To think ofsted means nowt and year 1s should recognise numbers to 20?

[GarlicSauce]

DS3 is in yr 1 at an outstanding school. It's a job share in a mixed ages class yr1/2 with an NQT doing Monday-weds and another teacher doing Thursday/Friday. It's been a fairly disastrous year and the whole cohort seem behind. DS can't recognise any numbers past 10 consistently. I'm going to do a whole lot more with him but there's no SEN and none of the class seem to be any better. Most kids have been on the same reading books since last spring and haven't moved up. A significant number have moved down. The Thursday/Friday teacher is moving into another classroom so we will have cover teachers until Feb half term. Do we bite the bullet and pay for private? We could just about swing it. His older brothers did state until secondary and did fine but this school seems chaotic.

How do you know what the rest of the class are doing?

Yes definitely go private.

@Pumperthepumper I know because I volunteer in the classroom to listen to the kids read x2 a week. I see all of their reading records.

The book band colours are a little bit of a red herring. Because of the new DfE Reading Framework, most schools have had to ditch their existing reading schemes. The new reading schemes have different Colours so what might seem like a move down, may well not be. Also, the new focus is on reading fluency and speed as we know this helps comprehension to develop.

Re maths - in EYFS and Year 1, the focus is on gaining a ‘deep understanding’ and mastery of the foundations of maths rather just reciting numbers.

And when you say ‘they haven’t moved up’, what does that mean? How did you get access to their files to check for SEN?

How do you know what the rest of the class are doing? Surely they should learn to recognise 1-20 in reception anyway. When was the last inspection? They are infrequent for outstanding schools. The whole scenario sounds unlikely. Are you sure your son isn't behind?

Parental support is the biggest determinant of achievement, not school. Most children do well in state school. Private schools are for snobs.

Well my son in reception can do better than that and he's pretty average ability.

I think if your child can’t count to twenty in year one you may need to consider if he/she does have some additional needs, or if they need some extra help?

I mean yeah, my 2 year old can count to 20 and recognise 1-5 written.

I take your point about the school but haven't you taught him basic things like this at home?

I don't think people have read the OP quite right. He can't count just fine. He doesn't recognise the numbers as in he doesn't know what 18 is if he sees it written down. And I said my son has no SEN not the whole class. Honestly I really did think it was him who was behind but now that I'm helping in the classroom I can see he's not it's the whole class. The teacher keeps assuring me it's all fine but our older kids were much further along than DS3. This classroom seems chaotic and the multiple staff members don't seem to communicate well.

Why have you not taught your dc the numbers 1-20?

Well I’d be concerned, personally. DS is at pre-school (private) and can recognise numbers to 20. If you can afford it, I’d absolutely consider moving him.

You can’t possibly see the whole class are behind just because you go in to take reading groups occasionally!

Yes, I would do some structured work with him at home via the sorts of maths resources you can get from WHSmith plus Reading Chest, with perhaps a subscription to a maths website like mathematics or Carol Vorderman. It's not normal.

Or you could change schools. At my dc's primary the children in reception were doing written work with numbers past 10 in the first term (and it was a state school).

Even with the shittest school in the world most yr 1 kids could read numbers above 10. Do you do bits and pieces with him at home? For context in Yr 1 my son was reading Harry Potter just about

All you'll get on here OP is people picking holes and being dicks because they can. Try on one of the more parenting topics.

What was reception like and what is the head like?

I don't personally agree with private school but are there other state options if you are really unhappy?

The numbers thing is odd - I haven't consciously taught them to my kids but they've just turned 3 and can recognise to at least twenty and quite a few beyond (they often correctly read higher door numbers when we're out on a walk). They don't really have a full concept of what numbers are though which is more important. So not knowing them at that age seems surprising but not sure how significant it is.

You could look at another school if concerned. Private aren’t always better, so worth looking around. I wouldn’t be overly happy about a job share where 0.4 of it will be supply for weeks. Is it one form entry or is there another year 1 class?

Which phonics programme and books do they use? Some children do get stuck at particular colours on certain schemes as they need to develop their fluency before they can move on.

There are lots of reasons why children can get stuck in reading - perhaps many don’t read at home for instance. I would worry about your own child’s progress rather than the other children’s. You shouldn’t know too much about their progress as a volunteer and there could be all sorts of reasons why they are stuck or ‘moved down’.

He might not be able to recognise the number 18 written down but does he understand what 18 is? Can he get 18 things? If you asked how many he would have if you took 10 away or added on 2? Recognising a digit is something of a red herring. It’s what they can do with number that is important.
The new EYFS framework is focussed on working with the numbers to 10. Year 1 should be focussed on recognising a the value of numbers and manipulating them.

Reading Harry Potter is definitely not usual for a Year 1 child - just so people don’t start to worry that their child are miles behind! It’s also not usual for Y2 children!

*children

That can't be right. Are you saying that the yr2 children in the mixed class can't recognise numbers either? What have they been doing for the last two years?

I just think this is a bad example because if you wanted to, you should be able to teach him those numbers in an hour on a Saturday afternoon at his age. If you’re going to make a complaint you need better examples of areas you feel he is being failed in,

@Helpplease888 it isn't that unusual.

It is unusual for Y1 children to be reading Harry Potter. Usually read it due to pushy parents. Later books in the series are definitely not suitable for Y1 children. Most Y1 children don't get the nuances in books that are for older readers