Speed of completing work in Reception

[whatty]

Am worrying a bit about my 5 year old son's progress in reception. I found out at the weekend from another mum that there are child specific targets for all the boys in my DSs class.
After chatting to him a bit at the weekend, it appears that his target is to start his work more quickly. Apparently, he often doesn't get to go out to play as he hasn't finished a task, and he sometimes takes 30mins of a 40mins session to get going (the teacher told my mum this at pick up yesterday).
I have made an appointment to speak to the teacher about this primarily to ask why this target was told to me by my DS rather than the teacher. And I am also going to ask how long this has been an issue, what support is being given, and how we need to help him going forward.
My questions are though- is it common for 5 year old to be slow off the mark re: doing tasks? And how can we change this? And am I worrying unnecessarily?
If it is relevant- he is at a private prep school and was 5 in October.
Thanks in advance.

[mindutopia]

I think you probably are worrying unnecessarily. How is he at home? Presumably you do homework with him there? Does he stonewall? Get frustrated, upset, refuse to do it? And how do you handle setting tasks for him to complete at home?

I imagine the teacher hasn't raised it with you because it's something they are working on amongst themselves and it isn't really an issue that needs much parental involvement. They probably have their own approaches and they don't want you putting undue pressure on him over his work in school. I imagine they have their own ways of encouraging behaviour and rewarding progress, etc.

But if you have approaches you use at home and can model that sort of thing there, that would be helpful. My dd really procrastinating with getting started on homework in the autumn term. I think a lot of it had to do just with confidence. She didn't feel confident yet about what she was doing, so she would drag her feet about it in the afternoons. So reading a book that should have taken 15 minutes would drag on for like an hour with lots of tears and moodiness. For us, what helps was really working with her to boost her confidence with what she was doing, so she enjoyed it, felt good about it, and was happy to just get stuck in and do it. We also now have a weekly homework chart. I write in everything she needs to do each week over the weekend on a calendar chart and then when she does them, she puts a sticker on that days task. On Friday, if she's gotten all her stickers (for not only finishing it, but doing it nicely without whining and procrastinating), then she gets a small treat (a piece of chocolate or something similar). That's been really effective. They might have their own reward systems at school (which probably don't involve sweets!), but maybe doing something similar at home might get him in the habit of just jumping in and getting things done.

[whatty]

Thanks for the suggestions @mindutopia. He definitely procrastinates at home too, so some rewarding and a chart to put stickers on sounds great.

[Notenoughtime123]

Honestly, I'd be having a good chat with teacher. He shouldn't be missing outdoor play time in reception, he should be accessing good quality continuous provision.