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.

@Return2thebasic Use the pictures to support and build the skills of 'reading between the lines." Like asking "what season might it be?" in a book that doesn't explicitly say within the text, and when child says "winter" (e.g.) ask how they know and what clues there are to tell/show them "...because it says Chip was cold... freezing cold...and Biff is wearing a scarf."

www.readingrockets.org/strategies/inference

I think there are almost two streams of numeracy that go into eyfs and early years.

There's the memory based numeracy and rote learning that we as parents teach just by virtue of existing in a world with numbers (what's that number on the lamp post, what do you think the next number will be. Oh look the houses here go up in 1s, at home they go up in 2s. Can we find a 13th birthday card for Sally. It's a 1 and a 3), and then there's the eyfs learning 1-10- number friends, number sentences, physical representations of numbers, understanding the number backwards and forward and upside down, and mathematical thinking.

So while it's ok from a school perspective that a year 1 child doesn't recognise 11-20 yet, I don't think it's right that they don't recognise the numbers consistently if you're doing the "existing in a world with numbers" style stuff at home.

In terms of read write ink, how are they staying on a single colour band for so long? There's only about 8 books per colour, are they only changing their books once book a month? My daughter is year 1 and has read 4 books in half a term. I expect her to have moved up by Feb half term at the latest.

I agree with my. My DS school is suppose to be outstanding. It was last checked 9 years ago!!! This year his book has hardly been changed. It's become apparently the don't listen to most children read unless SEN issues. They don't push children to excel. The safeguarding in the school is shocking and the head will take no accountability for anything. So yes outstanding in a school means nothing in my opinion.
Also in my experience of working in classrooms having 2 teachers is hard too. Different teaching styles, different expectations etc.

Congrats! You must be so proud. Oxford here we come!

"Also in my experience of working in classrooms having 2 teachers is hard too. Different teaching styles, different expectations etc."

Yes it's a great shame teachers are afforded the luxury of part time working isn't it.

But you know having two teachers has lots of positives. If you don't like one of them, it's not as critical as it would be if he was your only teacher. You will never have the teacher running out of steam towards the end of the week. Job shares are often able to cover for each other's absences, reducing the need for supply teachers. Part time teachers recharge on their days at home so are not as shattered as the rest of us towards the end of term. Concepts are explained in both teacher's styles, which increases the likelihood of 'getting it'. Two sets of experience and skills.

The reading Harry Potter in year 1 made me laugh. I was a precocious kid who first read lord of the rings age 9 because I wanted to read a reaaaaallyy big book. Enjoyed it much more a few years later when I re-read it and actually understood it.

OP - may be a bad year in terms of teachers? Can you do extra at home and try to get an idea of what other years are like. Always worth just looking at other schools if you want.

Thanks @OliviaFlaversham ! I think he missed out on a lot of real world exposure to numbers for a few reasons. During the pandemic DH and I both worked from home and it was fairly chaotic trying to work with a 3 year old. We live rurally so we don't encounter numbers on our walks. All the houses in our village have names not numbers! The shopping was delivered etc. We mostly focussed on our older kids during the pandemic academically as the 3 year old seemed like the lowest priority. He spent far too much time on the iPad but honestly how else we were meant to get any work done without childcare I don't know.

I don't think much of how the school are handling the year 1/2 classroom. The NQT is clearly struggling and every time I'm in there she's shouting at the kids and seems to be in a general flap. Reception was great and he made good progress and I had no concerns. This year so far he seems to have gone backwards and not forwards. Lots of parents have complained and I offered to volunteer to listen to the kids read to support the school. There isn't even a log to record which child I hear read each week. I just grab a random kids reading record reading book out of a basket and off we go.

My DBS still isn't done and I haven't done the safeguarding training....I have brought this up several times and no one seems particularly fussed. It's all very "yes must get that sorted" from the secretary.

Hmmmm I'd find this very concerning personally (not sure why PP seem to think this is fine - it's certainly not the norm at our local schools)
It might be worth getting a tutor for a few months to bring him up to speed (cheaper than moving lock stock and barrel to a private school!) and then see if it improves from Feb? If you want a recommendation feel free to DM me as good tutors, especially for this age, are hard to come by and there's A LOT of gate keeping around tutor recommendations ime.

There is no way that I could only go off an OFSTED report. I have worked in schools OFSTED deem good that I wouldn’t put my child in, and on a similar note, there are ‘good’ schools out there that are very good at what they do, but don’t mean they are a good fit for my children.

Whatever we all think of OFSTED, they are highly trained professionals who have a clear and robust code of conduct to adhere to. They are paid to make observations about a school’s effectiveness- sadly, you are not

No, but she isn’t making an observation about the schools effectiveness for the purpose of robustness and high standards amongst the teaching profession, she is making a judgement regarding her own child.

@GarlicSauce If it helps, I have a not-dissimilar dilemma, although mine isn’t imminent. I’m not keen on the local schools, and private is an option. It took quite a while to conceive our second (I am 43) and I had come round to the fact we were only going to have one, but now I’m pregnant. While we could have afforded one set of school fees without too much of a headache, two sets is a lot, and will essentially ‘eat’ my entire salary! So we shall have to give it some careful thought.

Isn't there another state school? Why private? Sounds like this class is shit but my son is in state school and did all numbers and letter in reception

You are right that outstanding doesn't guarantee a good education. Our outstanding primary was great with bright NT kids but terrible with sen. That said, there is hope that things will improve as he moves up the school.
I would be wary about going private. Apart from the cost, they tend to be quite precocious with early years learning so there will be a bigger gap between your ds and the rest of the class. They certainly won't be teaching numbers, so he could drop further behind, and it will massively dent his confidence.
If he doesn't have sen he will catch up with additional in put. You really can't say at this stage that he doesn't have sen though. Kids are different- you were lucky your first 2 naturally picked it up, but if they don't, it requires a lot of work behind the scenes by parents to keep them on track.
I would:

• get him an eye check
• get him a tutor to help him catch up
• work with him at home try to keep it fun and play based.
• l really wouldn't worry about school book bands. 90% of reading is done at home, so you are in control of this.
• put in request to school so that the teachers are rotated next year so you don't have the nqt again.

Ofsted reports can be from several years ago. If the head and a few other teachers leave or retire, the school can change very quickly.

@Gloschick has some sensible suggestions.

"My DBS still isn't done and I haven't done the safeguarding training....I have brought this up several times and no one seems particularly fussed. It's all very "yes must get that sorted" from the secretary."

Are you unsupervised 1:1 with a child, in a different room to everyone else? If so, this is very serious and I wouldn't go in until it was sorted. What if a child alleged that you hit him, swore at him?

If you are in the classroom, or maybe an adjacent break out space, or a busy corridor, it is not essential to have DBS although it should certainly be underway.

@Itstarts you're not the authority on what other people’s children will thrive on and from when it comes to reading. You just sound very very angry for very little reason. If someone’s child wants to read The Witches what’s it to do with you?

ps you can actually get some amazing kids medical books. My child could tell you all about oxygen and co2 from Adam Kay’s book.

My DBS still isn't done and I haven't done the safeguarding training....I have brought this up several times and no one seems particularly fussed. It's all very "yes must get that sorted" from the secretary.

This would worry me more tbh!

Yes, different headteacher would send the school onto completely different paths. Ours was the case. Luckily, current head is fabulous and has made the school a lot better.

I think there will be enormous variation at that age. My dd2 is in a P2/P3 composite and the teacher writes on the board at the start of each week what the different groups will be working on and the range is huge. For P2 the range would be from adding and subtracting to 10/20 up to long division with remainders!

Numberblocks is fantastic, for improving their maths at that age. It is also a great way for them to visualise the numbers.

A game like Rummikub would be great to play with him to help recognise his numbers and number order. He would need help at first though.

Hopscotch is also a fun way to teach number recognition. The moving around can also help learning.

We use our lovely local library with real proper librarians who chat to the kids about what they've liked, and then suggest the next book to try and help pick them out. They really are wonderful and I'm dreading the day the Council decides they can save money by closing the libraries.

I never really cared what colour band school had them on, they were borrowing "early reader" type books with text and lots of pics in Y1, some of them were simplified versions of longer classics.

No teacher has ever complained - in fact I've been told "just keep doing what you're doing". And btw, one of mine does have SEN.

It's been the same head for over a decade. The other 4 teachers in the school seem great but I don't think we can do 2 years of this one. The combo of a very weak NQT 3 days a week plus a rotating staff list the other two days just isn't ok for 2 years.

If maths is what is worrying you, look at Montessori. The curriculum is just amazing. Read the absorbent mind for further details.

They should be changing colours in RWI roughly each short term if making expected progress. Some get stuck for longer - particularly at yellow/blue due to fluency. Assessments should be done regularly and children taught the next sets of sounds as appropriate/given the next colour books.

Anthony Browne is great for this too!

There is a difference between being read something beyond your own reading ability and attempting to read it yourself. There are so many great chapter books to read to aloud which younger children can enjoy.

They will get so much more out of listening to these rather than trying to read them themselves when they don’t yet have the required level of fluency/prosody.

Picture books are really valuable too though as others have mentioned so I definitely wouldn’t be too quick to discard them!

Private schools are also for people who want smaller class sizes.

OP I'd be unhappy top. If you can afford private consider it but choose carefully some are fantastic and some are far from it. Some are exceptionally pushy.( especially in 11 plus areas) and some build their reputation on being kind and nurturing whilst achieving a good level of education ( DS is.in the latter kind and has at least 5 boys in his year who left the other in year 3 because they were unhappy or managed out 😥)

It's frustrating but I.think you'll have to do the basics with him at home. Don't stress, no 2 children are.the same...DD was reading fairly fluently when she went to to pre school.. she was just that sort of child. DS only really clicked towards ejd if year 1 and they both had similar input at home.

Buy some basic work books and go through them with him, let him weigh things on digital scales ( e.g I need 20g of flour and 80g of almonds) Stand at bus stops and say " Tell me when you see the 45SkAsk him how much things cost in shops etc. etc. I think some children will only care about numbers when they reflect real life rather than abstract concepts in books.