I don't know what my child learns at school...

[Suzi7979]

Do any of you actually know what your Y1 child learns at school? The teacher never speaks to the parent, we haven't had parent evening yet and all parents wonder what the kids actually learns. The school is outstanding ( ofsted).

Just wanted to know if its normal to not know what the kids learn at school and which subjects they have each day?

Ask them at bedtime - it's amazing how chatty and animated they suddenly become about their day!!!

Sometimes mine comes out with something random but if I ask him he says "Nothing/it's boring/I don't want to tell you". I sometimes get feedback from other parents. I have tried asking him to tell me something fun that he has done today but he isn't having any of it.
I spoke to the teacher on the phone and told her that I cant back things up or support his learning at home as I don't actually know what he is doing.

There is a year 1 National Curriculum. Should be links on the school website but basic they have phonics,maths and English daily, usually in the mornings and afternoons over the course of a week will cover PE, Topic(geography, history) RE, music, PSHE most probably .

• basically

We change books as and when parents have listened to their child read and are happy for them to change it. For some it’s a few times a week, for others they never listen to their child read so we make time to hear them read in school more often which is not ideal.

The school sounds pretty poor. Our school updates have gone down a lot because of covid obviously, but we still get some information.

We have an introduction at the beginning of the year.

Every half term we are sent a general theme and summary of what they learn that term in each topic.

We receive a weekly newsletter with a quick summary of what they've done.

At the end of half term we receive a presentation showing some of the work they achieved. At least it's obvious where the child fits in the class having a picture of the entire class.

We now have to wait until they finish an exercise book before they are allowed to take them home (maths, English etc..) and show the content this year, but the diary booklet comes home daily.

Plus the usual parents/teachers meetings.

I'd be annoyed to have no clue. school is not such a separate world that parents don't need to know!

Basically they do what you did at school.

My child has to tell me three things they did at school that day before the TV goes on in the evening. Mysteriously she is more forthcoming with information then...

My DC’s school publish curriculum plans on their website, so parents who are interested can see what topics and learning goals are planned for the year.
The homework also gives a bit of a clue about what sort of things they’re learning in class.

We get weekly newsletters, but they are very basic - typically just a one page thing saying which pupils are the Stars of the Week, and giving reminders about upcoming school events / holidays.
Parents evening this term is going to be a telephone one rather than a face to face one. So we won’t get to see the DC’s work like usual, but we will get a chance to talk to the teacher about how they’re doing at school.

New reading books used to be handed out every time we returned them, so we could get as many as 5 a week, but at the moment returned reading books are quarantined for a few days, so it’s one, maybe 2 reading books a week.

Yes because it's on our school's website, my DC tells me if asked, they have weekly topical homework and I'm part of a Y1 mum's WhatsApp group of around 60 members. We also get a half term newsletter that actually informs us what the entire school is learning about so you are aware for future years. Also pre-pandemic, the school used to invite parents a few times a year to advise on how to support their child with the topics they were learning. Also the Collins 5 to 6 year Early Learning books from Amazon or similar would give you a good idea of what they cover in Year 1.

Listening to them read at home is one of the best things you can do - you don't really need to keep up with the curriculum if you can trust the school to be doing a good job of it.

Once they can read well you can broaden their interest in so many things.

Mine is secondary age now but bemused by the why do you need to know comments. Surely it’s helpful to know what they are covering in class to reinforce at home or maybe offer help/resources. We are doing castles this week - take child to nearby castle on a Sunday etc. We are looking at fire - fireman dad offers to go in or sends clothing. We used to get a half term update and weekly update. DD was also very informative - other mums used to ask me for info.

*Also there are a few mums who are teachers by profession on that WhatsApp group so that's helpful. Also mum's with older children who give the rest of us a heads up on what's to come. How about you set up a group yourself but with strict rules such as education related only, no politics etc.

Yes it's normal but it's not helpful to your child. I'd be happy to give info.

I could never find out what my son was doing at school either. Until bedtime. Then he suddenly wanted to tell me everything in the greatest detail.

Or you could have a look at The School Run. There is a great deal of info there.

could never find out what my son was doing at school either. Until bedtime. Then he suddenly wanted to tell me everything in the greatest detail.

Yes!! Lol.

Yes because there is a weekly school newsletter and included in that is a round up of the week from each class that tells us what they are learning.

Our primary school issued a curriculum plan each half term. It would say what the topic for that half term was eg Under The Sea and it would say which sounds they were working on eg stage 5 phonics Guided Reading depended on the group your child was in so I'd have to ask my child

I suspect your child does literacy and numeracy daily. Does their maths homework give any indication as to what they did that week?

We get a weekly video update with some of the children showing their work as we aren't allowed into the classroom to see the displays. We also get homework set on an app (which obviously shows us what they are covering in maths and phonics that week), and the teacher puts the overview of the half term's material up on the app too for our information.

UK, it's all online. Everything they should be doing.

@BettySundaes

Ask them at bedtime - it's amazing how chatty and animated they suddenly become about their day!!!

It works with teenagers as well after 10pm :D the only time my son actually has a conversation with us

@Suzi7979

Thanks all. Maybe I had big expectation. I looked at their website but couldn't find anything. I will have to rely on my child now.

Good luck with that - my year 2 child, who usually never stops talking, suddenly turns into a monosyllabic teenagee when I ask about school. We get a sheet home outlining what they'll learn this term (at the beginning of every term). Just a basic one page outline, nothing fancy. If it isn't on the website I'd drop the office an email just asking if they had an outline of what they'll be teaching this term, just so you can ensure you're supporting him at home. They should be giving you something, don't be afraid to ask.

We get a parent meeting at the beginning of each year that goes through the curriculum, weekly timetable and trips. We get a termly letter setting out the learning map for the upcoming term and we get a paragraph per class in the Friday newsletter summing up work covered that week. This used to have key questions for discussion but doesnt any more. School have also started posting photos on Facebook which I use as conversation starters with DC.

Mine is learning phonetics he'll come out with am is for ambulance it is good considering he is only in school for 90mins a day.