak up if he doesn't understand or if his neighbours are distracting him.

But equally now the teacher is aware she needs to be proactive checking that everything is OK.

Also, owing to the new raised standards, you may find that 1/3rd of the class are 'below' - did you check whether it was just him or a whole swathe of them?

Does he ask for help in maths? Is it the same teacher?