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

If she was struggling / not meeting potential / however they define it… why do they wait til now to tell you, why not mention something with the homework bits (in a sealed envelope perhaps) or ask you to call them at a set time?

I had similar feedback about my lack of imagination at school and when my mum pushed for more info it was because I wanted to base stories in fact/near facts but teachers felt I should be writing about unicorns and fairy dust so it could be something like this at play

Maybe when you read with her/she reads, you could ask her about the story - and what she imagines might happen after the end of the book (as if she were writing the sequel)

They told me my daughter wasn’t at an advanced level for reading because she wasn’t great at comprehension. From what I saw, she was well able to comprehend, and after that feedback I checked her comprehension and it was pretty good to me. But, this was from a teacher who asked why a boy might be sad he didn’t get new football shorts in a story and when the kids weren’t sure she said “because his mum is a single parent and won’t have much money” So, I tended to ignore her feedback.

Sounds like they are struggling to get kids back up to speed (their version of it at least) after Covid and my teacher friends reckon it’s most noticeable in the younger kids who are not meeting what they would have expected pre-pandemic. However, their expectations are ridiculous for 5 year olds. I really wouldn’t worry. As long as your daughter has access to plenty of books and can do basic maths, I really wouldn’t worry at this stage.

@Stayingstrongish

To put your worries in context, I just had parents meeting for my son who is nearly six and in year 1. They told me he’s been added to the sen register. He’s in mainstream school.

He has some targets for the summer - learn to write his own name well, recognise the numbers 1-10, learn all the phonic letters.

I’m not worried - he’ll get there when he gets there. And he’s happy. But the challenges he faces are very different to your daughter!

I was just going to say the same thing, my daughter is the same, I’m not worried. She’ll get there maybe take longer but she’ll get there. I don’t think anyone in our yr1 class sounds as advanced as your daughter so I know easier said than done but id try not to worry, sounds like she’s doing great!

I had the same with my DD. She sails through stuff again home yet I’m being told by her teacher that’s where she’s struggling. She has little confidence and I think this plays a huge part in her learning. She was also put in a small maths group at playtime and I didn’t know about it for ages. I didn’t mind too much as they've only got her best interests.
With reading, I quiz her after to see if she’s understood. I’m shite at maths but we do online games etc
Please try not worry, you’ll be amazed how many people can relate.

Honestly, she's year 1, I wouldn't worry. With regards to reading (and apologies if this has already been said), rather than her just reading, ask her to talk about the cover of the book, what does she think it might be about, then encourage her to predict what will happen next; summarise what has already happened; talk about her favourite phrases; and ask questions about what she's just read so she can learn to retrieve information. But...she's year 1 and learning should be fun and not so the school's data looks amazing!

Yep, my nephew who was an August birthday was also really shy, had delayed speech, and was put in a ‘special group’. He’s now doing a PhD in Biochemistry. My youngest daughter was a May baby and started school in the Easter Term. She was cross because she hadn’t been taught how to write and wouldn’t write anything. Once she’d caught up, you couldn’t stop her. Now doing a degree in English and Creative writing. Really don’t worry too much. Your daughter is still very young, she will get there. And carry on reading with her, and make sure you talk about the book with her in a fun way. Don’t ask her lots of questions and make it a chore. Love of reading is so important. 😊

'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.'

And this is how to put your child off reading for life. Don't enjoy the story - god forbid - but let's analyse it so there's nothing left

We’ve just had year 6 parents evening, and reflecting on past ones- completely different every time (this time was golden child). Have also had below average, too quiet, too loud, very helpful, only works in a group/ can’t work with others… they change and develop so quickly that I really wouldn’t worry.

Sorry OP that sounds very upsetting. My son is in Y1. They haven’t even had a full year of school yet. He gets no maths homework and no spelling tests. Just a reading book. She sounds like a great reader. I wouldn’t worry. We can’t all be super confident at age 6. But I definitely think it’s odd that the school has so many concerns but has said nothing to you. I’d set up another meeting with the teacher to give your side and go from there.

From working in schools I can say the critique of kids needing a lot of help coming up with ideas for stories is a really, really common issue now. In a class of 30, if I get six who can create an original story with details like names, descriptions and a single plot twist they have imagined themselves I consider myself blessed. It is a consequence of the social media and streaming generation, kids expect media and stories to be given to them so they are losing the ability to imagine and make their own stories. The second cause is something you have also mentioned, confidence. Kids today are so self conscious about making mistakes or being silly in front of peers that they can hesitate about soemthing as simple as naming a character or describing an imaginary place.

As a parent, doing games like 5picture stories can really help. Print off or draw five random pictures. Then sit with your child and make up your own story to go along with the pictures. Then get your child to have a go at making their own. Encourage them to give you details, to name characters, to describe things in fun and detiled ways. It is a simple activity but builds imagination, speaking skills and confidence.

As to the maths, I have tutored struggling studnets in this in the past. You say in the OP that your child's teachers say they are getting help with understanding the questions. This is becoming another really common issue. Maths changed a few years ago to include more word based questions and scenario questions in exams so teachers reflect this in tehir teaching. In such tasks the maths skill itself comes into play only after deciphering the question. So many excellent maths sudents are scoring below their ability because the style of question throws them off( don't get me started on the disadvantage it puts dyslexics at). There are techniques that can be taught to pull apart the questions to get to what maths skill is needed, to help students focus and how to 'read' them correctly. Perhaps this could be the issue? Sometimes the homework maths is rote skills tasks and questions which do not have the language compnent that progress tests include. Something to consider.

My year two daughter sounds at a similar stage to your child, and she's working to her expected levels! So by reading what you have said it sounds like she's exceeding in all subjects. Unless the curriculum and what is expected at each area/schools are different.

I also take into consideration that covid has had a big factor in learning and missed actually being taught in classrooms.

@catsheepteacher

If the above is fine then is she shy or finds it hard to get her ideas out in front of others?

She is shy and the teacher did comment on this. She doesn't like making mistakes either and at home can sometimes be reluctant to try something unless she is sure she can get it right.

We had already been considering whether to try some kind of extra curricular activity to boost her confidence and now I'm considering it more seriously.

You uave identified the issue here. She clearly is confident at home and is managing well. at school this is not reflected and so the teachers may assume she is getting a lot of help with homework. My DD is very quiet in class but talks non-stop at home. It is like they are talking about someone elses child really. For reading, inference is a big thing now so ask questions about what she is reading, what she thinks might happen next and why. Also try looking at pictures and making up your own stories together, this will help spark her imagination. Punctuation is not a big issue at this stage, but practice will help. Short simple sentence practice like writing a postcard and sending this to grannie will give practical application. You also have to remember that we have had 2 years of Covid so children are less socialised. She will be fine and you are doing great.

I teach teenagers who don't use finger spacing and full stops.

Now that you’ve had time to process the information you were given at the meeting put together your thoughts and chat to the teacher again for clarification.
Say that you were surprised at her progress as you see her do her maths at home with no issues and rarely needs help but as she is your eldest you don’t really know what to expect.

Ask questions about what specifically you can do to support her in Maths and English. Teachers have the skills to guide parents specific to each child. Sometimes they need to try different teaching strategies to suit different children so it’s good to work with them so your daughter is getting the same methods in school and at home.

Maths can be baking and measuring out ingredients or shopping with actual cash to count. You can implement simple strategies in everyday life with guidance from the teacher.
Good luck!

@Valenciaoranges

Please don’t worry.my daughter had similar feedback throughout primary then went on to get 10 top grade GCSEs, 3 top grade Alevels and fantastic degree. They all develop at different stages. I hate the way kids are measured in education.

This. OP. don't panic.

I was a teacher pre dc, so when I was told my dd was "below average" my reply was that someone has to be because that's how averages work. They wanted to give her extra help - and I declined because I knew it would cause her anxiety at that point, and I KNEW she was interested and engaged and capable. She was a summer baby too - so young for her year.

She ended up with better A levels than her siblings, a good degree and a great career.

support, encourage, keep an open mind about maybe needing help, but really don't panic.

"Tempted to ditch the spellings entirely to be honest, really annoyed we've been spending so much time on them"
PLEASE don't do that! Spelling is mega-important in literacy, and if you don't get it embedded in primary, she will suffer in secondary. It's a very good idea to make her practice writing her spellings to learn them by patterning fine motor skills, so that her hand knows what shape to make on paper to get the spelling correct.

We had this in year 2 I the 2nd parents of the year around this time specifically around English then hit year 3 had a parents evening in October and it was a completely different story, nothing different done by us or DS at all and only a couple months with that year 2 so no further impact from her that would have achieved that sudden improvement !

No year 6 prepping for SATs scoring 103 out of 110 on mock math SAT and consistently 40 upwards out of 45 in English mock SAT test so I wouldn't worry just keep on doing what your doing this year into next see how next year goes and if the same ask specifically what you can help target at home. A site I would recommend if you can pay for it is IXL which is math and English challenges from reception to year 13

Good luck don't worry and just keep encouraging her as your are if you believe she can achieve she will too

We had a similar shocker of a year 1 parents evening around this time last year. DD was very average a maths and reading and poor at writing. She wasn't paying enough attention and when I asked if she was within normal bounds of attention,
was told she was at the absolutely bottom end of "normal". We'd had her at home for the previous term during lockdown, so knew she could complete all of the extension tasks in maths at least.

I asked for any maths that DD hadn't completed in class to come home with her and made her do it at home. I annotated whether she did it independently or with support. That only lasted a week as DD realised she might as well get it done in school .

I took her to an ed psych for assessment as I was concerned that she might have the inattentive version of ADHD. She had no problem paying attention to the ed psych assessment and the ed psych concluded that she's capable but bored at school. She also suggested that DD has dysgraphia as there's a big gap between her ability to write and related tasks vs her other abilities. I shared the report with the school.

The ed psych report setting higher expectations for DD and DD's amazing year 2 teacher have made all of the difference to her. She's now recorded as greater depth in reading and maths, but still not at the expected level for writing. Her year 2 teacher has been able to unpick the different skills required for writing, so has been able to tell us that DD understands and can use punctuation and her spelling is ok, it is just her handwriting that is a problem. She's given us booklets to work with at home for handwriting. I've also had contact from the sendco and she's either recorded as having sen due to the dysgraphia thing or is on a watch list.

My conclusion is that, if I had done nothing, DD might well be coasting along in maths and reading and not had much intervention in writing. I wonder how many other children are in the same position - either chugging along as middle of the road or below expectations, despite being capable of more.

Hi @catsheepteacher I HRTFT but I have read all your updates. I agree with the majority of PPs try not to worry too much, and I don't think you need a tutor at this stage. My DC is in Y1, their start to school life has neen nothing but normal. My DC missed parts of the last few months of nursery and then they started school in such difficult circumstances. We only had written reports in Reception with very limited contact with the teaching staff. What kind of feedback did you get in Reception?
Have you only just had parents evening? We've just had the second of the year a few weeks ago for YR1. I would also ask her teacher why she hasn't raised her concerns with you before now.
In your position I think I would ask for a meeting with her teacher and ask to look at her school books so you can understand what her teacher is telling you.
My DC has spellings to learn every week, I'm sure they don't need to be able to use the word in a sentence 🙄
I'm sure he sometimes forgets a full stop or finger space too.
Sometimes it takes him a while to work out the answer to a maths question... but his teacher didn't raise any concerns about his progress. She mentioned they're starting work on the comprehension in preparation for Y2. So something doesn't seem quite right here but maybe after a meeting with her teacher it will all become clear. Good luck OP.

You know yourself what your child is like, and what she is capable of, and that you help her with school work, and have made a normal parental assessment about all things.. I would not be taking any notice of the schools comments,, they have guides to follow I expect, but not all children are the same,, like little robots, who are all on cue, to reach the same standards, at the same time. And I wouldn't like to be told that my child is shy, or lacks this or that.. as you already know what your child is like yourself.

Do you have a tablet?

I'd ask schools ant areas need improving and look into some fun apps and games to develop it.

It very well may be that it's just confidence in the classroom and she can do it but worries about it being wrong.

Year 1 teacher here…

Reading is also based on comprehension skills, as well as being able to actually read. In some reading books there are questions you can ask DD at the back of the book. Try her on non-fiction texts. One of the skills we cover, is identifying the features of non-fiction books (contents page, glossary, etc). Have a search on the internet for reading skills for year 1.

Ask the school if they follow a scheme for maths and what the scheme is, so you can have a look for yourself online. We follow White Rose Maths and there is a Facebook group for it.
It isn’t uncommon for children in year 1 to forget finger spaces and full stops. Get her to practise writing some simple sentences, e.g The cat is on the mat. And focus on encouraging her to use her finger or a lollipop stick between her words. Lots of children also add a full stop at the end of every line even when the sentence isn’t finished. Show her in books that you don’t have to add a full stop at the end of the line, only at the end of a sentence.

Hope that helps you. I’d hold off on the tutor for the moment.

Look up exemplification of standards for ks1 writing / maths etc It gives examples of children’s writing below, at and above standards expected. ( ukgovsite)

Tutor here. She may be able to read the words in a book, but is she just ‘barking at text’? Can she retrieve information, infer hidden meanings / read between the lines, predict what will happen next, comment on the use of vocabulary, etc? Regarding maths, does she understand place value? Can she use different strategies to add and subtract? Does she understand the concepts of more and less? Grouping and sharing? It is unusual to get negative comments in Year 1, so it could be worth getting an experienced tutor in to assess and give an opinion. PM me if you want signposting for Y1 curriculum and expectations.