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Original poster

Why is my reception child not being taught to read or write?

41 replies

Bluecarpets · 20/03/2021 08:00

Genuine poster here and have name changed for this. I want to preface this with I’m am not here to teacher bash in any way! It’s a genuine concern I have and would appreciate any help.

My DS is 5 and in reception. He is September born so the oldest in the class. His reception teacher is absolutely lovely; caring, kind, sets up great play for them all etc. DS adores her. However - I can’t help but notice he does absolutely no reading, writing or maths in class. He is really keen, has loads of notebooks he loves to write in, gets books out of the library regularly and is confident enough that we do sight words and phonics at home when time allows (I work full time). During lockdown, the lack of work was really noticeable. They sent home their class writing books in to use and it had two pieces of “writing” in (a couple of words), and an empty handwriting book. The work was not enough by far - still on single letter phonics and basic counting to 10 - and any reading books he has brought home from school have been the very basic letter sounds. I have asked for more but told he isn’t ready - however she has never heard him read!

What do I do? I can keep asking but don’t want to be “that” parent. My eldest DS by comparison left reception an extremely confident reader and writer (different teacher). We don’t have any teacher meetings where I can bring this up naturally and don’t want to look like I’m complaining, as I’m so happy with the love and nurturing she gives to him. Thank you

OP posts:

ApplestheHare · 20/03/2021 08:07

Honestly nobody on the Internet is going to know the answer to this. Just ring the teacher (or ask for a convo when you see her), say you've noticed a difference between your elder and younger DS and say you'd like to understand so you can best support your DS. If the teacher is as loving and nurturing as you think she'll welcome the chance to have a chat about how you can complement the school learning at home.

MiloAndEddie · 20/03/2021 08:10

How do you know they’ve never heard him read or that he isn’t being taught it?

I realise they set work during lockdown but in my eyes it wasn’t necessarily representative of what they would do or how they would do it in school

BendingSpoons · 20/03/2021 08:13

It sounds strange. My DD has daily phonics, maths and literacy which continued virtually in lockdown. They don't have books to write in but use whiteboards or worksheets. Presumably your son isn't doing this either. She has been able to progress through reading bands as someone hears her read (briefly) most weeks. It doesn't sound like your son's teacher is following the curriculum and I would be politely asking why this is.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

5 year olds Children's books General education Primary education

ChameleonClara · 20/03/2021 08:15

What I did was send them to school to play and be with people and got on with what I wanted at home - could you focus on teaching him to read yourself?

Also you need a chat with school so you understand what they are doing, before you critique it.

PrintempsAhoy · 20/03/2021 08:18

I wondered about this when I came to the UK

Turned out, you need to teach your kids to read as parents. I did not know that, so poor DS struggled through yr R and 1, until Mumsnet educated me on this

Felt pretty stupid to be honest. But of course, in a class of 30, there is no 121 reading ...

Same4Walls · 20/03/2021 08:20

My first thought was how do you know they are not doing phonics or maths or listening to hos read if you've not had the chance to meet and talk to her? Just because it's not in their books doesn't mean they are not doing it, they could be using whiteboards for example.

In any school I've ever worked in it would be absolutely impossible for a teacher to not do these things, senior management would have intervened months ago if there was no evidence of them following the curriculum.

ThePricklySheep · 20/03/2021 08:20

Have they done all the phonic sounds? That would be normal and they should have started that from the autumn term for all children.
If they haven’t even done that, I’d be raising it with the head.

NailsNeedDoing · 20/03/2021 08:21

You really don’t know what he’s doing in class time, I’m sure neither your son or the teacher are providing you with daily hour by hour reports, so it’s very unlikely that no phonics or maths is being done.

You need to talk to the teacher and ask what’s going on. Does your son confidently know all his single letter sounds from what you can see at home? Maths is taught very differently nowadays and a lot of it will be practical, so you won’t necessarily see much evidence of it happening, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t.

ThePricklySheep · 20/03/2021 08:22

@PrintempsAhoy

I wondered about this when I came to the UK

Turned out, you need to teach your kids to read as parents. I did not know that, so poor DS struggled through yr R and 1, until Mumsnet educated me on this

Felt pretty stupid to be honest. But of course, in a class of 30, there is no 121 reading ...

Not true in our case. We were meant to help, with their book at home, but they were listened to twice a week. I don’t think you were daft to presume school would teach them. I’m sure many many parents don’t help them at home.

MargaretThursday · 20/03/2021 08:23

@PrintempsAhoy

I wondered about this when I came to the UK

Turned out, you need to teach your kids to read as parents. I did not know that, so poor DS struggled through yr R and 1, until Mumsnet educated me on this

Felt pretty stupid to be honest. But of course, in a class of 30, there is no 121 reading ...

That's not true. They may no 1-2-1 read with the teacher, but I'd expect them to read at least once to an adult each week. If you read daily at home that will help them too, but it's certainly not entirely left to the parents.

Op, talk to the teacher, but mine at that age did most of their writing on paper, which went into a file we got given at the end of the year. Their books had hardly anything in, but they had daily writing games on either whiteboards or paper.

justanotherneighinparadise · 20/03/2021 08:29

My reception child is being taught phonics, digraph, trigraphs for decoding, then ‘tricky words’ which are the exception words. We are then expected to back this up at home by reading daily with them. They would normally read once a week with the TA as a way of assessing where they are at but at the moment this has been suspended due to catch up post lockdown.

Makingnumber2 · 20/03/2021 08:32

I would book a phone appointment in with the teacher.
You might also find it helpful to look at this:
www.gov.uk/early-years-foundation-stage

www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2

Dustyhedge · 20/03/2021 08:34

I think you need to understand if that is the picture for him or the whole class. Ours has finished reception sounds now so lots of digraphs and a few trigraphs. I’d be surprised if you’re still on single sounds. I know mine has been reading with an adult regularly as i see it in the reading diary.

NellWilsonsWhiteHair · 20/03/2021 08:35

@PrintempsAhoy

I wondered about this when I came to the UK

Turned out, you need to teach your kids to read as parents. I did not know that, so poor DS struggled through yr R and 1, until Mumsnet educated me on this

Felt pretty stupid to be honest. But of course, in a class of 30, there is no 121 reading ...

Sorry, what? This is not my experience nor that of the many early years and primary school teachers in my family / social circle. My son was taught to read at school. I listened to him if he was amenable to that, I shared books with him, he had a nice nurturing play-based curriculum and learned plenty in school (including reading and writing) and plenty at home.

Rainbowdino · 20/03/2021 08:35

Same as @justanotherneighinparadise my DS in reception has been taught phonics, digraphs, trigraphs and ‘tricky words’. They are up to phase 3.
There were lots of new words & sounds introduced in lockdown & they have new reading books each week (ebooks).
I wouldn’t be happy if not tbh, he is a very eager reader & loves learning to read!

wanderlnst · 20/03/2021 08:36

No one can answer this for you except the teacher.

I would also be very surprised if he had a writing book in reception as this is not good practice!

Merinocool · 20/03/2021 08:36

I would ask the teacher. Does he not have a reading diary? My DD is in reception, she reads to a teacher once a week and they change her book then, she has learnt all her tricky words now but before that she got tested on them weekly and wrote in the reading diary how she got on. They also did end of term phonics assessment and attached that into the diary so we can see at home what letter sounds they’ve covered and any that they need support with.

Other than that I have no idea what she does at school, I know she writes on whiteboards a lot but I’ve no idea if they have writing books or anything as it’s not the type of things a 5 year old tells me. Lockdown was really good for seeing what kind of learning they do, I think it’s quite normal in reception for them to really focus on the numbers up to 10, ours say they have to be really secure in that before they move on, not just knowing the bonds to 10 or adding and taking away a couple but knowing different groups to make it, spotting groups by sight, learning to count on etc it is so much more in depth than just knowing to count to 10. Again I wouldn’t have really known this usually but because of live lessons the teachers would jump on and explain to parents why they are teaching in the way they are.

Our school always say education is a partnership between school and parents, just ask her if you are concerned and I’m sure she will make some time to explain how he’s doing.

MouseTheDog · 20/03/2021 08:47

I have a September born in reception and they are definitely being taught to read and write! They follow letters and sounds and kinetic letters programmes. We are expected to support at home by reading decodable books with them and one phonics homework a week.

MeanderingGently · 20/03/2021 08:48

Like a previous poster, I'm wondering why you don't start helping her to read yourself. If she has plenty of books at home, gets lots of stories read to her etc. she will have picked up 'words' already....and you could always get her to recognise a few key words, like her name and so on.

ScarlettDarling · 20/03/2021 08:50

If your son’s teacher is doing a good job at setting up productive play activities then I’d guess his reading and writing is being done through those, so you might well not see evidence in exercise books.

I teach Reception and this week our children have written notices on the outdoor chalkboards as part of our ‘Percy the park keeper’ role play. They wrote ‘to do’ lists in their little park keeper notebooks. They wrote out menus and price tickets for the park cafe etc etc etc. No evidence this week in their writing exercise books, but loads of writing.

Every Reception class should do a daily phonics lesson but again, you won’t necessarily see any evidence in books. We use toys, props, puppets, whiteboards etc. We also hear all the children read at least once a week. We’d like to make it more often but we struggle to find the time. We do read more frequently with children who don’t get much support at home.

Anyway, you really need to speak to your son’s teacher. She will hopefully put your mind at rest and be able to outline the ways in which she is teaching reading and writing. However, I’d be disappointed at this stage if there was much in work books. Reception children learn best from play and purposeful activities. Telling them to write a story in a work book really doesn’t motivate them in my experience.

jessycake · 20/03/2021 08:53

My daughter was the same 25 years ago when she was six , in the end I bought her peter and jane books and taught her myself . This was before phonics , but I would be inclined to find out what books they use and see if I could buy some . Also a set of number blocks are a good idea as you can make counting into a game .

minniemoocher · 20/03/2021 08:59

I'm not sure, they do lots of phonics generally though both of mine could read before starting school. With maths I think it is just learning numbers in reception, again mine knew there's so the teacher moved them onto year one work (mixed age classroom)

minniemoocher · 20/03/2021 09:01

I would suggest getting phonics based stories (we loved the usbourne ones like Pig on a Dig) they simply learn naturally as you read together

Same4Walls · 20/03/2021 09:02

@minniemoocher

Most children in reception do a phinics small group activity daily. There is also a lot more to maths than just numbers. The eyfs curriculum is able for all to download so its pretty easy to see what they should be working on and where they are expected to be at the end of the year.

ineedaholidaynow · 20/03/2021 09:02

Have you not had a parents’ evening?

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