to talk to school about possible set back?

[TheEnthusiasticTroll]

DD has just entered y2, last year she was y1 in a y1/2 class, top set with only 3 or 4 other children. There is not 2/3 mixed class so it is a y2 class.

In reception she was identified as very able, work differentiated and teacher was very enthusiastic about her future. She very much stood out as an advanced learner.

Y1 made great and steady progress ended the year on nc levels for end y2, no concernes about her progress which maintained as expected.

She has just entered y2, last week did not seem to be put into groups yet. But yesterday she told me she is no longer working with the other children in her "top set", her words, they where called out with a few others to work on numbers upto 100, the teacher said something about tricky work and called out the names and she was not called out. Then another set of names where called out to work on numbers upto 40 and she was called out with a few others to work on numbers upto 20. she said they where counting on using a number line. Something I know she is capapble of beyond 20.

I understand the perspective of a 6 year old is not alwaysb accurate, but she is sharp and does not normaly miss a trick. Also if she was feeling a little put out she would have quietly made a good assesment of what was happening.

Now I will accept from the school if her progress reflects this and they feel she in the correct group, however I find it difficult to believe her progress could have platuead to such an extent it was not apparent during the last term of y1, her reoport did not reflect any difficulties or stagnation, it remained very positive about her future progress. Her teacher has been getting her another child mixed up, but this is not an explination as the other child and my dd where in same group last year and other girl was doing the tricky work yesterday.

So Im thinking they have either made a mistake and the new classd teacher has her banding wrong, or I did not recive an accuate report last year. I am due to see the teacher later, but I just dont know how to go about it without sounding very pushy and PFB. DD feels she is not clever and last night this dented her ego massivley and she is so deflated and did not want to go to school today. She is so hard working and Im just gutted for her feeling like this.

sometimes little children race ahead in development and then sort of balance out to a level that is for them,
Obviously you are worried about this, go and ask for an appointment you are not being precious you are worried about your daughter, get an appointment and talk to the teacher

Im due to talk to the teacher later, but it does not seem to reflect that she has raced ahead and then balanced out and if so, would this not have been recognised at the end of the last term? the work she says she was doing does not reflect where she should be and certainly what she has been doing last year and also in the summer holidays, in my very uinqualified opinion of course.

Oh i see you are going to see the teacher I must read ALL of a post. is it maybe the new teacher trying to see where she is at ? still stands though you are not being PFB about it,

ok thanks

When you speak to the teacher, tell her how your dd was feeling and what she said about being in the 'tricky group'. But be open to what the teacher says too.

It is still very early in the term and they will still be assessing the children and where they are at. It is quite common for the more advanced children to be very capable, but to not be as good at showing what they are capable of. I had this problem with ds when he was at primary.

I think you need to work on building your dds self esteem, because if she feels that upset about being put in a group that she felt was for the not so clever children, then she is going to struggle in other ways. Being clever is not the best thing about your dd, so don't allow her to believe it is. She may well not always be top of the class, plenty of children do start at the top and move down, and it happens the other way round too. Your dd needs to feel valued for everything that she is, not just because she thinks she is capable of Y2 'tricky Maths'.

thanks Outraged, Im not sure it is a selfesteeme thing with dd it is more an ego thing I believe. she is also a perfectionist and is always very hard herself. I think she feels also it is inacurate and it is difficult for a 6 year old to articulate that.

The impression I gain from dd is that She and her peers have been heavily praised and stand out within the class room, rightly or wrongly and so this is bound to have an effect on how any child would feel about themselfs.

will see what the teacher says.

I'm sure she has been heavily praised for being good at Maths, but the other children will probably have been praised for trying, or for other, equally valuable things.

Praise is a great thing for children, but I think adults that care for children have to be very careful to balance their praise so that it is not focused on one thing or two things only. All children have more than one or two things that are brilliant about them, but it can be very easy for adults to always opt for the praising the thing that stands out the most. I work with children and think its important to encourage every child in a class to feel they stand out for something which is equally as valuable as everyone else's strengths.

Maybe it would be a good idea to tell the teacher about something your dd feels less confident about, and help her get praise in that area to balance things out. It's definatly worth finding out why your dd was put in a different group to the one she expected to be in because then you can help her understand the reasoning. Ask the teacher if she will have a quiet word with your dd about it, as she desrves her thoughts to be acknowledged.Even if all she learns is that teacher make mistakes sometimes! It's good for her to know what's going on, it's her education and the more involved with that she can be, the better.

Just to note that in dd2's year those in the top group in year 2 were not mostly in the top set (form) when they set them after half term in year 3 (over 5 form year) , although a couple subsequently moved up over the course of the year. There were some from 2nd group that were in the top set.

Abilities change.