to be disheartened at parents evening - Yr 1

[ScattySuze]

Had PE yesterday and was told my daughter of 6 1/2 born in Septmeber so the oldest in the class is only just emerging YR 1 work
She is still struggling to read to the teacher yellow level books although reads this pretty well at home although concentration is lacking and scored 21/40 for the phonics practise test
Her maths is below average and she guesses rather than works it out
This has come as a bit of a shock as at the end of reception she was meeting all points and exceeding in 5!
Now I'm thinking maybe the reception teacher over estimated her capability.
The teacher even mentioned getting a tutor might be beneficial if she struggles to concentrate at home like she does in class.

She is only 6. At that age my son just did not 'get it'. Practically every word had to be sounded out even if he had read the same word a few sentences before. I think he also got a bit of stage fright at the thought of reading too. His twin sister was leaps and bounds ahead. Roll on three years and a move to a new country, he is now a great reader in both languages. Some kids take a little longer

Do not worry. Year one is no indication of how they will do long term. I say that as someone who was a year one teacher and has a year one child, I would be asking questions about why she has slipped in level. Some children find the transition from reception to year one difficult as its alot more concentrating and sitting. My dd finds phonics hard, she can remember words but finds the sounding out hard. I use nessy.com (designed for dyslexic children which we suspect with my dd but the phonics games are great and she loves it, since starting we have got through 2 book bands and its clicked. It would be good for any child struggling, it does have a free trial) alphablocks may be good and look up letters and sounds games. Dont worry about phonics test, even if has extra support that doesnt mean she will stay in that group. Dont bother with tutor. School is tiering enough at this age. Children will naturally plateau every so often then do a sudden leap. Do lots of modelling if she cant sound out a word.

Will just add in the uk we teach reading really early. Other countries start at 6 when children are more ready ( obviosly a few are ready before) children will progress quicker through levels if ready to start rather than learning simple mechanics. We try to speed them through in this country and are levels are no higher than countries that start later by the end of school. My little girl is summer born and had only just turned 4 when she started and expected to keep up with children neer a year older

The expectations are definitely getting tougher. I went to my son's Y5 PE this week, he's 9. Teacher gave us a list of recommended books for him which included Of Mice and Men and Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy! He refused to read any books in Reception or Y1.

Like others have said try not to panic. Easy to say I know, there's so much pressure on kids. She sounds like she's a lovely girl.

I work in yr 1 we did phonics practise tests a few weeks ago and our marks ranged from 0/40 to 40/40 with most children being mud 20's don't worry at all. If you want to work on it -and only if- make up alien words this the diagraph in them. It is the word that catches them as they try to make it into a word they know even if they know it is the name of an alien!
We have certainly found that generous marks have emerged from reception for some children and we have taken the first term to get them back to that point.
A love of learning is important so nurture this keep her open to new things and she will fly! You sound like such a loving caring parent I hope your daughter is in our class.

My dd2 struggled to read. Even in yr2 it wasn't really clicking in to place.

All those endless Biff Chip and Kipper books just didn't do it for her (or me come to that ). I think she just switched off and just perceived them as 'work' whereas the key to reading is firstly to enjoy doing it.

The thing that got her going were Cat in the Hat books. She found them enormously helpful. They sort of bounce along happily and she felt she could actually do it. After that she was up and running and moved on quickly. Some people take a little longer. And that should be ok. I can say that with hindsight now, but I do remember feeling rather worried about it,

She's 16 now. Although she struggled with reading and mastered it later than my other dc, she's now the book worm of the family and reads huge quantities of books for pleasure and does very well in English. The other two dc barely read anything they don't have to these days.

The curriculum is much more play based and child led in reception, so concentration for long periods would not be as needed as in Y1. Often there's a higher staffing level in YR too, so more adults so help engage the children on task.

I would second getting her eyes tested, always worth checking. Keep on reading for fun too.

If she is having concentration problems could you look into her sleep and maybe put her down a bit earlier?
Also screen time affects my concentration so perhaps restrict that.
She is only 6.5 and I agree phonics isn't for all kids.

Have you tried any online stuff like Education City and Reading eggs?
The maths factor is another good one.

I also think it's a good idea to develop her concentration.
Read some longer chapter books to her.
Get her involved in creative projects.
Baking where she learns to read a recipe and measure the ingredients. Take her to a museum or gallery to focus on one or two items that you've read up on at home.

I think it's ridiculous to suggest a tutor for a yr1 child.

Children in other countries don't even do any formal learning until 6 or 7.

This is madness !!! There is NOTHING wrong with your daughter. Please stop thinking about it and let her pick up reading at her own pace.

second PurpleAlert and waterrat. I lived abroad from birth til 9 years. didnt begin school til I was six almost seven ( autumn birthday) yet when I arrived in the UK aged 9 I was amongst the higher achievers in the class. I hasten to add I am not particularly intelligent! I hate the stresses our education system puts on kids and parents. And on teachers, for that matter.

My dd wasn't a Biff/Chip fan but responded well to pages of song lyrics. I would print out the lyrics to a song she liked eg Katy Perry Firework then she'd practice with the words.

Primary teacher here. Please don't give up on the phonics in favour of sight reading. It sounds like she is using phonics well, just hasn't mastered the harder sounds yet. If you teach her to start trying to read by sight, or guessing with the initial sound, you could hamper her progress, especially as she already uses guessing as a strategy when she can't work something out. She needs to become fluent at reading words with the sounds she knows first. Are the school doing any extra phonics with her?

Her attainment in y1 doesn't mean that she's going to be trailing forever. Kids don't learn linearly. You need to take a long-term view and keep at it.

This is really worrying......
NOT about your cihld.....but about the staff at the school.
Suggesting a yr 1 has a tutor??

So, if you dd has learning difficulties, there are steps in place for a reception or yr 1 teacher to recognise the signs and get the LA Educational Psychologist to assess her.
However, it might be that your dd is just overwhelmed with it all and guesses quickly to get it over with.
They need to be making sure she can handle her number bonds to 10 before she moves on. Once secure in those, she should hopefully find other areas easier.
Phonics-wise. Some children just don't get them as easily as other ways of learning to read. However, the school should be getting somebody to help her in class.....taking her out for 15 minutes during assembly or something so she can practice 1:1 or in little groups to catch up.

I agree with others, this is most likely due to her age and she's just not fully ready for classroom learning yet, hence the poor concentration. I also agree with PP that maintaining her confidence as a learner and her enjoyment of reading is by far the most important thing at this stage.

My youngest son was 'left behind' in P5 (Scotland so it's age 8 - 9) - in fact, he seemed to go backwards that year. There was a lot of focus on his handwriting, which was (and still is) atrocious. It turned out that he has dyspraxia, which was undiagnosed at the time, but by far the biggest problem was that he lost all confidence in himself as a learner and began to label himself as 'stupid', which then affected all the other subjects too. In the end, we took him out of school to HE and he's much happier and doing very well academically, but if I'd been more aware of how the 'support' in school was impacting his self-esteem in the first place, I could perhaps have prevented some of the damage. It does sound as if your daughter's school are doing a good job of maintaining her confidence, however.

Personally I would imagine she is yet another child stuck in our British system that teaches children to read too early. Remember in many other countries she would only just be strating school.

Be reassured that it does not matter how well your child is reading at 6 or 8 or 10 what matters is how happy their lives are at 26 38 and 50. Children in other countries who start reading later outstrip ours academically by their teens. But they have not spent several years trying to learn something, struggled and lost confidence but started later and found it easy.

So relax - instead of doing more I would do less. Read to her and show her reading is fun and something to aspire to and play lots and lots of board games, cards etc etc they learn the same skills

My grandson was in a far worse place he scored 11/40 in his phonics at the end of year 2. My daughter took drastic action and removed him to home educate and decided to unschool - ie do nothing but provide stimlating fun activity options and let the child choose how to spend their time. He has not seen a reading book, worksheet or flashcard since he left school in July.

And he can now read and spell - probably still not at the level of most of his contemporaries but significantly more than he could 9 months ago. It took six months of letting him relax and all the progress has come since Xmas. He is reading directions, signs and search engines - looking for fun science video on YouTube has improved his spelling more than 3 years of school spelling tests did.

I was very sceptical of her unschooling but it absolutely totally works. I know this is an extreme option not right for most people but it can reassure you that less is often more.

Apart from looking for things on YouTube the best non work type stuff I would recommend are board games, sesame street and getting them to 'help you find your way' round a hospital/supermarket.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply!
Strumpersplunkett,
What a lovely thing to say, being slightly emotional already I'm not ashamed to say that brought a little tear to my eye!
Do you have children of a similar age as well as being a teacher? I can't imagine how much work that must be for you!
She really is a lovely little girl and I will get her eyes tested again although they were fine last year when I got them checked
I will continue with the phonics aw she is very familiar with them all until the complex diagraphs so would be a step back I think now
She can concentrate well on lots of things, but I think she finds sitting with a book quite boring.
I read with her every night and then to her so we do lots of reading and she really enjoys me reading to her and has great comprehension the teacher said.
She will get there, I'm sure!
She isn't currently in the extra phonics group as she doesn't warrant the intervention as she is capable just not applying herself ( that was how it was put ) but I think all children who don't pass the phonics test will then be offered extra phonics help through some of year 2

Another vote for this is terrifying...

I was 8 when I first learnt to read and went straight to chapter books (adult I might add) showed no signs of anything before that.

So glad I went to a school that didn't push anything and lived in a country that encouraged play in young children.

I had the highest IB marks in high school too

Don't think of the phonics screening as a test children either pass or fail.

It's a screening tool, so that schools can identify which children aren't secure with the foundation phonic sounds and can be supported in Y2.

This is the best thing that can happen for children who aren't secure in phonics, honestly. The alternative, of this not being identified and the child relying on guessing or memorising words will cause many more problems in KS2

I would like to 2nd the suggestion of the Peter and Jane books.
They are so lovely and relaxing to read with wonderful pictures of everyday life (in the past) and will take the pressure off.
Pack of flash cards too that others have suggested.

No need to worry she's only in year one.

The only thing I would say is if she's gone from exceeding in reception to not meeting expectations only a few months later I'd be concerned about the teachers abilities. Especially with her recommending a tutor. That's ridiculous!! I would speak to the head.

Honestly do not worry. My son was slow to start reading, he was below average in year 1 for everything. Something just clicked at some point, when he as the individual person that he is was ready, and he started to love reading. He also got the best SATs results in his school in year 6. I have never put any pressure on him to achieve academically, there is so much more to life, and I think this has helped.