School Report

[FlutteryButtery]

My dd aged 6 came home today with her end of year report. I was surprised to find that she 'met' all her targets. I was expecting 'working towards'. Similarly, at Reception level, she also had 'met' all targets, when it became clear during year 1 that she was 'working towards'.

Her writing is illegible, her reading is improving with lots of hard work, her maths isnt up to scratch, yet she has 'met' all targets.

Of course I gave her lots of hugs and praise for working so hard and doing so well but I am worried that the school/teacher isn't doing her any favours by giving her this report. I would much rather that they identified and worked on the areas where she needs help, especially with hand writing and maths. I can barely read what she writes. She doesnt put spaces between her words and her writing size changes from tiny to very large within a sentence. I am worrying that she will not get the resources she needs to improve if she is deemed to have met targets.

We do lots of reading at home. Dd loves to draw and loves arts and craft in general. I have tried to work on her writing but she gets tired and loses interest within 5 minutes. I must sound crazy complaining that dd has met all her targets, but I am just not convinced that she really has and I don't want her to miss out on any support and help that she may benefit from. Any advice wiuld be greatly appreciated.

[user789653241]

If you have concerns, do speak to her teacher. Let the teacher know your worry and ask her how the school is planning to help her, and what you can do over the summer.

Over the summer, maybe she can do summer diary? Get her a nice diary, and let her write/draw/stick, anything she likes. My ds at that age used to do diary with one sentence with 2 pages of drawing or sticking of tickets, etc. All help with fine motor skills for improving writing. Lots of physical play like monkey bars, strengthen core muscles which ultimately help with writing.
I've seen the comment using the different coloured pen for writing help with punctuation and capital letters. Just use different colours for each sentence, or make up the rule the capital have to be certain colour, and full stop the other, etc.

For reading, just carry on as normal. Join summer reading challenge at library, just keep doing what you were doing during school, then it won't slip back. It doesn't need to be her actual level. Any book is worth reading, as long as she reads regularly. Just let her choose.

Maths is quite easy to incorporate to everyday life. If you see any opportunity, just use it. Measurement ith cooking, odd/even numbers with house numbers on the street, cutting cakes/pizza on fractions, etc.
Strong understanding od place value is important. I do recommend abacus for this.
Also lego pieces for number bonds, and all the other operations, especially times tables.

For math, you can also try this site, khanacademy

[hippyhippyshake]

Is handwriting a target in year 1? Her actual writing may have hit the target e.g. Sentence structure, capital letters, full stops, time words, conjunctions etc.

[mrz]

It really depends what targets she's been set. It's quite possible that she has met targets while still working towards curriculum expectations

[KittyVonCatsington]

Yes, what others have said; she may well have met her targets and not the targets.

[Mumtofourandnomore]

My ds sounds like your daughter, he is six and at the end of year 1. His reading and maths are fine, but his writing is terrible. He does use spaces and form his letters correctly but it's really, really hard to read. His letters are all different sizes and don't sit on the line, he rushes and doesn't finish off words and often misses words out.

He did NOT meet expectations in his targets for English (he did for his other subjects) and he will continue in a small writing intervention group in September (he has been doing this since Easter).

I definitely think you should raise it with the school because it's really important that your dd gets the support she needs whilst she is young. My ds is my fourth child and to start with I was a bit disappointed that he needed intervention groups etc, but quickly realised how important it is to solve these problems when they are small - before the gap gets wider. In his case he makes progress in small groups, but doesn't apply it yet in the wider classroom (he is also a chatterbox and easily distracted - he needs a stricter teacher !) it's all about practice.

Good luck and thanks to all others for the helpful suggestions in this thread xx

[FlutteryButtery]

Thank you for all the replies. I will definitely follow the advice. I didn't know that the school can set individual targets. That could well explain why my dd has met all targets. I need to find out how far she is from meeting curriculum targets. Can the school keep doing this all the way up to Y6? I don't want dd to be set lower targets throughout. At this stage, I am happy for the school to focus on her writing and maths, but I am hoping that early intervention will lead to dd being able to catch up with the rest of her peers and not have lower standards set as her target throughout primary school.

MumToFour, my dd is also very easily distracted and needs a lot more guidance with how to start and complete pieces of work.

[holeinmypocket]

Thanks irvine, some really good ideas, dd is behind at maths, will be trying these over the summer

[mrz]

There are national targets in Y2 and she will be assessed against these.

[FlutteryButtery]

Aah, so I need to work quite hard with dd during the summer holidays to get her up to speed for Y2. I have had a look at khan academy and will also try the notebook idea.

[missadasmith]

it's all very confusing, isn't it.


DD2 is reading the turquoise books at school. reads fluently without sounding out, great comprehension too.

can count and order number till 100, mental arithmetics until 20. can count in 2's, 5's and 10's.

she is writing joint up. Uses punctuation correctly and her writing is pretty fluent. Needs minimal help with writing homework as she is so independent with it.

She also has 'met' the y1 expectations.

[user789653241]

missadasmith, I don't know what do you need to achieve greater depth in literacy, but for maths, this site gives you the insight what kind of things you need to do to get GDS in maths.(Look at "mastery at greater depth" on right hand side, not just mastery.)

www.ncetm.org.uk/public/files/23305594/Mastery_Assessment_Y1_Low_Res.pdf

www.ncetm.org.uk/public/files/25627338/Mastery_Assessment_Yr2_Low_Res.pdf

[user789653241]

What I can understand is, it's not just knowing the facts anymore, need to know the facts inside out, and able to use the knowledge to apply them to solve more complex questions.

[user789653241]

First section of yr1 questions in greater depth:

I am going to count on from 20. Will I say the number 19?
I am going to count on in twos from 3. Will I say an even number?
I am going to count backwards from 20. How many steps will it take to reach 0?
I am going to count backwards in twos from 20. How many steps will it take to reach 0?

All the questions end with "convince me."
So, you need to explain "why", not just be able to do it/say the right answer, but deeper understanding of the concept so you can explain.

So, it's difficult for 5/6 olds. But if you can do that, success in maths is kind of guaranteed.

[missadasmith]

oh, I wasn't complaining about DD's report. 'met' is fine.

was just trying to make the point that it appears a wide range levels seem to be approbiate by the end of Y1.

Very happy with DD2 and her report

guess it didn't come across right.

[user789653241]

Yeah, it's a great idea to list all the great things your dd can do, on the thread op is asking for help/advice for her child who needs a bit of help.

[FlutteryButtery]

Just came back on the thread to say thank you irvine for the khan academy link. It is really good and I have also arranged an appointment to see dd's teacher to get a little more detail about the report and how to help her further.

[JeffreySadsacIsUnwell]

Lots of activities you could do in the summer hols!

Buy a tub of teeny weeny mixed beads (different shapes, colours) and some wire. She can make necklaces and bracelets for her friends (and lots for you which you WILL wear ). Excellent for fine motor control, and you can even get in pattern and sequencing. If you go all out, you can buy tiny round beads and longer ones, use the tiny beads as spacers and then compare the bracelet to a sentence - tiny beads are spaces between words which make the words stand out and easier to see. Or your DD can write using beads between the words and different beads for punctuation.

Treasure hunt in the garden? DD needs to write clues (lined index cards are quite good for this), the clue is a description of where the next clue is to be found e.g. 'Behind the big tree to the left of the pond' or 'Somewhere cold and dark where frogs live' or 'Under something we use to cook outside'. Maybe ten clues? If you find them all and get to the end of the trail, she gets the treasure .