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.

It's such a relief when you don't have to do that shit anymore.

Just wondering how much you do at home with her too? Do you have fun learning books to help her? Do you read to her every evening and get her to read to you too? Even just a page or two a night of a very simple book.

I've seen a lot of parents who just assume because their child is at school that they will learn what they need to. It's not always the case and then somehow it becomes the school's fault that the child isn't learning or is behind.

Those that are ahead may also have more 1-on-1 time with their parents, siblings, grandparents and so on, than those that are behind and it can show. Especially at that age.

Just in response to the last comment,
I am a stay at home mother so I am with her all the time unless she is at school
My husband is home by 6pm every evening and she has a younger sibling of 4, who happens to be far more interested in learning phonics and so on than she ever was
Not sure if this is just true of being the second child
We do lots of fun games to help her along and she loves hearing us read to her and often has a book read by each of us before bed!

So to reiterate in most sensible countries kids this age wouldn't have begun formal learning, let alone be formally tested.
It was to avoid this crazy stressful start to a kids education that I home edded my 4 dcs until they were at least 7 and had missed Key Stage 1 sats.
I taught them to read when they were ready and so they found it easy and not a chore. For 3 of them, that was between 6 and 7.
They all entered school above the expected levels at the time.
It'seems awful that you came away so demoralised. Your daughter sounds delightful and is trying her best.
I love the examples of dcs that were apparently behind that were just not ready.

Super rainbows
What makes me so sad is that I actually had no intention of starting her before the age of 7
I come from an Italian family whereby they start at 7 and before that is similar to preschool if anything at all
My gut was always that it was too young especially for her personality type as she hates to sit still for long periods and prefers to be out climbing trees and exploring nature
I went against it for the reason of that where we are it is extremely difficult to get allocated a good school even at reception age so by the age of 7 even though the class sizes expand the good schools are usually still at capacity
The second reason is that I worried that 7 would be a hard age to join friendship groups that had been established since the age of 4
I'm not sure if I was right on that one but I will say she has struggled to make friends just as she didn't attend the school preschool for the year before school ( we kept her home ) so I do think this may have been a barrier - how did your children find it?

We do lots of fun games to help her along and she loves hearing us read to her and often has a book read by each of us before bed!

This will stand her in such, such good stead. Encouraging this love of words and stories is the best thing you can do for her. You sound like terrific parents. I totally agree with what PP are saying - progress is not linear! Please do not even think about getting a tutor for a Yr 1 child!

Don't stress about the phonics- what's important is that she enjoys books and stories and you're already making sure of that. The point is not to excel at phonics but simply to be able to read for information and for pleasure! Phonics is an aid, not the objective. Children learn in different ways and at different times.

Thankyou we do try our best as parents as I'm sure most do 😃
I was in a false sense of security at the end of reception I think