and pushy or is teacher failing dd?

[Mingnion]

Dd is six. Without sounding braggy, she's bright and could write and do sums and read basic books before beginning school. I like her school and she enjoys it but I don't feel they do enough to encourage the children to learn. For example, dds reading book is about five times easier than the books she reads at home and is rarely swapped more than once per week, though it was stated at the beginning of term it'd be swapped three times per week minimum or more if book was read sooner. We were told they'd have a spelling test every Monday and dd always knows them for the Monday but sometimes the teacher doesn't do the test until Thursday/Friday. I appreciate that if the child knows the spellings it shouldn't matter when the test is but the delay between tests means they're actually only getting six spellings every two weeks or so which I don't think is enough, plus dd feels unmotivated when the test isn't when the teacher said it'll be. After the test there is no record sent home of any mistakes so I cannot praise dd/revise any mistakes. Dd is, at the moment, really enthusiastic about learning. Every night she wants to do half hour of a maths workbook, read to me, research history/geography info on the internet etc. But she comes home from school not really having learned anything. Aibu to think dds teacher should be a bit more on the ball when it comes to reading books/spellings and encourage dds enthusiasm rather than ignore it?

Definitely not BU. Sounds like the school have over promised and under delivered. Could you pretend to be a bit vague by asking when the spelling tests are? My DS goes to our local school where most parents are not engaged with the school at all. I feel pushy for asking even a basic question but when it comes down to it I don't want his education to suffer because I'm too worried about what a bunch of people I don't give a ra about think.

Why would you use resources to help a child who is doing very well in their task on their own when other children actually need the help?

Because all children regardless of ability need some level of teacher input to progress. They all need new concepts explaining. They all get stuck and need some help. They all need help with reading / understanding unfamiliar words.
Children with very obvious learning difficulties should have an IEP and possible an additional support assistant of their own for a defined number of weekly hours. All other children should have equal access to the teachers time. It isn't acceptable to simply say that 'this group of children can read and add up already so they can just be left to get on with it'. Every child deserves the input required to stretch them and help them reach their potential, not just the bottom 50%.
Resources should be shared equally. After all, the school receives the same level of funding for each child (with the exception of those on IEPs).
I would be furious if I discovered that my sons teacher left him to his own devices with a workbook simply because he is one of the more able children. It's down to the teacher to organise herself and manage her time well so that she can offer appropriate learning and support to each child in her class, if she can't do that then perhaps she should consider a career change. If she thinks the more able children should be left to get on with stuff because they can then she should definitely have a career change.

They do have access to help. It's called putting up your hand and asking.

All of the children will start at the same point in the day with the teacher instructing the whole class in what they are doing in literacy/numeracy. All of the children will get the chance to ask questions and learn together and then there will be a time of individual or group work. Some groups/children will be able to work independently and some will not. They will all get the necessary input from the teacher but some will get more - which is as it should be. I'd suggest getting in there and volunteering. As well as being a great help in our over-stretched schools it would serve as an insight into how a school day actually works because you don't seem to understand it much.

Schools don't receive the same level of funding for each child. An IEP is no guarantee of extra funding or a designated TA. There is some extra funding available, I believe, for those from who require it (for many differing reasons not just additional needs).

I'd suggest getting in there and volunteering. As well as being a great help in our over-stretched schools it would serve as an insight into how a school day actually works because you don't seem to understand it much

Been there and done that and discovered that some teachers are just much better than others. Some love teaching and go the extra mile to get the best out of every child. Some work very long hours and are only too happy to discuss concerns with parents. Then some are truly awful teachers who are obviously just in it for the monthly pay packet.

It shouldn't be a case of the teacher instructing the whole class and then leaving those who understand to get on with it whilst supporting those who haven't fully understood. If one group continually understands everything then clearly the teacher needs a great level of differentiation. I really don't see how the teacher can explain a concept to a whole class and then give the related work out when there are often such differing levels in a class.

In any case I will not be currently offering my services to volunteer in an over stretched school because my children are not currently in an overstretched school and I am an inherently selfish individual who doesn't want to give up my time to work unpaid in a school which will be of no benefit to my own child(ren). I would much rather spend my time ensuring that I assist my own children with their homework and having lots of fun with them doing activities etc.

norudeshit, it's a shame you have the attitude that helping out in your children's school is pointless unless it results in a direct benefit to your own children.

But I admire your honesty in saying it's because you're a selfish person .

I don't think spelling test = learning, but I do think that if you ask children to learn spellings for a test the test should be on the day you say it will be.

On the other hand, it can be difficult for a 6 year old to appreciate that they have been learning when the learning may have felt like playing.

It's great that your DD is so enthusiastic about 'formal' learning, but I think I would be trying to get a more detailed idea of what is being done in class before assuming no learning was going on. Also, a lot of learning is social at this age.

norudeshit, it's a shame you have the attitude that helping out in your children's school is pointless unless it results in a direct benefit to your own children.

In fairness the vast majority of people helping out in schools are helping out in the school that their own children attend or previously attended and a had a good experience of. They don't go and offer their services to the other local school that their children don't attend, unless they are doing it as part of TA training or are planning on applying for teacher training.
Why do you think that is?
My guess is its because most humans are inherently selfish, whether they care to admit it or not.

I did start out helping as a 1:1 for my son because there was no funding and he couldn't attend nursery otherwise.

But my reasons for helping out in my dd's school were, to begin with, because I wanted to be involved and I thought it would be helpful to know how things worked and how she was being taught. I never actually worked alongside my dd in her classes.

It was after that that the school suggested I go on a TA course, so I did. It was never something I did as a way to get anything for myself, though I did end up with a job out of it because I was enthusiastic and reliable and they were desperate .

norudeshit, I agree that most volunteers do so in their children's school.

But most volunteers in the schools where I work don't work with their own children or in their own child's class, simply because it isn't always good for the child to have their parent in their class. It blurs the boundaries for the child and isn't great for the teacher, either!

I admired your honesty for saying you're a selfish person - are you now saying you only said it because you believe everyone is selfish, so you were just stating the obvious?

I am nodding to much of what Norude says here.

I would also like to suggest to all those who are telling the OP that she has no clue what classroom practice involves nowadays that it is partly the job of the teacher to inform parents accurately about what she is doing and how she intends to do it, respecting the fact that most parents are keenly interested in the progress of their children at age 6 . What the teacher is trying to accomplish and how she intends to set about doing that should not be mysteries for parents.

However, in this case there isn't any mystery -- this teacher has told parents she will set a spelling test weekly on Mondays but that ended up getting put on the long finger more than a few times, so I doubt she is trying to teach in some way other than the spelling test route. Tests seem to be part of what she hopes to accomplish. If she has told parents books will be changed several times a week and books are not being changed, then this is also part of what she is failing to accomplish. This is more likely a teacher who is dropping the ball than one who has some modern, highly professional, so-scientific-that-it-is-impossible-to-communicate-the-details-properly, new fangled way to give all the children the attention they need.

There is such a thing as an incompetent teacher, sadly.

A lot of regular volunteers I know are there to keep an eye on their own child's teacher by way of school gossip and the old grapevine. They are also there to indicate to teachers that they are a very interested parent, and that sometimes helps remind a teacher to pay attention to their child.

Yes most people don't volunteer in their own child's class, but they do volunteer within their own child's school, other parents from the school volunteer in other classes so it spreads the manpower and benefits the children within that school. They are not volunteering in other (maybe more needy) schools because their children don't attend those schools.
If you can't see that it is the same selfish principle then you are being rather blinkered.
Both of my children's current schools are very well resourced and have very small classes and don't need any parent helpers.

I do voluntary work, but not in a school environment. I volunteer with families who need support, I enjoy helping families that need a bit of help and the benefit to me is seeing the family benefit from my help. It is still selfish, because if I didn't get the reward of knowing I had helped somebody then I wouldn't do it. However, I only give that time when my own children are at school so it doesn't take any of my time away from them.
Everybody that volunteers has a benefit from doing so - so yes in my opinion everybody is selfish, even those volunteering.

Yes, moving school is a big deal but if she's not happy/thriving where she is then it could be the best decision you make. We moved DS1 because he wasn't being challenged enough and was getting bored and miserable. The new school is much better. His teacher is fantastic - picked up on his strengths right away and is providing him with challenging work daily. He is much happier and although there are still some extra things that we do with him at home, he is getting much more out of this new school. I also don't think this is a bad age to move them. They can adjust fairly quickly and the new class accepted him quite easily. I think it might be harder when they're older. Can you speak to the school with the smaller classes and see if there's a possibility of her joining? Why didn't she get in before?

Thanks for sharing your views, norudeshit.

Think you might need a name change, though

I find it very very hard to believe that a 6 year old is coming home saying she is bored at school and not learning anything.

So do I.
I have a dd that was reading fluently in reception and a dyslexic but both G&T children and neither of them complained that school was boring in infants. They were learning a massive amount. There were projects on gravity, growing up etc in yr 1. I was suprised how much history they covered in infants ie poppy day and florence nightingale etc They dont spend all day just doing maths and reading or are these children just one trick ponies who will be passed by others who havent been spoon fed once they get to juniors.

Don't many afterschool conversations go like this....?

Parent: how was school?
Child: boring
Parent: what did you learn?
Child: nothing

Most teachers don't care about gifted children. The school only gets extra funding for taking on children at the other end of the spectrum, and there are no targets for developing the talent of the brightest kids, only to bring up less intelligent children to a minimum standard. So the teachers attitudes are some understandable, as it's the attitude of the government and ultimately the anti-intellectualism of British society at large that causes this.

So if you have a gifted child don't rely on the school to get the most out of them, get a tutor or if you can afford it send them to a good private school.

Jinsea easy to do with reading but what about all other areas?

I am always a bit at the amount of so called G&T children that there appears to be in the first couple of years of school, compared to how many there are in the last 2 years of school.

I am afraid that just because a child can do things that its peers cant when it starts reception does not automatically mean that it is gifted or advanced and within a couple of years it will even out. You may just have to accept that your DD is not outstanding compared to her classmates and that the teacher may know this where you dont.

I have several children, one with SEN, one who is genuinely G&T, one who might be and 2 that are bang on average. What they could do when they started reception has had no bearing on any of that.

Surely with your Cambridge degree you could pop to the library if you want more books for your talented and bored DD.

Poor teacher, lets hope she has sense to not allow you to volunteer in class as you wouldnt want to be mixing with those of lower ability now would you

because some of the little darlings will insist on getting a gold book when they are on green

I am always a bit when people who have things to do with educaton or the school or children speak about dc in this way.

I meant the little darlings affectionately! They are lovely kids and I really enjoy working with them.

Azzbiscuit
Complete and utter nonsense.
If a child goes to school having been hot housed then expecting to be spoonfed when they get there then they are not going to do as well as expected. But teachers love a child that is genuinely interested in their subject and succeeding.
My dcs ordinary comp expect the best out them, not just satisfied the c passes.