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.

Have you considered, you know, teaching him basic stuff like that yourself? Like most of us do before our children get to school, even if they do have SEN

this. Harry potter is not suitable fir ks1.

With respect to Ofsted when was it judged outstanding? Many 'outstanding' schools haven't been inspected for years though Ofsted have started to inspect them

Look for another school. Ousted outstanding is meaningless unless it’s been in the last few years.

@PollyEsther Do you feel better making me feel worse? I did mention I'm going to start doing a lot more with him. That's not what my OP is about. I'm asking about the school. If we presume parents cover the "basics" then what does that include? I didn't put this much into my older ones the school did it. I did the homework and the reading books with them and all was fine. This time around it's not at all fine and I'm trying to sort it out. If you're here just to stick the boot in please fuck off. Im worried about my kid and the school I've chosen. I'm trying to figure out what next. I don't need him to read Harry Potter at 5 but I do think he should recognise the numbers on his advent calendar!

Many children reaching expected standard at the end of y2 wouldn’t cope with Harry Potter, so no, it is not the norm for a Year 1 child to be able to decode it all properly and with sufficient fluency.

I’d move him. DS1 goes to an outstanding grammar school which doesn’t seem to want to teach them (a lot of the children just have tutors).

our two other private secondary schools have such better teaching.

There are pressures in schools at the moment and strikes threatening.

The School Run is a good website for telling you the basic expectations for each year - www.theschoolrun.com/year-1-maths-what-your-child-learns
You can also just Google for end of year x expectations. Year 1 is where they are expected to learn to recognise numbers 1-20, and read and write the words, so it isn’t a total disaster yet. Although a mixed year 1 / 2 class is odd to me and I expect difficult to work in. I would start doing some work at home with him and continue to watch for now. What is the rest of the school like, presumably you were happy about them?

Under the new Early Years Foundation Stage requirements, the expectation is that children will work with numbers 1 to 10, but in depth eg count forwards and backwards, know all the pairs of numbers that make 10, know simple addition and subtraction within 10, know which number is bigger than or smaller than other numbers etc.

This thorough understanding of number is then built on in year 1.

My Y2 child could read Harry Potter, as in could read the words, but absolutely no way could he understand the story, forget it.

There are some nice age appropriate maths "workbooks" you can buy for fairly cheap online or in shops. I used the GALT one which has brightly coloured pages and stars to motivate.

I would say it is unusual not to know 1-20 in year 1. DD (age 5) certainly knows this although may need some prompting to write the numbers correctly.

I would also get some reading books from the library and make sure he reads to you every other night.

I wouldn't overly panic at this point, just put in some more work at home and keep an eye on things.

I have to keep reminding myself if this as I was reading The Famous Five at 5 and didn't realise that was odd until I was older

I didn’t know that. Good grief, it’s ridiculous how much pressure is being put on pre schoolers.

Is the NQT definitely part time? That would be unusual as it would taken longer to complete their probation. More likely they are full time but get the statutory day a fortnight ppa, and a day a week nqt time. Which is not really a job share as such, the class are entirely the NQTs.
Honestly I think most schools are pressured into being too formal in year 1, and if your child is happy and you know from your other children that other teachers in the school are good, I'd just support him at home and not worry! Things like number sense and subitising (recognising numbers of objects in groups without counting) are more important for their mathematical development than recognising digits.

I would be worried about the school yes, but I would also be worried about DS if he couldnt recognise number 1 - 20 before he even started school. Not trying to make you feel bad at all but I'd say it's quite unusual not to know this before yr 1

@Bemyclementine not all children will recognise numbers before starting YR

Ignore the pps posting on what's 'usual' based on their experience of their own child- honestly hoping the children of these posters develop better reasoning skills they they have!

Some schools have part-time ECTs, normally where there was a part-time vacancy and ECT filled that vacancy as no other teachers applied

Op I would definitely move him but as others have said surely he's been exposed to 1 to 20 already and would know that?

@toomuchlaundry no, not all but plenty will. It was something my DC were doing at pre school. Bog standard non private pre school..

Only on MN are 5 year olds reading Harry Potter!
OP my DD is in Y1, they did exams last week to see where they're at, has there been any mention of anything like this at your school?

Yes but I'd guess that they would offer the one extra day if the other staff member left ?

Just seemed a possibility that the OP hasn't realised but the ect is in fact in there every other Thursday?

Lots of misinformation here. NQTs don’t exist, it’s ECTs now. Mixed year one and two is normal in many schools with a small PAN. Not ideal but the six closest primaries to where we live do this. The whole thing sounds chaotic and badly managed. I’d be looking to move.

DS is 3 and can recognise his numbers up to 100 although he sometimes gets confused by calling 28 "eighty-two" for example. He is absolutely number obsessed but I didn't think it was abnormal so I'd be shocked to meet a Y1 who couldn't recognise numbers up to 20.

I used to be a teacher (but in secondary) and yes, Ofsted is utter rubbish and waffle. They're very good at assessing what they assess - but what they assess is absolute voodoo bullshit tripe that has no actual indication on whether or not students are actually getting a decent education. I can't express how much taxpayer's money is wasted on highly qualified and experienced teachers having to try to shoehorn how to actually teach effectively into ways that Ofsted think are good practice (because Ofsted have absolutely no idea).

From a practical standpoint, my DS loves Numberblocks (on BBC iPlayer) and it's actually bearable for a kid's show (fuck off Peppa) so try that with yours and see if it helps?

Many NQTs were part-time from my cohort (non-primary). Everyone who did a part-time PGCE did a part-time NQT too. I don't know anyone who actually cared about their year taking longer - it doesn't make any difference, just a piece of paper being signed a bit later.