Worrying year 1 parents evening feedback

[catsheepteacher]

We recently went to parents' evening for our eldest child, who is in year 1.

I'll probably sound a bit PFB here but I was expecting pretty positive feedback. Obviously I'm biased, but to me DD seems to be getting on really well:

• She loves reading and sails through the books she brings home with no issues.
• We go to the library regularly and she chooses "chapter books" (90+ pages) which she reads at home independently.
• She gets 12 spellings to learn every week (which seem pretty challenging to me - words like adorable, eighty and applause) and gets close to full marks in her tests.
• She does her maths homework in no time with very little support.

However, the feedback we got wasn't glowing at all. We were told that she is meeting the expected standard on reading (but not exceeding) but below expected standards in both maths and writing. Apparently she doesn't use finger spaces and full stops consistently in writing, and often needs help to come up with ideas for her stories. But more worryingly, in maths she's apparently on an "extra support table" as she needs help to understand the questions and work through them, and they are not sure if she is on track to meet the expected standard by the end of the year.

This was a total shock and I'm really disappointed that nobody has mentioned before that she needs extra support with maths. I'm also confused because it doesn't match up with what I see, which is a bright, able child (accepting that there's probably some PFB bias going on there).

I'm not sure what to do next. DH thinks I'm overreacting but I would like a second opinion to properly understand what the issue is so am considering getting a tutor who can assess her and give us more feedback on what exactly she is finding difficult. I'm also going to push for more regular catch ups with the school to keep track of her progress. The teacher mentioned several times that she lacks confidence and needs to build her resilience so I'm also wondering if I should sign her up for something which might help her develop her skills in this area e.g. a drama club.

Feeling that I've let my DD down by assuming she was sailing through with no issues. And really disappointed that her school don't seem to be seeing what I see

I'm a teacher and have taught year 1. Feel free to ask questions as I know the expected standards well.

I will say that parents' evening messages should never be a surprise and as we're over half way through the year it would have been helpful to tell you before now.

You sound very engaged and proactive. That's great. Has the teacher explained how you can help support maths and writing progress?

What sort of chapter books?
My little one is in reception and presently about half way through a collection of roald dahl books she got for Christmas. Teacher was happy and said she is already meeting expectations for reading and writing if she were in year 1. For writing I think it's a case of practice, she has some handwriting exercise books at home she likes to write little stories in. I think those help a lot with sizing, spacing.
(Before anyone accuses me of bragging- below expectations for maths and teacher quite concerned!).

She sounds really smart to me. If she is lacking in confidence in school maybe she isn't showing the teacher what she can do. Could she be unable to answer questions due to shyness?

I live in Canada and I'm constantly gobsmacked by the expectations placed on very young children in UK schools. My DD is Y1 here and it's so much more relaxed. Spelling tests? Maths homework for 6 year olds? Unheard of! Sometimes I find it a bit too relaxed but it's not as if every Canadian ends up being an illiterate dummy (Justin Trudeau excepted ). It's easy for me to say, but I honestly wouldn't worry about any of this at her age. She sounds quite clever to me!

How very demoralising. She sounds like she is in good shape to me!

To meet expected standards there are pretty specific criteria that isn’t necessarily what parents would be looking for when worrying if their child is on track or not. E.g finger spaces are a non negotiable thing that they must do to reach expected standards - your child could pretty much be doing everything else required on writing but that one thing would mean they can’t assess her as expected.
It sounds like she’s bright enough though and that she will have no problems getting to grips which these requirements soon. Try not to worry, maybe just ask the teacher for specific things you can practise at home with her (such as using finger spaces).

Do you engage in creative play as a family at home? I know it's sometimes boring but the kids do love playing pirates, dress ups, restaurants... This will help with her creative writing as she can decide what happens next. Reading a book aloud to her every night is also a great idea. It sounds like you have mechanics of writing right but she needs to see creativity encouraged, modelled. Maybe you are doing this already?

There should be no shock at parents evening so I'd be asking about the plan to support your child and when the teacher will meet with you again to talk about progress.

To help at home I wouldn't buy any books but I'd play lots of board games. Talk abiut numbers you see. Count as you walk around. Encourage maths play (sharing out things between teddies, pairing socks and counting in 2s) cooking, laying the table and counting. Using dice. Make it fun.
If you want to know what your child should be learning in year 1 then have a look at the White Rose Maths website and they have some parent guides fb.watch/c4ipSYFH_I/

My son is in year 1 . Your dd sounds very advanced in comparison, yet when I asked if I needed to worry about any aspects of his progress his teacher said no .

Trainee teacher here.

English - she sounds like a really great reader in that she has learned the skills to decode and blend but there is so much more. Understanding the text, accuracy, expression, inference, intonation. Use book discussion and ask questions, what do you think will happen next? why is XXX happy? what tells you this? What's another word for xxxx? find me the word that means xxx? What is your favourite part and why? Why did the author put the character in a red dress? how do you know? What ending would you have given the book? Why?
Also noticing and reacting to the information that the punctuation is telling the reader.

Imagination - Make up stories when you are walking to the shop eg look at that gnarly tree, I think a fairy used to live there. What do you think the fairy did? Go to the movies, watch classic films, model reading books to her as well and then get her to copy.

Maths - Encourage play with number particularly partition so 67 is 6 tens and 7 ones, if we add one 10 that changes the tens but the ones dont change. at that age you really need to use plastic counters etc so when adding you actually move the two piles together etc.

Bake, we need 50grams of butter and 100g of sugar, say oh I don't know what we'll have the most of butter or sugar (number order).
Going to granny's, it's 4 miles to granny's and 10 miles to the swimming pool, is Granny's or the pool closest? Number talk such as numbers on car regs, house number, street signs etc

Other things-
ask questions on everything. No need for a tutor but definitely 1 extra curricular activity eg brownies, cubs, st johns ambulance, tennis club etc etc.

You are her most favourite teacher. Model everything. Mummy is a bit nervous to do xxx but I'm going to have a go and if it goes wrong it doesn't matter. Make it go wrong, she'll see you reaction that it's fine to go wrong and learn from you.

When I was 11, I was threatened with being expelled from school (having passed 11 plus to get there) because I wrote a whole essay without using a full stop. No feedback at all on the content of the story.

I wouldn't worry. I have definitely learned punctuation since. And not using full stops at that time didn't affect any other area of my education.

I know that was a long (long) time ago but the premise remains. Certain things are learned when they are learned. And 'targets' at your child's age should be seen as very general, not a tick box score for each individual child.

Employ games as previous people have suggested but getting a tutor in at this stage would, I think, be counter productive. Confidence is a priority for a quiet child

It could also be that sitting on the maths table that gets support is working and this is why she is ok with her maths homework.

We had a similar experience with our eldest (all good now 18 and did fine with her GCSE & Alevels now at uni)

Reading - at home confident reader to us she read fine - but she lacked comprehension. We focused on shorter stories asking her lots of questions at home to help bring it on.
Maths - again fine with maths times table etc - but struggled with a written question ie if Tom had six apples and John had 4, Sue ate 2 how many left type questions - so we got some books at home and worked on these.
Confidence- always wanted to get it right, get in a pickle if she got it wrong or had to cross something out. We built up her resilience little bit harder to do and was the hardest! We still struggle to overcome that one!

Imagination- again the hardest it’s the way she is very practical in thought (I have a second daughter who can write / or tell amazing colourful stories) she struggled getting past One day we went to…..at night instead of reading to her we would tell a story we would say one part she had to come up with the next part and keep switching (going from one sentence to stretching it out)

Spelling we always tried to instead of just going through a list, each one had a sentence and she had to check the dictionary (or ask Alexa what it meant)

More importantly don’t worry, your doing a great job. Don’t make a thing about it to her! It will all come together she still so young :)

also,

museum, art gallery, castles, the beach, theatre, panto, sports events, landmarks, rivers, hills etc

discuss discuss discuss.

@WeRTheOnesWeHaveBeenWaitingFor

A child at my daughters school got a C in French. She was born in France and French is her first language. My point is sometimes a snap shot assessment when the teachers is watching doesn’t fairly represent a child’s ability.

I think that's because the National Curriculum is so detailed and descriptive. She probably didn't use the "correct" phrases, didn't realise she had to use three tenses and one metaphor ( just examples) in her writing!

I really wouldn’t worry as she is just year 1 and has had a very disrupted early years with covid.

However I’d agree on reading that sometimes children who read a lot ( as in can physically read ) can be missing comprehension and understanding. Sometimes some shorter books to read together and chat about can be good for that ( but don’t stop her reading her other longer books for pleasure!).

On homework - does the school give differentiated homework? So giving her homework for the level she is at? That could explain that.

Please don’t worry too much though! She’s still little and you don’t want to make learning something difficult or stressful for her, or overload her.

One of my DC has SEN and it has really helped me get school and learning achievements into perspective.

This all sounds very odd to me. Is this a private school as it all sounds unusual for a state school.
The things that stand out for me are:
The words your DD is being set are not typical for year 1. They are not part of any of the typical spelling schemes nor are they year 1 common exception words.
Her decoding skills are clearly advanced; have you asked her questions on the books she is reading to check for comprehension?
Has she completed phonics? If so what book/scheme is she on at school?
From the work you’ve listed she’s doing better than 80% of our schools year 2!
Parents evening should, IMO, be a time to give a general update on progress and social aspects of school and not raise concerns.
It’s also strange she is completing maths at home without issue but is struggling in school. I would be asking for another meeting.

An extra-curricular activity is a great idea to develop resilience and confidence. We encouraged my son to join Cubs when he was having a tough time with some academic aspects of school. It gave him lots of confidence because he could find things he excelled at like problem-solving and working in groups. He is now in Explorers, just completed his first DoE expedition and is doing well at high school. Can’t recommend something like this highly enough.

Have they got the right child?!

A tutor for a Year 1 child? For goodness sake, how ridiculous. They should still be learning through play at that age really. Just chill a bit. She'll catch up in her own time, stop putting so much pressure on a 5/6 year old!

This may or may not be helpful OP, but DS2 got feedback like that from day 1 of school. Positive on behaviour, delightful, popular child, loved by all etc but not a prospect academically, never got good results in tests, SATs, rubbish GCSEs, rubbish A Levels then BOOM 💥 First Class Hons in Law 🤷‍♀️😳.
Hold your nerve.

@waxonwaxoff0 I've been told my child isn't meeting the expectations for her age so I'm brainstorming possible things I can do. The tutor suggestion was to get a second opinion and try and understand the issues in a bit more detail, although I've taken on the feedback on this thread that it would probably be overkill. If I'm just supposed to chill out and not care about how she's doing at school, why bother attending parents' evening at all.

She's only little. Don't worry. I wouldn't get a tutor. My children enjoyed doing the maths and literacy work books that you can buy online and in WHSmiths. They often have stickers. Make it fun and she'll be fine

Please do not worry.
You have to take these things with a pinch of salt as like a PP said the criteria is very rigid and they have to tick certain boxes to be able to mark it a certain way.

The best thing you can do is to install a love of books. Whether that’s you reading to her or her reading to you/alone.

If you can read then everything else is easier and it sounds like she can so everything else will soon fall in place.

@vegansausageroll No, not a private school! And those words are from last week's spelling test 🤷‍♀️

This thread has been very enlightening though, I do realise that I've been putting too much value on certain things above others and it's given me a lot of ideas of things to focus on at home. Tempted to ditch the spellings entirely to be honest, really annoyed we've been spending so much time on them.

I will also be asking for another meeting to try and specifically understand why her maths is fine at home and not at school - something is not adding up.