To expect a child to read with a grown up at least a couple of times in the first term of reception?

[Benibidibici]

DC is late aug birthday so only just four on starting school. Happy there and enjoying it etc, settled in fine.

They are never heard read by any adult. Teacher has acknowledged this.

Have found out this week some kids are reading with an adult one on one three or four times a week.

I know they have to focus on the ones who need a bit of help but come the fuck on, how does a little 4 year old feel if they never get that little bit of one on one time with a grown up and others get loads? Its not just about the reading - its about that bit of attention, the teacher or TA learning who they are and how they respond. Surely they can fit in my DC once or twice a term if they can find 3 or 4 times a week for other kids. Dc hates never getting picked to go and read. :(

If they are heard reading aloud in a group regularly, I'd count that BTW, so if that's happening, no problem.

When my DC was about 8 I got an email saying my DC needed to go to learning support as he didn’t know his number bonds to 20. I was really shocked as he is a really bright DC who was a great reader.

I took him to an independent maths teacher who assessed him and told me he was actually very good at maths, just clearly hadn’t been taught properly. I then came out that the teacher thought my DC was bright, and could be left to get on with it, and their attention was needed on the other children. I went mad, but there wasn’t a lot I could do. Basically he’d been neglected big time because he was a bright student.

From that day on I lost all faith in schools. I’ve come across good teachers, but they are spread too thin.

I got my DC a maths tutor, and years later my DC is grade 9 GCSE/ grade A admaths, and A* A’level maths student.

NEVER leave your DC’s education to the governments of this country. Send them to school, but do maths and reading at home and take them out and about. YOU are their best teacher.

I’m a Reception teacher. An adult should be reading one to one with your child, I would hope at least weekly. Ask to speak to the class teacher about this and what the school policy is (may also be on the school website) If you’re not happy with her response then ask to speak to the literacy lead or the head teacher and express your concern regarding the lack of ongoing individual assessment (they can do assess reading fluency, comprehension etc in a whole class group) Children all need to be assessed/supported and it isn’t best practise to focus all this support onto those children who are struggling. If they say they don’t have enough time etc that is in my opinion not a good enough answer!
I would keep your discussion very much focused on reading assessment/progress and ‘enquire’ rather than accuse and try and get to the bottom of exactly what is happening in class.
In terms of your child feeling sad about not getting ‘picked’ support them with this to build some resilience (as it is really hard for children in schools and often things won’t seem ‘fair’) I am sure the adults are spending time with them in other ways but I do know children can feel sad not being part of interventions (and obviously hard to say you don’t need it you’re too clever without risking them repeating this)
I hope you get this resolved, it is ok to speak to school and advocate for your child. Good luck

Tried to edit but couldn't. I meant heard individually within a group, 3 pages or more daily. Those heard on top of that (3x5) are 1:1.

Agree.

No point in getting to mocks for GCSEs and being shocked at the predicted grades.

Take an active interest in your kids progress.

This doesn't mean teach them everything yourself. But keep a close eye.

The focus should be math and English.

If they can read and have good comprehension then the rest of the subjects are much easier.

The science subjects are much easier if they have a good grasp of figures.

My kid in Year one is listened to in class at least 3 times a week.

It is important- how are they supposed to decide on what books to give to the kids if no one actually sits down and listens to them read, and no one is checking their comprehension?

If I can come at this from a slightly different angle, it may be that reading happens during continuous provision ("learning jobs" or play), and the teacher knows that your son is doing well and has support at home. If his strength is reading, he may have low gross motor skills or lack coordination or social and emotional communication. Taking him out of learning those just to read with him for five minutes is actually a disadvantage to him. Also, he WILL be doing adult 1:1 or small group writing or maths as I don't know a single school where that doesn't happen. If the removal for reading happens during play, I would be surprised if he has even clocked it.

Op of course they should.
Schools should be able to do lots of things but unfortunately they can't.
I must say I think it's incredible what they a chive with small dc!
However it should be more well known that they a
Can't do much except broad education and taught in a very specific way.

I don't think parents realise how much financial pressure schools are under. Funding is incredibly tight and resources are unbelievably stretched. The school where I'm a governor has had to massively cut back on TA support because there is simply nothing else left to cut. This means that there are fewer adults in the classroom. We are fortunate because we have an army of capable and educated volunteers who come in to help - not all schools have that.

If resources are stretched, then it makes sense to focus 1:1 support on the kids that need it most, otherwise those kids will be left behind and the consequences may be lifelong. My dd was a very able reader, and simply didn't need the level of support that some of her classmates needed. Rather than being jealous of the extra attention that the other kids got, I was grateful that she didn't need it.

If you're unhappy about the level of input that your dc is getting, I think you should complain to your MP about the state of school funding right now. The government is absolutely failing our children. The vast majority of schools are doing their very best with the limited resource that they have, but they can't magic up resource from nowhere.

He could be working on phonological awareness and the building blocks of literacy and learning through Play, age 4. If children are going in small groups to read from 'reading books' at age 4 they must be at that stage, can decide and have true comprehension. Lots of 4 or 5 year olds struggle to attend to instruction and staff support them to reach milestones. Teaching literacy is a science. Unfortunately some parents are totally clueless about what 'reading' actually means and involves. Don't you have any communication from class teachers about monitoring progress, setting targets etc?

*Decode not decide.

YANBU. DD1 and DD2 were heard once a week.

Exactly. We know it's a tough time for schools and have sympathy for teachers but as parents it makes it even more important that we advocate for our children, and don't just shrug our shoulders and expect less, otherwise everyone will just keep getting less.

But formal 1:1 reading with an adult isn't the only way in which a teacher can monitor and assess a child's reading and comprehension skills.

And yes, parents should absolutely be advocating on behalf of their children, but they need to focus that advocacy on persuading their MPs to do something about school funding rather than complaining to individual schools that are very likely doing everything that they possibly can within the resources that they've got.

I’m so confused by your post. I have a barely turned 4 yr old just started reception. I have v little idea what happens in the day, let alone how often my child reads aloud one on one with the teacher compared to other children?! Other parents are in the same position. I’m just happy if I can work out if she managed to eat lunch and if she’s got some friends at school. How do you have all this detailed information about how teachers are allocating time ??
As long as your DC is happy and making progress in his reading (sounds like the latter for sure?) surely this is what matters?
are you sure you are not just creating a massive drama about nothing and this isn’t just about your ego - wanting to make out your ds is a victim because he’s oh sooo advanced at reading?

The way we run it (Y1 and 2) is that we aim to have every child heard by an adult every week.

We try to ensure that the same adult isn’t hearing the same child each week so we can compare notes on how they are progressing. That might be ‘Bob seems to be struggling to spot split digraphs - see what you think when you hear him.’ Followed the next week by ‘yes - we need to focus on that’ or ‘he was fine - clearly having a bad day!’ As different people pick up on different things this helps us to feel we are all understanding where strengths and weaknesses are.

Sometimes we don’t get round everyone- this week we had nativity rehearsals so there’s a handful not been heard. They’ll be our priorities next week.

If we hear everyone and still have time we go back to our ‘focus readers’ - those who aren’t reading at home, or who are not making the progress we think they should for some reason.

A high flyer who reads a lot at home would probably only be heard once a week. But they should be heard each week. In reception ours read at least twice a week with school staff.

Frankly, I'd just be relieved that he was doing well in phonics and ahead of others in the class. I know from experience, that those that get a good start with reading tend to get ahead faster in other areas.
I'm sure your son is getting 1:1 time with the teacher or TA at other times, and just not realising, because he associates it with reading.

Of course they can! You might not think they SHOULD but they can. I used to hear readers across 3 year 1 classes, so time for about 5 per class for the time I was there. One teacher gave me her Pupil Premium kids (she told me she was), one gave me the ones who rarely read at home, one gave me the lowest readers.

My 4yo has a reading log. We write in it when he reads at home and adults write in it when he reads to them at school. It's the one thing I do know! Although of course there will be other times he reads something in front of them e.g. reads a sentence he wrote, reads a classroom sign.

Things may have changed but when my DC were in infant/primary school they followed Biff and Chip books and progressed up through the colours.

How can any child progress up the levels if no one listens to them and facilitates their progress? Then the child usually has a note in their reading book saying “great reading” or something with the page they’re at.

Honestly, I’d get my own books. This is what I did. I sent my own in with a bookmark and they read these at school and I wrote in the book what page they were up to. No one ever questioned it and if they did I would have got cross, as my DC read better books than the drivel they got from the school library, usually about some hedgehog from the 70’s. Also, there is only so much Chip & Biff they can take.

It sounds like the other parents know because their children's reading diaries are regularly written in by the person they read to. And OP's child's reading diary is blank except for OP's own entries.

I know my 4 year old has only read to someone once, because that's all that's in the reading diary. I've basically given up with thinking the school will help with her reading. She's had the same reading book for weeks (which she's now memorised and I've written this multiple times in her diary) and they don't hear her read.

Op shouldn't have to do any volunteering to make sure their kid is getting a good education.

And how long are some of these lunch breaks that people have time to go into schools and listen to children read?

Of course she shouldn't have to volunteer. Lots of jobs would not offer the kind of flexibility that would allow volunteering during school hours. The point is not that she should have to volunteer, but rather that many schools lack sufficient resource and therefore have to rely on parent volunteers to be able to offer the level of 1:1 attention that the OP seems to want. And if the school doesn't have a lot of volunteers, then there will be an impact. That's not necessarily the school's fault, the issue is with the lack of funding from central government.

As for volunteering during a lunchtime, lots of workplaces would be happy to allow a longer lunchtime to facilitate this... the hours just get made up flexibly by starting earlier/ finishing later etc. There is nothing very unusual about this.

@YouAreMyCentreWhenISpinAway 100% agree

I've discovered children who were "behind" in Maths at primary school.

I then told their parents who put in appropriate measures. Some now have degrees in scientific/numerical subjects.

Both myself and my DP are keeping a close eye on our DD. Though the school she is in seems to be teaching her well.

In my school we wouldn’t do 1-1 readers in reception, especially in the first term.

We would do whole class and small groups of phonics and then small groups guided group reading.

It’s not about getting the “attention” of the teachers. There isn’t enough time for 1-1 reading with the teacher in schools today unfortunately, children needing extra help will read with the TA and everyone else will read in groups.