to be a bit disappointed with school

[tryhard]

Please don't flame me! I'm genuinely wanting opinion on whether I'm being a bit precious or not. So PFB has just started Reception, no staggered start, straight into 9-3, 5 days a week. So far, so good, he seems to be enjoying it. But...the Recpetion teacher has a reputation for being very strict (she's already been heard by another parent shouting at the class from a different room) & getting 'results'. It's an OfSted rated outstanding school, but that's not why we chose it (we chose it cos it's down the road ). It's a big class of 30, there will be shouting sometimes, I understand that. But some of them (including my son) have only just turned 4. They are getting 'homework' and I presume this is why they are an outstanding school, because they push them from the start. But I am a bit disappointed at the lack of heart, somehow, it all seems to be about academic achievement from the get-go, not settling in, not learning through play, nothing like that. When he was in the nursery class at this school, he'd come home with paintings and things he's made, he's now coming home with lines and lines of meaningless scribble which I presume means they're trying to get him to write? I see his time at home with me now as chance to recover physically from the day & have fun, not to do 'homework' at 4. It seems short-sighted and almost old-fashioned somehow to be pushing very young kids hard...or am I just being a bit precious?

Ds had 5 spellings and then to do 5 sentences that contained the word in per week, those that were on the "top" table had 10 words and 10 spellings. Easy reading books we could have handled as Ds could not read a word or write his own name.

If I told the teacher Ds had not completed the homework he was kept in every break and every lunchtime untill he had completed the work. Ds was nearly having a nervous breakdown at the end. The relief was huge when we took him out of school to HE.

You tell the teacher that your child will not be completing the homework and that he is not to be penalised for this.

Mine usually chooses to do it.

The shouting sounds pants.

Books with no words are good, it's just encouraging story-telling skills.

Go in and have a chat with the teacher. Ask how best you can support what the school are doing at home. Volunteer to help?

I'm in Ireland and many children are 5 or 5.5 in their first year of school - although some are a bit younger if their parents feel they are ready and send them. I think the minimum start age at our school is 4.5. Many children in the class turned 6 during their first year.

So DS started at age 5 and did a lot of play based learning for the first few weeks or months. Only in the second half of the year did he really get started on phonics and tricky words. There was very minimal homework - colour one picture over the course of a week and practice a nursery rhyme.

Schools here are not tested the way they are in the UK. I don't know how my DS's school compares to others. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing - but at least the focus is not on maintaining levels - they just get on with teaching.

YANBU. Schools in England are unnecessarily harsh.

Very soon you'll both be institutionalised and will forget that it's not right.

You are also right that if you don't do the homework school will judge you harshly.

You can't just 'not do the homework' and expect your child not to be penalised for it. The penalty will automatically be that he doesn't progress with reading as quickly as he could and that he won't get new books as often as he should. He'd also be missing out on having his parents support with his learning, as although children obviously learn things at home, they go to school to learn too and it works much better if parents support that.

Have to say that although the volunteering to help suggestion is a nice idea, it often doesn't work well in practice with such young children. At my school we don't let parent volunteers work in their own child's classes, and oddly since we made that change, fewer parents want to help when they don't get the opportunity to spy on their child's teacher and classmates.

Ok, so the keeping track of books does make sense, it made me feel a bit policed to be honest (having to sign). Yes of course I'm not judging the teacher re the shouting (I've said twice that I understand teachers do shout sometimes if for no other reason than to be heard if there's 30 busy children in the class)and I've fully admitted this is my PFB but equally I don't think you can completely discredit what parents have heard, I don't think a teacher should shout so loud at 4 year olds that a parent hears it from a different room, that must be scary surely?

Our outstanding infants gave no homework in year R and only small amounts in year 1 &2. Except reading of course.

What I find at the juniors is homework varies depending on who complained the loudest the previous year. We started year 3 with horrendous amounts because the more homework brigade had been very vocal the previous year. Otoh, dd2 in year 5 was beautifully low because the no homework had won volume arguments the last summer.

There's usually a 50/50 split between the no and more homework groups just depends on who is loudest that year.

I think sharing a reading book/picture book is normal for reception. Also, reading to your child every day, just for fun is massively helpful to their development.

The teacher might seem stern at first but all the children will love her, wait and see.

Osolea, I just don't think it does at all.

A child who enjoys reading and reads for pleasure will not be penalised academically by not reading some boring book sent home by the school.

Homework is stupid. It's set for parents not children.

No, you can't completely discredit what parents have heard, there's usually some basis of truth in rumours, but at the same time you can't make anything close to an accurate judgement.

Do you know what the shouting was about, have any idea how often it occurs or anything like that? Maybe it was scary, but there's a possibility that a child dis something that was especially unsafe and the teacher had a very short space of time to get a serious message across before any damage was done.

Your child has only just started school and will go through a lot of teachers. You won't like them all, some will be stricter than others and some won't be as good at their job as others. That's just the way it is with free education. Presumably you knew a little about this teachers reputation if your ds went to the attached nursery, and you choose the school anyway. It's not going to help you or your ds if you put more emphasis on what you've heard from other parents in the playground than you do on your own child's direct experience.

The signing of books can make good parents feel policed, but you have to remember that while you are an engaged parent, not everyone is and the school can't have different rules for different parents. Plus, it really does help the staff keep track of your child's progress and they need to know if a child is 'reading' at home or not so that they can do their job as well as possible.

The reception class in DC's school has 45 reception children plus part time nursery children.

Reception children have free-flow play almost all day with 10 minutes of phonics, 10 minutes of literacy, 10 minutes of numeracy, plus regular times for stories and songs, circle time and tidying up.

Homework was reading books, but as the year progressed they were encouraged to keep diaries of holiday activities, although this was optional, and could be drawings, writing, photos etc.

After the first term, they were also gradually introduced to assemblies, ICT lessons, PE and using the school library.

Everything is very child-led and play based, and I have never heard shouting.

They Early Years provision was rated as outstanding at the last inspection.

So reading between the lines here there seems to be a pressure on the school to get the kids reading and writing ASAP?

The books with no words was a new one to me, I'd never seen it before and am really interested in what he says is going on when he looks at the pictures, it's quite enjoyable, again it's not the activity so much as the expectation that I have to prove we've done it that surprised me.

Nursery felt very different (different teacher obviously as well), there was a talk which we attended and I know the school in so much as he went to nursery there but no I've no idea what they do on a day to day basis, I've no idea how much they play etc.

It just doesn't sound that terrible, tryharder - all schools set homework, the children don't have to do it, and all teachers are accused of 'shouting' at some point or another!

Unless your son states otherwise I would just be pleased he's happy.

A child who enjoys reading and reads for pleasure will not be penalised academically by not reading some boring book sent home by the school.

I disagree that they won't be penalised academically, although I do concede that some of the books are boring unfortunately. And you're assuming that all children enjoy reading with their parents at home, but plenty don't! I see the difference it makes when children read the school books at home compared to when they don't, even amongst the most able readers, although the difference then is less pronounced.

There is more to reading that just reading for pleasure, and skills are developed better if they are encouraged both at home and school.

Some homework is stupid, I despair at some of the 'make a poster' type homeworks that my older child sometimes gets, but sharing a school book with a parent isn't really homework.

I agree that it isn't really homework but I think this is where the silliness comes from. Rather than setting formal 'homework' a general culture of encouraging reading for pleasure and reading with adults seems more sensible to me.

Our outstanding infant school is nothing like that. Reception was all about learning through play and fun and was very gentle. I'd have concerns about the shouting. I can't even imagine any of DS's teachers shouting.

We don't know she was shouting.

My first half term as an NQT - took a year 8 boy out to speak to him about his behaviour. I did not raise my voice but he still covered his ears and wailed 'whhhy are you shouting at meeeee'

Since then I have heard (second hand) of more shouting teachers than I have had hot dinners.

Shouting teachers and children innocently sat in the lesson and just plopped in detention for doing NUFFINK.

Both are so common in schools.

It's remarkable!

Isn't that exactly what this school is doing by giving children picture books to take home and share with parents?

Absolutely it is - but they don't have to do it

I've said throughout the thread I think the school sounds fine - by all means keep an eye on the 'shouting' but as I've said, I wouldn't personally pay any attention to that particular accusation.

Reading at home makes a "huge" difference to progress with reading, and it's really helpful to the teacher to know who does and who doesn't. For example, if a teacher knows that a child doesn't read at home, she can make sure that child reads to a volunteer.

And books without words are fantastic at this age-you can have loads of fun. Try doing a page each to keep the story going- my ds loved doing that.

Nothing you've said about your school, OP, makes me think it's anything like the fears (founded ones) expressed by people on the thread.

You have not seen exactly what the children do all day and so you are assuming there's no play - unlikely

The non-word books are a pleasurable pre-reading activity.

The mark-making is a pre-writing activity

They shouting - well that was once and reported second-hand

Agree with Bertrand about why recording the reading is important.