AIBU to think there is too much pressure and expectations put on infant school children

[BazilGin]

This may be a huge cultural difference that I will never get over. I started primary school at the age of 7. I move to the UK 10 years ago and my August born daughter started reception just after her 4th birthday. This in itself is wrong, but I am honestly shocked at the curriculum the teachers have to follow. She has just started year one and is given spellings every week that the teacher tests on Monday morning. AIBU to think this is too much too soon? She is doing well academically, but said she is sad they are not allowed to play and "in the morning it's literacy and we just have to get on with it". At this age I though they are just learning through play! Clearly not !! I honestly believed that infant school will be more play based, but they were doing lots of writing/ready ng etc even in reception. DD went to a wonderful Montessori preschool and somehow I thought that infant school will be just extension of that, sadly not. I wish the whole system was different. If my circumstances were different, I would home school as it breaks my heart.

[niceupthedance]

DS spent most of reception licking worms in the garden from what I could make out - his friends in the primary academy up the road had homework/projects all the time. We moved and DS is now in a prep Y1, he seems up for it so far but struggles a bit as he is "behind". He also says (and I agree) that missing out on playtime to do extra work is unfair. But on the whole I think most schools are still similar to the state primary I went to. We had spellings and times tables and reading homework most days. It wasn't that arduous.

[RainbowDashian]

My children attend an infant school (I don't know if this makes a difference). I love their school and feel they have got it right.
Reception/F2 is almost the same as nursery. They have carpet time for things like phonics but it's mostly play based. There are no rows of tables and chairs. DS1 said to ds2 (who has just started) "You just play all day in foundation, I wish I could go back to it"
DS1 is in yr 2 but he still absolutely loves the school and doesn't feel pressured. None of the children get any homework other than a reading book.
It seems more or less the same as my schooling in the 90's.
I hope it doesn't change as they move up to juniors but I suspect it will.

[Foxyloxy1plus1]

As long as people place such an emphasis on data, statistics,progress measures and all the other jargon, this madness will continue.

As long as people make their judgement about a school based on it's Ofsted report, this madness will continue.

What I also find very concerning, is that, despite this formality, planning, structure, fronted adverbials and all the other stuff, general knowledge is almost non existent and spelling and grammar don't seem to be important or a priority any more.

[SleepFreeZone]

This thread has really made me reevaluate what schools to put on my form in November. I am now wondering whether to avoid the local outstanding school and look around the tiny village school I had discounted for being too small and provincial.

[BernardsarenotalwaysSaints]

I agree far too much pressure is put on children in Primary school now.

Some of these examples of the class & homework expected to be completed are awful but it's not all Primary Schools. My older 2 DC are Y2 & Y1 in a Village Primary (in England). We're lucky the school place a lot of emphasis on being & learning outdoors, all year round & have continued doing this with the new curriculum. I regular see children from all year groups on excursions around the Village.

Homework wise we did get some worksheets in Reception but they didn't have to be completed (& some weeks it was just colouring in), same with reading books. The eldest loved doing them & the younger one didn't. So far all we've had this term are reading books & we were asked to start a family history project (for Y1&2) over the 6 weeks that doesn't have to be in until mid October that they're enjoying working on. Y2 will get spellings weekly after half term & they'll both have work books for Maths & Literacy then too but it's only 1 page in each a week so not too bad. I won't force them to do homework at this age though.

[HeCantBeSerious]

I'm not sure what the answer is? A play-based stream and a desk-based stream depending on which best suited a child's learning style? Allowing children to work with classes outside of their age group but matched to their ability? I don't know, it's really hard

At DC's primary school they are very focused on each child rather than the mass. My DD had finished all of the reception and half of the Y1 maths activities by February half term so she started doing maths with Y1 to challenge her and stop her from being bored. She loved it.

[Hygellig]

We had a Y1 phonics meeting today and the head was telling us that some schools do Saturday clubs or Easter holiday clubs to prepare 7yos for the SATs. He thinks they should be out climbing trees or playing football instead.

I think a lot is expected of young children. Even Y1 children would not yet have started formal education in many countries and in England they will be assessed in reading at the end of the year.

I was quite pleased that DS didn't have much homework in Reception, although they had to learn some spellings and read regularly. I don't remember having any homework at primary school at all.

[DotForShort]

YANBU. In my husband's country of origin, children start school at 7. The late start certainly hasn't held him back in any way (he is now a university lecturer). It is a much more sensible approach IMO.

I disagree with the idea that more "academic" children would be hurt by a relaxed, play-based approach. In such a setting, children would not be banned from reading and writing. Rather, the classroom would be arranged in a way that is more suitable for young children, including those who are already reading or have displayed reading readiness. But the pressure of formal literacy lessons for all children, the ridiculous emphasis on homework for tiny ones (when it is absolutely clear from educational research that homework for primary school children has no actual positive benefits and many disadvantages), the craze for spelling tests, etc. could be dispensed with.

[PinguForPresident]

My children are a bit older, and were bored, bored, bored and disengaged with school before the new SATS and more challenging curriculum came in.

That sounds like a failing of the school. A decent school can differentiate for the brightest children without any difficulty, either with a formal Gifted adn Talented programme or by an individual approach. my daughter was identified as G&T at Reception level and was stretched appropriately by working with children 1-2 years older when appropriate. She loved it and equally loved working with her own calss for other things. No boredom there, despite her being exceptionally bright.

[sashh]

If I won the lottery, I would stay at home and remove my children from the education system.

I'm FE.

If I win the lottery I'm setting up a school where children start when they are ready, be that 3.5 or 7. There may be some child care element attached, a sort of nursery/kindergarten for children who legally have to be in full time education but who are not ready for formal learning.
I will employ teachers who are passionate about both their subject and their teaching, they will also have the opportunity to travel to examine other education systems and see what they think would work well.

[BazilGin]

I think there is a big misconception about play based learning. I am not advocating that children play until they are 7 but the current curriculum sucks all the fun out of school. And those parents who think it's actually ok as it is, did you sit exams at 6 years old? Do they really need to know that much grammar at that age? I wish instead they could be learning about the world around them, do more discovery based learning, science experiments instead of practicing how to pass a sats exam. 3 years into their learning journey!
www.toomuchtoosoon.org/national-curriculum-proposal-responses.html

[BazilGin]

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/family/our-young-children-dont-need-drilling-in-phonics---they-need-to/

[Runny]

YANBU. Im a TA but went to primary school myself in the late 80's and early 90's. Everything was much more laid back then, much more play orientated, we still did work obviously but I think it wasn't until whats now Year 2 that we started doing more formal stuff, and even then we still had a lot of free choosing time.

In the Foundation Phase it's not unusual for children to go up one, sometimes even two ability groups suddenly in Year 1 or 2, which is why I don't like labelling children based on ability at such a young age, struggling in reception is not necessarily an indication of how they are going to do in the future!!

[GahBuggerit]

yanbu, i get ds's downloaded homework from Sparklebox out of his bag every friday........and bin it

[Runny]

Urgggh, Sparklebox and Twinkl are awful! It's all so samey, every school you go in now has exactly the same Twinkl banners on the walls. No individuality anymore. Lazy as well IMO.

I forgot to mention in my first post that both my parents, who are in their 60's, remember having an afternoon nap when they were in reception class. Each child had a little camp bed and blanket and slept for half an hour. So we did get it right once upon a time it seems!

[bumbleclat]

I am a reception and KS1 teacher and it saddens me too :(
I would also love to have the resources to home ed my child because the way we are going is destroying creativity.
I blame Mr Gove.
On the Scandinavian model thing. Teachers have to be qualified up Masters level, unlike in England where some girls on my teaching degree course didn't know the difference between you're/ your!
So maybe the results are better in these countries, despite the later start because teachers are academically more able themselves?

[GahBuggerit]

i hate sparklebox because of the history, but yes its very lazy. ive only just started making ds 7 do his hw but i stop him when he starts saying he feels stupid and ds4 hw gets fed to the bin! hw at 4 ffs

[lemonzest123]

Thinking back to my own primary school (as as someone who studied linguistics) I do think the fact we learned a foreign language from 4 was great. It was all play based (pretending to order ice cream and naming the flavours in French) and I loved it. Unfortunately when I got to SS I did nothing for the first 3 years in French as I already knew it! Do most primarys not teach languages?

[GahBuggerit]

i wasnt interested in the sats shit either, i was asked why i didnt attend any of the meetings about them and i told them that i didnt want any part in applying pressure to little kids, his teacher pulled me aside and said "nice one" with a big smile!

[BazilGin]

What's interesting from this thread is that it seems that the amount of work can vary from school to school. I thought they all need to follow the prescribed curriculum( including the compulsory worship, but that's a topic for a new thread altogether!)

[MyWineTime]

I had no interest in the SATS shit, so there was never any pressure from me.
The problem is, when the school tell the kids not to stress about it but spend day after day after day on practising the same things over and over again, then the kids feel the pressure regardless.

[sashh]

Do most primarys not teach languages?

In theory yes.

But in practice the government chucked it in to the NC before they trained any primary language teachers, so any poor sod who had a language A Level was suddenly teaching that language.

Go over to TEC and you will find trained MFL teachers tearing their hair out because they spend Y7 undoing the primary MFL, if it's the same one they are teaching of course, a child might do French as primary and Spanish at secondary.

[Statelychangers]

My kids hated languages at primary - secondary school they started to enjoy them again. Badly taught subjects do not improve learning - they put kids off.

[Ineedaheronoidont]

We will be home educating our three dc, and we're as skint as a skint thing. Don't see what money has to do with it, just an excuse.

[AGenie]

I agree too. I wish I could move to Scotland to get ds away from it. I think the whole system is bonkers.