Would you be concerned? (Reception child)

[Lillyflow]

DD(5) started Reception in Sept. She has always been quite confident, social and fun. Has made a few friends in school and generally progressing with her learning. She almost reads (she segments at the moment), but can sound out words that are more than CVC. Has learned all her sight words and so on. She is very well behaved and compliant.

The school, or this class in particular, are very much about rewards. So if a child did something 'clever' they get a Well done or Great sticker. Plus for the last 2 months they've implemented this Class Challenge Award which means kids do something that the teachers set up and then if they do well they get this large 'fancy' sticker.

Well, DD never got one. Every day I'm seeing more than half a class with something like this. When she started in Sept, for the first 2 weeks she got a few Well Done and then it all stopped.

I didn't think much of it, but then I find the school really upped their 'game' now and it's getting more serious with kids being challenged with all sorts of things, reading, maths, PE and so on and DD has never come home with anything. I'm a little worried that she is either not participating or just doesn't get it. She is telling me there are so many clever kids there and I worry about her confidence.

At parents evening back in Oct teacher said she is doing great!

Should I raise this with the teachers? Can anyone relate to this?

Short answer, no.

Medium answer - they're probably giving rewards to kids who are struggling and/or top of the class. Your well-behaved quiet kid gets overlooked because there are 30 kids in the class and teachers are human.

Long and biased answer - rewards are a rubbish teaching strategy that make kids feel confused and left out and pile even more pressure on kids who are struggling whether with learning or with behaviour. The kid who can't sit still at carpet time or who can't recognise letters is probably already trying harder than most and just can't do it. A sticker doesn't fix that. And the kid who's doing fine feels there's something wrong with them because they're not getting a sticker.

Thank you for your answer. Some of these kids who are rewarded are already reading fluently, I should have mentioned that.

I disagree that teachers generally get this wrong with these types of small regular reward as ime most track it with wall charts or ticks in a register etc, and you find there isn't much spread in the class. Have you checked that your DC isn't getting stickers & forgetting?

I spent last year also thinking DC wasn't getting rewards only to visit the classroom in march and find he had as many stars as other children.

I do think where schools often get it wrong on rewards is the bigger things. There are often termly "head teacher awards" but no tracking through the school, so you often find that the same 4 or 5 children who get them in the early years are given them again by different teachers. Its usually a particular type of very compliant, confident and attractive child with a personality streak of being eager to please adults. It is rarely quiet children, or "clever" children who are perceived as not needing rewards.

The fact that some children are reading fluently shouldn't mean they are never rewarded. They may have worked hard at home to achieve that fluency.

I'd be amazed if your reception child is noticing other kids as "clever". EYFS is usually very free flow etc, its not noticeable at all which children are a bit more academically inclined

Are you sure your child isn't losing any stickers? Mine's always losing them 🙈

Aww you're not being silly about this at all. I have a quiet, heads down gets on with it middle of the road kiddo. He never gets stickers and gets very sad about it. It's very noticeable, always the same ones who get them, either ones who struggle to behave who manage to sit still that day or high fliers with their hands up confidence all the time. Ones in the middle often get missed. I'm a teacher and don't use stickers because of this tbh, it's really hard to keep track of and remember who had one, and it does tend to be the quiet middle ones that get missed. And it does impact their self esteem negatively in my opinion. That's why our school stopped it. And we had a book for end of term awards to ensure its not same kiddo every time. It's not you and it does happen sadly.

I felt a bit bad about my dd not getting any rewards or special mentions despite doing well and getting good reports. Part of me thinks that’s life though so she better get used to it…. ! Harsh as it sounds it’s often the same in the world of work….you have to stand out to be seen and the majority of good compliant people are just overlooked.

The main thing for me is that she is good and gets on with it and is happy in herself. She’s not the sort of child who needs a sticker to behave at school….can’t say the same for at home!

I spent a year and a half worrying about my child not getting stickers and his book band seeming very low until I went to parents evening recently and was told he's one of the top readers in the class and he's doing great. I'd worked myself into such a worry I nearly fell off my chair!

If there's anything to worry about, the school will tell you. If the teachers not worried, you don't need to be worried.

This.

DD was always/ is super keen, helpful etc at school. She's enthusiastic and friendly and loves learning. She's not top of the class/ a child einstien though. She often gets ovrlooked for this sort of thing as she doesn't need behaviour management or incentivising. And she's not doing amazing things that get her noticed (other than generally being good, easy and - as they say at every single parent teacher consultation - "being a plessure to teach").

Thank you for your advice.

First of all she is not the very quiet child, she is compliant but not shy, she talks to all the adults and children and makes friends easily. Secondly she loves a reward and proudly wore her stickers right in the beginning when she got a few.

From what I understand they give them various challenges every day now (academically focused) and from what she tells me she is participating, but never got an actual reward (the type I see all the other kids seem to be getting). So I'm thinking she is not doing very well at her challenges?!

Yesterday I was quite shocked at the number of Challenge awards that came out of her class, a mix of kids, some I know are very shy and quiet but very good readers, some are not so shy, so just a mix of kids who seemed to have done really well at their different challenges on the day. This is happening every day.

I think it's very premature to assume that she is falling behind so early in the Reception, but my gut is telling me she is not doing very well at whatever the class teacher requires on the day. I'm never able to speak to the teacher at pick up, she seems busy and not keen on chatting.

Academic focussed challenges every day doesnt sound very EYFS in november.

Is this a state school in the uk?

Even in a great school, there will be at most 5 kids in a class of 30 reading fluently at this stage, using proper phonics approaches. More often there might only be one or two, or none. Im sure your daughter is fine.

It's a state school. The challenges are usually focused on reading, counting and other maths exercises (simple additions) or other stuff they've been learning (I.e. they learned a lot about space lately). I'm actually very surprised at the amount of learning they do every day. They introduced the notion of quadrilateral a few weeks ago and they do games and challenges related to that even now. I think that's quite advanced.

She is very well behaved and compliant
So not the sort of child whose behaviour needs to be modified! Rewards are good carrots for the kids less well behaved and compliant.
Don't worry, the teachers will be well aware that your DD is doing well and are probably praising her work verbally.
Have a word with the teacher if you feel the system is actually undermining her confidence.
My DD is similar to yours, she barely got any public recognition at school but the teachers were always very warm in their praise of her.
When mine was old enough to know not to repeat this, I joked with her that good behaviour awards are for the kids this doesn't come naturally to.
Most teachers do track these awards and do ensure that everyone over the course of the year/term gets something. Reassure your DD it's not a reflection on her work and behaviour not to get a sticker. Keep trying!

I think that's fine. It sounds like she's doing well (my youngest is also in reception and while bright, I wouldn't say he's doing all you have described yet). I would assume it's much more about encouraging those who are struggling to progress and who have behavioural issues and may need the extra reinforcement. I'd just make a big deal out of her achievements yourself and give her little rewards. If she's clever and well behaved, in the long run, she'll get more positive reinforcement than others naturally, so I think this is all fine at the moment.