School reports results came as a surprise

I would not be happy about this.

Schools are required to communicate progress once per term, if he was working below age related expectations that should have been made crystal clear last term at the latest and they should have been flagging what interventions they were doing.

That said, if he is reading chapter books fluently and passed the phonics check I am very surprised he didn't come in ok for reading. I would ask to see the teacher. They use software to write reports now, is it possible a mistake has been made?

Are you reading with him at home, OP? If you want your child to make progress in school, ideally you should be spending a minimum of 30 minutes a day reading with him as that will help him make the most progress. Make sure that the books he is reading are challenging too and helping to develop his vocabulary.

No. The ability of other children in the class has no bearing at all on whether a child is judged to be working at the expected level for their age.

OP, you need to ask for an urgent meeting with the teacher. If his phonics and reading are as good as you say, I don’t understand how he can be "working towards". You need to ask her to explain.

You sound like you're very well placed to support your kid at home and you seem happy with what you see him do.

Your husband is probably right, he's probably just keeping his head down at school and the teacher hasn't got a full picture of his abilities. Don't get me wrong, that's poor from her...but unless there are serious issues to address, it's a year 1 report...it doesn't mean anything!

Keep it to embarrass them with at their wedding!

I think I understand you, @Mumisconfused. You don’t feel as if you and DS’s teacher have been working as a team. I would be disappointed, too.

I would start by trying to meet next year’s teacher to try to establish a teamwork relationship.

They are a child not a robot no child is good at everything and maybe step back and breathe your child is not an extension on you and what ypu have decided for them, yes children should try their best and get help if it is needed but it comes across as you getting a little hysterical over it

Yes I agree with this, and I don’t know why people are being so critical of the OP. You should have a really good idea what the report will say, if you’ve been to parents evenings during the year, so for it to come as a shock means something has gone awry with the communication home.

move forward, over the summer break work on SPAG and maths.
lots of coloring cutting playdough and some writing, continue with the reading.
as you know it shouldn't have been a surprise but there is little that can be done about that at this point.

The issue is, a school report should never come as a surprise. It’s a culmination and summary of the year and parents should be fairly confident in what it contains due to previous communication .

YANBU but could it be based on end of KS1 (end of y2) expectations? Definitely request some clarity.

In the past we had to tell the teacher the books he was bringing home were too easy and not challenging him. She seemed surprised. We insisted to send a level up home, which she did.... since then he has gone up 2 more levels in reading. If we haven't pointed it to her, she would have not noticed his improvement

Look, as a parent of teens you sound unhinged. This stuff is so completely unimportant in Y1. I’ve had one who could barely read in Y3, he had glue ear, was a young for year boy, but as a current Y11, is about to get straight 8’s/9’s in GCSE’s and taking History/Politics/Economics/Classics at A Level. My Y8 DD was at ‘greater depth’ or whatever it’s called when you’re really smart throughout junior school, but just had a really shit end of year report because she can’t be arsed. Pick your battles, read books, discuss them, But don’t get in a fight with your DC’s school over a report for 5 year olds.

Is he one of the younger ones in his year? My DS just finished yr2 with wts across the board, although it wasn't a surprise to us as had been communicated previously. He's the youngest in his year and at the beginning of the year he was at the bottom of working towards now he's at almost at 'expected'. Not every child is going to be massively academic, I just encourage and support him and point out he is very good at other things, sport in his case

Basically, you thought your child was a child prodigy and they’re not. It’s a huge bump down to earth when they start school, and you realise they are actually quite normal. Your DC is a normal kid, needs a bit of work in some areas, others are fine. Nothing special, nothing remarkable. Just one of 20 kids, doing just fine.

My friend had this exact problem with her son in Y1 and he was just bored stiff, so disengaged. She had a similar report and it was just that he was way ahead, the teacher paid him no mind, so he would just wander off into his own little world. By Y3 (when he had a better, more engaged and engaging teacher), they were hailing him as gifted and talented.

If school is not yet closed, have a word with her to find out where she thinks he's fallen back since the last meeting and what she suggests for bringing him up to expectation. It might be something, it may be nothing; but after a year of being his teacher, she should be able to help with this.

Good luck 👍🏾.

I can't fully blame the school my brother and I have very different attitudes to education! You sound like you're on it, I'm sure she'll be fine

I think that's the bad bit it hasn't been clearly communicated. My DNs school is like that everything was fine until my niece got to y 3 and then they said she was 2 years behind in some areas. DS' school have us in for curriculum meetings, literacy and phonics briefings etc multiple times a year so it's really clear what the expectations are. Not sure if you'll get a chance to meet the new teacher before the end of the year but if you do it's worth raising that you'd like to do everything you can to support and would appreciate regular updates.

You say he has gone up two levels where is he on the reading scheme? DS got GD for reading but he has finished read write inc completely and he's just finishing y1, he's reading chapter books at home to us but also just for pleasure. He's working towards with handwriting which you can see so that's the area we practice most. Which parts of his homework does he find the biggest challenge? I really wouldn't worry about working towards at this age. I would be doing things at home regularly so you have a good idea of his progress. Also the children aren't benchmarked against each other. The school should publish end of year one expectations, have a look at those and see what you think.

What exactly has the teacher " removed" ?
Did she stop by your house and forbid you to read with him and help with his homework ?

Seriously, I wouldn't stress about school performance in year 1. You can see he's reading, you think he's doing ok, so I'm sure he is. " Working towards expected" doesn't mean anything now and it won't mean anything in five years time.

Encourage a love of reading and learning.
Support and trust his teachers
There's no more to it than that.

Oh good - you can understand more then and get a plan. You could mention you are surprised this only came up now and has his progress dipped. Try not to panic!!