shouldn't ALL kids get an end of school year report?

[laalaaland]

Maybe IABU, I really don't know.
We recently moved back to the UK, my 6yo joined year 1 at the local primary for the last 4.5 weeks of term.
They have been in a very different educational setting so we really wanted to get them in for a while before the summer, so we could then work on any gaps before next school year starts.
Last day was yesterday, still no report at pick up, so I quickly asked their teacher. She said she hadn't done one as they had only just started. I explained we wanted to know so we could help them catch up over the summer, as I was worried they might be below average with reading and writing. I then got a one sentence, "yes they are very behind with reading and writing but seem ok with maths, just need more time to get it on paper."
I know this has been a crazy hard year for teachers and all that, and I wasn't expecting a full report, but some kind of feedback to give us a clue on how they had settled in...just a paragraph hand written on a piece of paper would have done. I got the distinct impression she had NO idea what my child was like and basically hadn't bothered with them at all.
AIBU to have expected just a little more?

just some indication of how he had settled in - was he playing with the other children? Could he follow the lessons or was he needing lots of extra help.

Did you ask those questions or just the vague one in your op?

Given that you say your child is shy and has just moved countries, I think it's better the focus was on settling in not assessments.

OK, fair enough. Thanks for your responses.

With all due respect I don't think you seem to have a grasp of what it's like in a Y1 classroom. It's fine, I guess most parents don't. But what you are expecting from the teacher is unrealistic and unachievable in any meaningful way. There's absolutely no way she would be able to provide the level of detail (or any detail, really) based on such a tiny snapshot of your child who is new to the school, especially at such a busy time of year when it's not really "business as usual". If you know that they are weak in reading and writing, you can spend some time on that over the holidays if you want to.

Reports were probably due in weeks ago.

4.5 weeks? No way would we write judgements for a child that had been in for such a short time. I know he's primary, but a secondary teacher might have seen that child (in a class of 30!) for as little as two hours.
It's really not a reasonable expectation.
You need to bear in mind that reports are spell checked, and generated and printed, and probably would actually have been written when he'd been in the school for two or three days...

Op, I’ve voted yanbu because I think that would be in the best interests of the dc. But I don’t think it would be usual in the uk as the majority of the replies indicate.

I would do what you might call sneaky indirect catch up - definitely not work books / work sheets. The kind the kids won’t know they are doing eg if difficulty with writing lots of work on grip / hand strength/body control - cutting things up with scissors, climbing, scootering etc

Where are the gaps? Maybe we can help with a few ideas. Can your 6 year old form all their letters? Can they blend? What reading book are they on?

PinniGig You seem to get me! But I also work with adults and have to document everything too! So maybe it's us!

If they are 6 than if you google the key words they need to know at that age and then over summer work on these that would help with their reading plus practise reading of course.

Foxhasbigsocks I really appreciate your comment, thank you. Could you be my child's teacher please!? I think that's all I wanted from the teacher, just a slight show of interest and concern, one or two tips on how we could help him, not just "yes, he's way behind the others."

He knows all his letters and his handwriting is fairly legible, he struggles mainly with sizing and spacing but I think that's fairly normal. He can blend and I've taught him patterns like ch/sh/th/igh/magic e etc
At home he's read through all 50 of the usborne easy reader books. At school he was reading a series of red books - 'cluck cluck' was the last one - but I have no idea where that fits in with the reading scheme. I don't know where he SHOULD be or where he fits into their curriculum at all, so not really sure what to do except keep providing opportunities for practice.

I think it’s fine. Your child had been in school for just 4 and a half weeks. That is not enough time to assess anyone’s abilities, never mind a 6 year old childs abilities. I think if they’d have done the report and had outlined many “issues” (I use that word in quotations because I can’t think of another word) that your child had, you’d probably be upset. Some parents would even then turn around and say that 4 and a half weeks isn’t a long enough time to assess someone’s abilities, so why has the report said that they are having difficulty doing certain things?

I don’t think it’s anything to really complain about.

Perhaps ask their teach if there is any one thing they would really benefit support with over summer?

ittakes2 thanks why the hell didn't i think of that!

@laalaaland

Foxhasbigsocks I really appreciate your comment, thank you. Could you be my child's teacher please!? I think that's all I wanted from the teacher, just a slight show of interest and concern, one or two tips on how we could help him, not just "yes, he's way behind the others."

He knows all his letters and his handwriting is fairly legible, he struggles mainly with sizing and spacing but I think that's fairly normal. He can blend and I've taught him patterns like ch/sh/th/igh/magic e etc
At home he's read through all 50 of the usborne easy reader books. At school he was reading a series of red books - 'cluck cluck' was the last one - but I have no idea where that fits in with the reading scheme. I don't know where he SHOULD be or where he fits into their curriculum at all, so not really sure what to do except keep providing opportunities for practice.

Based on what you've said about his knowledge of sounds, at a blunt guess he is working more at reception level. By the end of year 1 they are expected to know all the alternative versions of each sound, so not just igh but also ie, i_e, i etc.

I'd recommend searching phase 3 phonics for the sounds that are expected to be known by the end of reception, and then phase 5 phonics for the end of year 1 standard. You could spend some time doing phonics lessons online such as Mr Mc on YouTube.

As a Year 1 teacher I would say reading is the key. He needs to do lots of reading over the holidays, after a bit of a break of course! Also, you reading to him is very helpful too which I'm sure you already know and do!
Red is the second level of the book bands in the UK. There are 11 colour levels before a child becomes a 'free reader', meaning they can choose their own books.
We aim for children to be at about level 6 by the end of Year 1 but my class has gone up with a number on red and yellow (level 3). Some children just take a bit longer to get going with reading. Also, the country you have come from may do things differently or at a different pace.
It sounds like you are doing all the right things.

Phonics is also important at this age and the sounds you mentioned are ones Year 1s should know. Google year 1 phonics and it should give you ideas of other sounds to practice. There's a site called 'Phonics play' which uses different games to help too. You have to pay to access the whole site but you can play some of the games without doing that. You might also be able to access the phases of sounds from that too or it should come up once you've googled. He should know all the phase 1-5 sounds by the end of year 1, but again, not all children do.
With writing I'd encourage him to write about things he knows. I am also the mother of a Year 1 son and he likes to write about what he's going to be when he grows up, what are his favourite foods and that sort of thing. At this age, I wouldn't push spellings too hard. As long as his spelling is 'phonetically plausible', in other words, you can read what he's writing and he's used relevant sounds then that's great. Eg if he's spelt window as windoe or cycle as sikle that's fine. It shows he understands how sounds work.

I hope that helps in some way. I can understand how overwhelming it all must be for all of you, moving countries is difficult! I did it myself almost 20 years ago!

I would say, just keep encouraging him. Keep having fun, keep reading and writing but try not to push it too much as he needs to be tested before moving to Year 2!
Good luck.

YABU but I think you know that now. It would be meaningless for a teacher to write a full report of a child’s attainment and achievement after only 22 days: they would be fabricating the detail just to produce something to make you happy.

Your little one has so much time in education left: just read his favourite books over the summer with him and all will be well.

Rested not tested!! That will happen at the end of year 2!

It’s a shame she couldn’t give you a bit of feedback on how to improve his reading writing. It’s not that helpful to say yes he’s really behind with no tips on how to counter this.

The thing is in schools though, sometimes it’s hard to get a grasp of where the child really ‘is’ while they’re settling in - they can still be in their shell so to speak and you don’t get a full view of their abilities. Reports usually need to be handed in a couple of weeks before they’re given out to parents, so she would have had only 2 weeks or so to get to know your child.

It must be hard though when you’re already worried your child is a bit behind. Maybe you can practise reading and writing over the summer and hopefully he’ll catch up next year.

Op I’m not a teacher I should say! But have taught at university. And I have a dd a similar age.

Was the last reading book this one? www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/books/ruth-miskin/read-write-inc-phonics-red-ditty-book-9-cluck/9780198479208?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_8mHBhClARIsABfFgpgyuZN3XVD0qEUfRWiJ2007-pCbt6ntZGSYFnhRSd7wd0VXWv3JysgaArnLEALw_wcB#GOR007663532?keyword=

@laalaaland YANBU to ask the teacher how he’s settling in. YABU to expect a written report. They are styled in specific ways and reasonably they would be comment on 10 days max which is utterly ridiculous. It’s your responsibility as a parent to check if you have concerns and if you want to ask specific questions.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/phonics-screening-check-2019-materials

Phonics test was cancelled 20-21
I would get your child to have a go with you at the 2019 one.
See link above.
This will give you an idea as to where they are reading-wise although I suspect they will pass it with flying colours.
I think at the end of year 2, 2022, they will have a reading and maths SATS unless more lockdowns means government do a U-turn on that.
I don't think testing on that now will be that useful now but you can have a look here at levels/similar to testing that may or may not happen next year.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-1-tests-2019-mathematics-test-materials

www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-1-tests-2019-english-reading-test-materials

Finally, twinkl have all the common word lists.

www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-l-5086-new-new-curriculum-spelling-lists-years-1-and-2

for example

www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-l-5155-new-year-1-common-exception-words

@laalaaland

PinniGig You seem to get me! But I also work with adults and have to document everything too! So maybe it's us!

Do you work with 30 adults every day for 5+ hours each and write up everything?

Because unless you do, it's unfair to suggest that a teacher should be documenting everything about your child they've known for around 20 days, days which have probably included sports day, transition, a trip, lots of "fun" stuff like computing and PE and general winding down for the holidays.

That said, if you asked the teacher for any suggestions of resources to help your child over the holiday, and all you got was that response, then YANBU. They could have suggested similar to some of the excellent responses you've had above.

But if you wanted a report so you could just see where your DC is, which it looks like from your OP is what you asked for, you were being massively unreasonable. The teacher wasn't a mind reader to know that you wanted help in working with them over the summer.

OP you're getting a hard time here but as a Primary school teacher I can see where you're coming from. Unfortunately, as a PP has pointed out, 4.5 weeks just isn't long enough to produce anything but a slightly generic 'settling in' report for your child. Assessments were done about 6 weeks ago, reports were produced 4 weeks ago. Your mistake was to leave it to the last day when the teacher was probably frazzled and having her attention pulled every which way. I would have produced something generic for you and, had you asked, tried to do a few quick assessments to find any gaps. The teacher doesn't know what you need if you don 't ask though.
FWIW - I would concentrate on the reading and basics in Maths - number bonds (which numbers go together to make 10 - then moving onto other numbers) to automaticity, addition and subtraction within 20, counting in 2's, 5's and 10's and maybe a bit of money work. If you have the wherewithall, Reading Eggs are supposed to be very good for making accelerated progress. Good Luck.

I was ready to agree with you based on the title of your thread. Of course every child should have a report. Mine all do.

But they’ve been there 4.5 weeks. You are being unreasonable to have expected one, and you should have raised your concerns or questions earlier