To think parents expect too much of schools?

My guys in their second year of school had a monthly calendar page - and they had to decorate it, populate important dates, class birthdays etc. they also ticked off each day, and did Mid-term and Christmas countdowns. I thought it was sweet. I've just copped it was the foundation for learning the concept of time and planning and all that good stuff.

Yes, I can quite believe it. I was recently teaching A level Maths. In an exam question on probability you needed to use the number of days in January, for example, and my student didn’t know how many that was.

Although English is his first language he spent his primary school years in a different EU country, but that’s something that’s the same all over the world. I think.

I agree, usually done through playing games such as those produced by Orchard games.
i would not be happy with a nursery, child minder or Nanny who did not incorporate this to a pre school child’s education.

They do weave learning maths, english , history and science into all that play. The activities all have learning objectives and then the teachers ask lots of questions and help the children think about the whats, whys wheres and hows of it all. I think they have explained the delivery to you, but not the aims or how it works.

The reason they do all that play is to make sure there are solid foundations to build on for the next steps. If you try skipping these steps, they never really get a chance to do those things again. So before fine motor comes gross motor, so you want waving a paint brush and riding a bike, before you get to handwriting etc. Stuff like forest school is a chance to broaden vocabulary, problem solve.

A lot of other countries in europe do this play based learning for a bit longer than the uk.

I discovered to my consternation last year that the fact there are 52 weeks in a year was not something some of my year 13s knew!

I work in a secondary school now, and I blush to think of all the "why don't they just" statements I made about the school in relation to my little darlings before I worked there. I had no idea what/how much the school does! But I do approach parents' requests with understanding!

Fair point about SEN, although there most definitely was a girl with SEN (or however it was termed then) in my primary class, who really couldn't do much for herself. She lived round the corner from us, and we knew her well.

I remember when I started teaching in 1997 the nursery teacher coming into the staff room aghast because a child had started and they didn’t know any colours. I can remember her standing at the sink talking about how surprising it was. Now, we are more surprised if they do know anything. Parents just seem to think everything is the responsibility of the school. Including toilet training. That alone has damaged EYFS education immeasurably as one member of staff is dealing with toileting for almost the whole day instead of playing.

children with severe Sen were excluded from education in the 60s.

the movement that established education as the right of every child wasn’t really accepted until the 70s.

so kids who couldn’t do x y and z didn’t go to school.

this is separate from an erosion of expectations which I agree there has been.

Unfortunately schools are having to spend as much time parenting kids as the are educating them

I started school in early 80s. Sahm, like the other kids in our street. None of us were able to read or write before we got there.
However, we were all fully potty trained, could use knives and forks and were able to play out independently. Our parents just left school to get on with things.

If you met my dc, you would not think get had the same parents. One presents as highly academic, if lazy. The other one appears to have taken the stereotype of the dizzy blonde as a guide to life. I have no idea where her head is when we have discussions.

I work in early years. Every day through Nursery and Reception we sing the days of the week song and discuss what day it is. We still have children who struggle to grasp it by the end of reception!

The children who are best able to grasp the concept are often those who have parents who also look at these things at home. It does seem to be a tricky concept for many though.

Aren't those basics the school should be teaching them?!

My kids haven't started school yet in the UK, but from what we were told at all the school visits, in reception and year 1 they do play based learning, wood work, learn to ride a bike, forest school, computing, painting... Another bunch of stuff as well from Y2.

That's great and really cool stuff, but that's all things that could and should be learned at home. Reading, writing and spelling on the other hand, are 100% why I send my kids to school in the first place.

I tutor secondary-aged students , most of whom have had time out of school but who have no specific or general learning difficulties. It’s interesting what students don’t know, for instance the months of the year in order.

For example, I had one student whose birthday was in early August, but he had no idea where that came in the year, So, it was late June but he didn’t know if his birthday was quite soon or many months away. We know the rhythm of the year, with school terms, half terms and holidays, but it’s quite likely that some students do not. Like months, school terms are not all the same length.

The problem in filling the knowledge gaps is working out which things which you’d think were common knowledge, which many of the class may know but some don’t.

No l was talking about the more personal things like toileting and putting shoes/coats on.
And manners are appaling- you are lucky to get a please or thank you without reminding them (that's all years not just littlies)

Wow, that is the very definition of over thinking - worrying about over teaching or not teaching in exactly the correct way pre school!

What ever happened to just talking to your pre school kids, reading to them, pointing out things that are different colours, taking them to museums, seeing different animals in farm parks, counting, saying what day of the week it is etc? Of course, if your child has identified learning difficulties then you might want to work a bit before school to try and get them on a level with their peers. And if you have a child who is showing signs of wanting to be able to read, then you’d encourage and facilitate that. But mainly the pre school years should consist of learning through experience, not formal teaching.

It's probably a few lessons a year in KS1 so needs to be re-enforced a lot.

I was a kid in the 1960s and 70s, both my parents worked full time (Mum on nights) throughout my childhood. I could read and write well before I began primary school, toilet myself etc, and tbh I can only recall maybe two or three kids who couldn't do these things.

We do start school earlier though. DS was 4 years one month and wouldn't have been ready for reading yet. I'm sure not the case for all kids but it's not just parents not bothering. Outcomes have risen a lot actually.

Middle names is obviously ridiculous! Handwriting is tricky as I think there is less focus on it. There is too much in the primary curriculum to focus on some of the basics imo.

If a NT year 2 child doesn’t know the days of the week then that’s down to poor parenting.

Personally, I think it’s a parental responsibility to teach colours, days and months-school can’t cover everything !

There's probably no time left to teach them anything by the time they've dealt with all the other crap that parents are constantly demanding they must do.

I work in a primary school and have seen a real decline in what children are able to do.
We have to parent the parents as much as we do the children.