School reports results came as a surprise

I don’t think it is individual teachers they are being failed by the system themselves, hence the mass exodus from the profession. But as they are being failed so are the kids. Education funding should be a key priority for the government regardless of political stance of the government of the day.

Surprisingly at my daughter’s school the teachers do manage to provide all that and take the time to engage with her so all work is tailored to her ability and interests. Class sizes are maximum 10 children to 1 teacher plus assistant. It is amazing what teachers can do when properly funded and supported. The issue is the shoddy funding of the schools in the UK and teachers are not able to teach as they should - so kids are failed daily in small and large ways.

The school failed to communicate properly with the OP about where her son was at - so she is annoyed as she was unable to support her son during the year. At no point did I say the OP was not a concerned Mum- I was saying she wanted to support her son rather than focusing on any perceived failing as he was not meeting expectation.

Jeez all the angst over reading levels and ‘age related expectations’ on a cut and paste end of year report for a 5 year old. 🙄

Genuinely I could not have given a flying fig what the teacher wrote on my kid’s report as I was the judge of their ability and I was confident that they were good readers, they were articulate and could do their times tables. That’s virtually all they need to know at primary. Anything else is a bonus!

Stressing over these things too early can actually make children lose a love for school because the expectation weighs too heavily on them. Just let your DC learn and explore at their own pace. Your job is not to harangue teachers but to encourage a sense of play and curiosity and reading in your child. If you do that, the rest will naturally follow.

I think it is worth being bothered. Schools assess children against age related expectations and progress against prior year attainment. This can mean that school will accept a child being below the expected levels, as long as they continue to make the expected steps of progress. So a school can "lock in" to accepting a child underperforming related to their abilities. We had this with one of my DDs and we were able to demonstrate to the school that she was more able and more should be expected of her. But I worry about similar children without invested parents.

100% agree. My just finished year 4 daughter is bright, but really missed out from missing most of reception due to covid closures. I only really realised how important this year was after my youngest went through reception. Both my girls are reasonably smart, but the youngest at 6 has a better grasp in spelling unfamiliar words than the oldest at 9 due to oldest missing the basic phonics building blocks in reception

The best option is to find the associated books to their curriculum. My Y1 daughters school does Little Wandle for reading and White Rose Maths, and there are associated homework books for these. Which I don't think is really necessary in year 1, but her older sister had them and my just turned 6 wanted them too. The schemes teach things in quite different ways, so it's important to be doing an extra learning in a way which is consistent with school schemes.

All children develop at different rates. My year 1 child struggled in reception as one of the youngest in her year, but something just clicked mid year 1 and she went from working towards to greater depth in space of 4 months, 40/40 in phonics test. More than anything it linked to her focus level - you said your son struggles to settle into their work, so it may be worth looking at strategies around that - if he is taking say 5/10 mins to get into an activity, and they are in 30 mins blocks that a chunk of learning he is missing.

What nonsense. You clearly do not know what a loving concerned mum of a young child looks like.

Take it up with the teacher who'd taught reception and year 1 for years and felt that. It certainly worked for my son.

I think you misunderstood, she was saying all the stuff she and they worked hard to learn in reception and year 1 was easily learned in year 3 in a matter of weeks so why teach it before they are ready? Doesn't mean they would be on track for year 3 although my son certainly was by the end of the year. Which is probably why they start later in other countries and achieve as much if not more than out kids.

Can you point where the OP described her child as a prodigy? I may have missed it. Or were you just trying to be unpleasant for attention?

I’m sorry but this makes no sense! If they master it easily at 7 or 8 then this would mean most children if not all would be on track and they aren’t. Teaching children in reception and year 1 isn’t a waste.

And I agree with you. But it’s the accusations against individual teachers and insinuating they are incompetent that’s actually corrosive. It also deflects from the systemic problems in education, and the lack of funding.

DD1’s teacher told us (after a similar school report in Y2) that she never noticed if DD1 was in the class or not! She was also bored. She was on the G & T programme in Y1 and her Y2 teacher simply didn’t bother to continue it. Y3 and a different school made all the difference.

Just saying teachers aren’t superhuman is not the point. Education should be properly invested in by the Government and these threads, which often appear on mumsnet just show children are being let down every day in schools in small ways - which adds up,

It means exactly that at the school I work and at my children's school. It explicitly says so on their reports.

What does 'working towards expected' mean there? Here it means on track for age and expectation and isn't a negative thing? I think there are only 3 options on the report here.

Bloody hell - that’s sums up the current state education in the UK. It makes my blood boil about the lack of investment in education.

Then 100% agree with you 😀

? WTS in Year 1 would be not quite at the standard expected for that exact age group: Year 1. Measuring to the end of the key stage makes no sense?

Not when they’re using the term ‘working towards’.

Most schools measure against year group objectives though, not end of key stage.

Most children at the end of Y1 are ‘working towards’, as the measures are for what they should be achieving at the end of KS1 (end of Y2!). Unless your child is a whole year ahead of where they should be, they are ‘working towards’.

The problem is that I think that is close to what most 5 year olds need/is best for them...just not possible with current system.

I meant they shouldn't be worried about their son's abilities ...
Agree about overlooking ...I wouldn't be happy with the school.

This is really good point - my DD had someone else’s name on her primary report and the teacher said ‘oh, well we often copy and paste stuff’.😩