Bad school report

[Meme2019]

Just got my sons school report for year 2, it’s not good. Do we discuss the report with him?

Yeah tell him how shit he is and how disappointed you are with him that's what my mother did so i completely disengaged at school and have massive self esteem issues. He's 6 years old ffs.

Read the positives and encourage him. Does it matter if he isn't the next Albert Einstein?

I would speak to his teacher first. It’s sad that this is the first you knew about him not doing so well tbh. I would want to know how and what school are going to do to support him in the areas he needs help with.

I wouldn't mention that to him. It will knock his confidence.

Just be positive and encouraging and he'll catch up.

Ah OP
As another said this shouldn’t have been a surprise
I agree to get in some holiday work and focus in the areas primarily maths , reading and English

Just what you want to do over the holidays . But it will get you more involved

And no he doesn’t need to see report in my view x

If it's a surprise you need to talk to the teacher.

If it's not a surprise, you need to talk to the teacher.

Maybe that's the best he can do? Maybe he needs more support?

Maybe do some fun activities to help over the holidays? And reading. lots of reading. To him and with him.

Op that's not a 'not good' report. I was expecting you to say it was behaviour related. As pp have said, please read the positive comments to him (there should be lots, I hope) and praise him for his wonderful behaviour/great listening skills/ kindness /whatever.
If you're concerned, book a meeting with the teacher/senco to find out how you can best support your son going forward.
And please remember SATs results are not everything. As a teacher I value kindness, helpfulness, friendliness and generosity massively in my classroom. If he's showing those kind of skills that needs to be recognised and he needs to be praised/rewarded.

No, don’t discuss that with him. Discuss it with the teacher. What are the barriers to his meeting national expectations? Obviously not all children will, and that’s fine, but if the issue is that he isn’t trying his best, or there is a suggestion of an additional learning need, that needs to be addressed.

That's not a 'bad' report. What are you going to say 'you're not very clever'? how's that going to help him?

If anything you say 'well done, your teachers say you try really hard'.

Then in the holidays you do stuff to help him, eg make sure you keep up the reading, get him to do a holiday diary, play board games to help maths skills.

The report wasn’t a surprise, we had parents evening and we knew he is struggling, I get really upset reading the report, feels like we are failing him. We got him a tutor after parents evening, I know his problem is concentration, we have been thinking of going to a child psychologist to check that there is nothing underlying that’s causing his concentration issues. It’s just reading the report is very upsetting.

Try and file the report away

Things can and do change

It’s upsetting I appreciate that but mainly
For YOU and if he is happy otherwise focus on some light practice over the summer and a deeper analysis come sept

What are school doing in way of supporting him?

If he can do better then yes
If that's his ability then word it very carefully
Not all children are academic but most can improve

Is he Summer born?

Not every child who under-performs at school, has an "underlying issue" yet to be identified. School performance is based on average, some will be brighter, some will be less bright.

that's not a "bad" report at all. My dd is in year 2 as well . She is summer born and really struggled in reception and year 1. Her year 1 report said she was performing below the expected level. However in the last few months she has really found her feet and is now working to expected level. Her teacher said it is quite common for some children particularly summer born therefore youngest in the year group to not catch up with their peers until year 2 or 3. Could this be your ds?.

They are still so young and have years left in the school system. I don't think how they are performing in year 2 should define how they will perform academically for the rest of their lives. I know it's hard but I would try not to worry too much. I would have a quiet word with the teacher and see what they recommend you could be doing to help your ds over the summer but I wouldn't mention anything to ds. we didn't speak to dd at all about her year 1 report as this could have dented her confidence when it hadn't yet developed.

My dd is dyslexic and struggled until we got her specialist tuition. School just kept saying she'd catch up. You need an educational psychologist assesment but they may say he's too young. We managed in year 5. She couldn't read. Now she is in secondary school and predicted good grades at GCSE and being encouraged to do A levels.

Don't push him. Never ever tell him he is "underperforming".

My dd can't really write and it's ok because we taught her (or rather she taught herself) to touch type and she types faster than most can write.

My nearly 7yo isn’t meeting attainments and we’ve known about it as she’s had interventions since reception and she’s on a plan so I go in every couple of months for an update and this will follow on to the juniors.
I wouldn’t discuss the negative aspects because it’s just going to make him feel bad.
What was positive in the report? I’m surprised they’ve given a bad report to a 6/7year old! Ours normally says she’s not reaching attainments and what they are focusing on to bring her more up to level. But they mostly focus on what she’s doing well, things she’s improved on and they always make a point on how good her social skills are.
I think over the holidays just focus on the bits the report suggests and ask the teacher what you can do over the holidays. I honestly wouldn’t tell him though just try and encourage him

Unless you want him to believe from the age of 6 or 7 that he is stupid, then no. Do not discuss this it with him.

Dont worry too much hes only young op. My ds took ages to settle into school life and it was his concentration that was the issue in particular when it came to English spelling reading etc. As hes got older hes gotten alot better and just got his Sats and was just a couple marks off greater depth in all three subjects. When we got his report he got satifistory for concentration and was reported he still needs to work on that. Speak to the school see what measures they can put into place.

Nothing behaviour related just Working below national expectation.

Could you explain to us how its bad?

do you really need it explained to you?

*discuss it, not sure where the extra word came from.

What TeenTimesTwo said.

Also going to bring out the usual comment that in a lot of countries, children of that age wouldn't even be in school, or would be only just starting. My dc2 started a month shy of his 7th birthday and couldn't read fluently until 8. He's now performing solidly at 11 but it took him a few years of very erratic grades.

Unless you see other signs in his behaviour, I wouldn't jump to assuming ADD or similar (if that's where your thougts are going) because hes not great at concentrating at school as a 6/7yo boy. What I would do is do some reading, board games involving counting/strategy (Monopoly/Connect 4 etc), puzzles etc with him over the holidays - so things that are not obviously 'work' but giveyou a feel for his engagement, problem-solving and focus. Then take it from there.

Also make a huge fuss of any progress, my dd really struggled with reading and other kids took the Mickey out of her for being on a low band. I did speak to the teacher about that and she stopped it. But when she goes up a book band I make a huge fuss and she’s allowed a new small toy or a new set of pencils and a book. She recently went up 3 bands in two weeks! When she says she’s bad at maths, I tell her she’s not even though she is and say I was the same at school and still got a good job. You just need to find what motivates himb

He’s 6? Are schools really being made to label children with “good” and “bad” reports at 6 now. FFS I despair, I really do. Have teachers not got enough to do already?

OP, why on earth are you getting a SIX YEAR OLD a tutor?? Leave the poor child alone and let him be a kid. He should be riding his bike and playing with his friends and colouring in, not doing fucking extra school work.

Contrary to popular opinion on MN, 90% of kids are just average and 99.9% of those kids will do fine in life. They do not need labelling as bad at fucking SIX!!

Good grief some countries have children only just starting school at 6/7.

Bearing in mind he clearly already knows he has concentration issues, he'll know the report won't be great. He's not an idiot. Just tell him the good bits, tell him that you can continue to work together to improve his concentration. And let it go. He's a child.

You want to get a psychologist to assess him?? Maybe he's just a child. A child who wants to play? A child who day dreams? A normal child?
Maybe he's a moron? Maybe a professional will be able to tell you he's a dunce and that it's genetic. Will you then just accept that he's an idiot?

Don't make him feel like an idiot or a person who is failing. He's so small. He'll remember it. And it's not something he'll want to remember.