Is my child's primary school pants?

[TulipVictory]

Please tell me if I'm being dramatic. My daughter had just started year two. I feel like and get the impression the school as a whole isn't very driven. Yes, she can read fairly well now but sentences/spelling and writing is terrible. She brought home some work yesterday that she had done. Some of it was wrong, I said what did your teacher say and she said they didn't look at it. They had a supply for most part of year 1 due to staff sickness. This year she has two teachers and one works Monday, Tuesday and weds morning. The other works Wednesday afternoon and Thursday and Friday 🙄 Their head teacher has been off sick since last year. It just feels like nothing is improving. She brought home last years work book. This was just before she broke up. It's been ticked, no spellings corrected. How are they meant to improve 🙄

Why are you eye rolling at two teachers covering the class in that way? Why shouldnt teachers be allowed to work part time/job share?

Her writing looks fine to me for a just finished Y1 student.

I understand spellings are looked at separately to writing tasks. A task like the one in your photo is where the teacher is (presumably) looking for her to read and understand the question and formulate an answer.

Looking at the answer she gave, she has given the correct sequence of events and written some good sentences.

Teachers don't always correct every spelling mistake with young children, as long as the words are spelt phonetically correct or close to. Can you imagine how disheartening it would be for a child to have every other word corrected? It will depend on the learning objective for that particular task.

And there is nothing wrong with having 2 part time teachers. In fact it can often be a positive, such as one teacher being really arty and musical, and the other good at maths and science subjects.

They don't correct every spelling at this age, because it can be discouraging. I was a bit taken aback by this at first, but I am grateful for it now, as my daughter really struggles with spelling (possible dyslexia), and constant corrections would be very disheartening for her. Their approach has meant that her spelling has improved over time, but that she still loves writing and hasn't been put off it by too much red pen. I think that Year 3 is when things really start to get more formal in terms of their education.

She only just finished year 1. She's just been a summer break, I imagine she's only been back a week. Give them time to settle into school again. It looks fine to me. Just wait untill they start high school when they have different teachers for each subject and often multiple teachers for each subject.

Our children have had the best years when their teachers job shared, so much more energy - so I'd re-think that unfounded judgement on your part.

My kids are at a school which is normally driven, but the challenges this last two years have been different and I'm pleased the school approach reflects that. Kids are all at different places depending on their home-school environment and emotions are running higher than normal. I'd cut the school some slack and fill any perceived gaps yourself, your DC looks like they are completing pieces of work and keeping up, having just finished Yr1.

Some of the incorrect work on that sheet has been highlighted by the teacher and your daughter has corrected it. If the teacher highlighted all the errors your child would be unable to learn from all the mistakes and be demoralised.

What do you think is the problem?

Also, my children were always taught spelling in parallel with literacy rather than grouping them together. If children are picked up on every little thing they lose confidence and flow in their writing. It is better to tackle the spelling as an entirely different topic and gradually the two come together. Your DD looks like she is thinking of the sentences as a whole, which is great - don't make her focus on the details as she goes along as she'll stop being able to see the wood for the trees.

I was surprised by this approach, but my DD fitted this model almost perfectly and my DS is now following a similar trajectory.

Teachers job sharing is usual, not pants

Your child is 6 and has had two disrupted school years in a global pandemic - I think your expectations are pretty skewed?

From that bit of work her spelling is fine, where it isn't standard it is phonetically plausible (she's using the correct sounds even if not the correct spelling for that word) and she has clearly done some corrections.

Her handwriting isn't brilliant but that's to be expected if you didn't bother doing anything with her over the summer.

It is generally accepted that over correcting spelling mistakes in creative work disheartens the pupil and destroys their creativity

Like with babies making sounds that are not quite words but we reward their efforts at communicating

Learning to read and write is a many stages kind of job and for the first few years it’s scrawly and messy

Correct spelling and calligraphy can be worked on later without holding back a child development in other ways

She's sorted out some of the mistakes though, presumably not by herself?

This looks to have been a task about writing a set of instructions. The learning object would have included using imperative or bossy verbs and time connectives. She has used those and got her instructions in the right order and her words are phonetically correct. Looks like a good piece of work from a y2 child who has only been back in education for a few days after a long break.

Completely standard for a child at the end of year one! They don't teach spellings until way into year 2, they expect the child to write it phonetically as they would say it, as that's how they teach them to read.
My DD just started year 2, is actually marked as ahead for most things, and her work looks exactly the same as your child's.
With all due respect - you aren't a teacher, so let them do their job.

Yes, work looks fine to me and writing and spelling totally normal, in fact pretty good, for Y2, I don't think my DD was any better than that at that age (DS far worse, but then he's August born and has ADHD). DD had job-sharing teachers and it was fine

Some of it was wrong, I said what did your teacher say and she said they didn't look at it.
The teacher must have looked at it as it is ticked. Can I ask how much writing and spelling practice you did with her during lockdown? I taught Y2 and would be happy to build on work like that during the year.

I thought at that age it was checking it looks correct phonetically if that makes sense. So 'paste' is incorrect but actually 'paist' is a good stab at alternative spelling and shows she knows the 'ai' sound and is using it appropriately. At this age I didn't think they corrected spellings outside the spellings work they do separately

I think when my DC were that age, the teacher didn't correct every spelling mistake . There were lots and like a pp said, it would be disheartening. Also they're learning to spell by sounding out words rather than learning spellings parrot fashion so it's better to work on phonics I imagine rather than simply correcting mistakes

I'm not sure what you're expecting here...do you expect the teacher to correct every spelling on every piece of work every child does? They've ticked it very throughly (eg 2 ticks for particularly good bits) and they will have in their mind a good idea of the child's abilities and spelling knowledge etc.

There is no point in correcting the spellings on a year 2 child's work unless you are then going to direct them to read back their own work and look at the corrected spelling and even then that's not a good way to learn spellings. I'm genuinely a bit confused about what you are looking for from marking homework

Teachers mark work differently to the way they did when we were at school. Spellings aren’t corrected unless they are key words that children have been learning. Any good phonetic attempts are accepted because it helps with their phonics and allows writing to develop naturally and creatively.

Your daughter has fulfilled the learning objectives give for this work which will have been to complete a set of instructions using time connectives. It’s fine. Probably not the best sample in the class but a good average at the very least.

This looks fine. I wouldn’t expect to see every error corrected at this ability level.

You're being dramatic. And please, don't tell your child their writing is terrible. That's not at all encouraging. Children are meant to improve with support and guidance from school AND home. I can see she's worked hard to write in full sentences, remembered finger spaces, letter formation, used 'and', full stops, adverbs of time and not forgetting she has used her phonics knowledge, too. Given the amount of time out of school in the last 18months due to the pandemic, I'd say she's doing well!

What was the learning objective for this piece of writing? That will determine how (or which aspects of the writing) have been marked. If it isn't writing on the piece of work then you could proactively ask her teacher instead. The school will have a marking policy you could ask for, too.

From a part-time Year 1 teacher.

*written

Also, FYI to pp, the OP isn’t saying that this piece of work hasn’t been looked at, she’s referring to a more recent piece. This is from last year.

Teachers don't correct every mistake at that age. If they can understand what the child has written. As they work through blended sounds spelling adjusts and self corrects. It's really demoralising for litle ones to have every other word corrected.

Probably time to just let the teachers do their job tbh

You’re expecting waaay too much and I really hope you’re not projecting this onto your child.