Naughty kids in reception

[3in4years]

My son and his friend have gone home and mentioned the 'naughty boys who stop Miss X from teaching. When asked they give 5 or 6 names. Is it a bit early in the year for reception aged kids to be confident enough to behave badly at school? Would you be concerned?

[Believeitornot]

I would not take the word of a 4/5 year old to accurately portray what happens.

For a start, it could be someone with special education needs and the other children don’t understand that they’re not “naughty” (this happened at my dcs school).

[SoupDragon]

The confidence to behave badly?? It's more likely that they are simply struggling with the expected behaviour. Does your DS always behave?

[DragonGoby]

Hmmm, I’d keep an eye on it OP. I wouldn’t say that the stage in the year is particularly relevant, but IMO five or six naughty and disruptive children in a class is quite a high number. We moved my DC3 to a different school (having been very happy with the school for DC1 and DC2) because his class had a similar issue.

[EightNine]

It's not about too much confidence, it's the opposite, in can take a few months to settle, they're only tiny.

[3in4years]

Thanks for the replies.

[BubblesBuddy]

It can be that they are just not ready for school. Give it a bit of time and see what happens. If there are still problems (my DDs certainly knew a naughty child when they encountered one) I would ask what the teacher is doing to ensure your child is being taught properly. Hopefully this conversation won’t need to happen.

[Owletterocks]

I wouldn’t worry in reception op. My ds is a rule follower and would describe the smallest misdemeanour as someone being ‘naughty’ there were a few ‘naughty’ kids in his class in reception, they all largely settled down in year 1 when they were just that bit older.

[Curlypop]

Aren't all kids 'naughty' at one time or another? You don't know if they are struggling to adapt or anything. Concentrate on your own child!

[SoyDora]

I would have thought there was a fair bit of ‘naughty’ behaviour in reception due to children finding their feet and learning boundaries? DD1 is in reception and they have a traffic light system, she’s always telling me about the naughty children on amber! She would be absolutely mortified to be put on amber but she’s one of the older ones in the year and a proper rule follower.

[Thesnobbymiddleclassone]

Every class at every school will have children like this. It's frustrating as we want our kids to learn and for the teacher to be able to do their job

[pinkhorse]

Every year has it's own naughty children. It won't just be reception. Ds moans about the naughty children in his class in year 4. I remember the naughty children all the way through high school when I was there.

[BarbarianMum]

Lots of the "expected behaviour " in school is totally alien to 4 year olds. Sitting quietly on the carpet, not talking for 5 or 10 minutes, putting your hand up rather than calling out. They will learn but it takes time.

[BubblesBuddy]

Many YR classes will let the unsettled children play a bit longer and not get them sitting down for a long time. They should have different areas where the engaged children can do their writing or maths work. The other children will need a more gentle introduction to formal school.

Given the number of primary exclusions, not all children settle into school at all. Hopefully there won’t be prolonged problems and that the teacher has the experience to deal with any naughtiness.

[Naty1]

Some of these dc are only 4.2yo!
Some 'naughty' ones are just unable to deal with other ones telling them to do naughty stuff. Or being rude to them etc with only 1-2 staff who may or may not be watching closely.

[SuburbanRhonda]

You might want to refocus the conversation with your child on the positives and make sure he’s being sociable and is able to make friends at school.

Because reporting misdemeanours to his parents and giving names is not going to win him any friends further up the school.

[Stillwishihadabs]

My ds (April born) was proper naughty in reception ( hitting, bitting, peeing in the playground) it was a sign of
A) immaturity and
B) intelligence
He then settled down for yrs 1-5 but was quite disruptive in yr6. He is 14.5 and thriving in the top set of a SS grammar. Not so much naughty as ingenious now. :)

[Witchend]

"...who stop Miss X from teaching" is a very grown up phrase. I wouldn't expect a child to see it like that. I wonder who's saying that to them.

[BubblesBuddy]

My DDs always told me who the naughty children were but I only spoke to a teacher once when my DD was continually stabbed with a pencil and when the child was asked to stop he spent all the lesson under the table. This was YR and this child did go to a grammar school. My DD was perfectly entitled to be concerned about this as indeed other children were. It didn’t affect friendships.

The problem with poor behaviour is that it can get a lot worse. These children have special needs and many end up getting excluded. Others improve and are fine! Others act up because they are bored!

[3in4years]

Thanks. All helpful replies. It was noteworthy to me as both he and his friend went home separately and mentioned it. And they said it was quite a large group. I'm not really worried. He is a proper rule follower but doesn't seem upset at all about it. From what I can gather they all get on well. These kids are just noisy when the teacher is talking. He just thought it was an interesting bit of news. He loves school and seems to be learning a lot so it's doing him no harm.

[TheMonkeyMummy]

So they mentioned naughty boys. Now what? What do you want to achieve with this?

There will always be kids who have different outlooks or require more/less support or the teachers attention. This happens when kids are grouped by age rather than ability.

Thankfully teachers have a lot of training so that they can handle these situations like professionals.

[RavenWings]

That sounds completely normal tbh, low level disruption. Just sounds like they haven't learned to listen properly - no doubt at some stage your own will break a rule or two, I can count the children I've taught who have never made some minor transgression on one hand. It's to be expected and teachers have many strategies for this kind of thing.

[SuburbanRhonda]

It was noteworthy to me as both he and his friend went home separately and mentioned it.

How did you know that? Did you discuss it with the other parent? How did that come up in the conversation?

Try not to look for things to worry about, OP. If your child is happy, sit back and wait for the teenage years to kick in.

[Jottville]

The age at which children start school, is very young, i would argue, to young. Some Countries don't allow there children to start school until they are 6 or 7.
I homeschooled for many years, and think its a great opportunity for children to avoid all the stresses in a class room, especially at such a young age.
All the best,
Adele Jane