What age would you put this child at?

[Cbeebiesisdifferentonasaturday]

For writing etc? Any teachers to give feedback would also be very helpful 🙏

4

...but it depends whether they were supported in any way

Yes and this “ soft” learning can be very valuable in providing a base for when they do commence on formal skills.

Definitely. I'd say it's vital.

I haven’t read the bloody thread.

Just remember that many other languages take much less time to learn to read than English. Where we lived, the children learn in about 3 months aged 7 (having put the groundwork in first). The language is almost entirely phonetic so once you know what sound a letter makes, you’re 75% of the way there.

Somehow this reading knowledge transfers to English so you won’t need to teach that separately. It’s like magic!

We are a family who are naturally good at spelling (not a boast, it’s like the opposite of dyslexia) so I don’t know how that side of things would unpack but for the rest I’d say relax and enjoy. Don’t judge your child’s progress by how UK kids learn to read because they are doing things entirely differently. English is a real bugger to learn as a native speaker in that respect.

Actually jigsaws are apparently brilliant at developing pattern recognition and problem solving!

Yes, but he was already excelling at that. My point was that you often can't change their interests even when it means other development is delayed. DN was an early reader, self-taught at three. You couldn't keep him away from books when they were his main interest. No pushing or hothousing was involved.

No it’s hard for parents in that respect. But schools have more scope to influence a syllabus. The problem is there is a system that front loads these skills right from the beginning ( age 4 for most) and that in turn creates a culture where parents - meaning well - try to hothouse tiny children . Some children are hothoused beyond their natural proclivity.

Some children are hothoused beyond their natural proclivity.

I don't disagree. Though, the common assumption that a child has been hothoused when it is just natural ability or a special interest of the child is tiresome.

Between 3 & 8 based on handwriting and content.
My 16 year olds handwriting isn't much better but he wouldn't write about mummy or doggyland.
Why does this matter to you? Are you worried about development?

Yes and this “ soft” learning can be very valuable in providing a base for when they do commence on formal skills.

Have you actually set foot in a typical British reception classroom? Its very, very play based. A lot of the writing that happens is child led (some little ones, girls in particular, love to produce letters and cards to friends, write "stories", shopping lists etc as part role play). Teacher led phonics direct input is short & includes word games & engaging activities. "Maths" happens primarily through play. Huge amounts of time is spent on creative activities. My experience has been that those not quite ready with phonics aren't pushed much at all and the focus is on activities to prepare good foundations - the phonics check isn't until the end of year1.

I think a lot of the people who whinge most about british early years education have no idea how much its changed.

Though, the common assumption that a child has been hothoused when it is just natural ability or a special interest of the child is tiresome.

This. As is the constant presentation of reading as a dull activity to be tolerated, when many view it as an incredibly enjoyable pastime & are eager to learn.

I think you need to be clear about what age you are talking about. DC started reading Biff books with me at around 4 - 5 while at the same time we had a ton of young children books which I had mostly read to DC. The Biff books at this stage gave a really good grounding in relation to grammar and punctuation - the absolute best grounding by some considerable distance. So it wasn't one or t'other. By the time DC started reading the time chronicles and other books they were also reading books such as Narnia, DK for kids in a whole range of areas, Tintin, Asterix etc etc etc - so a wide range of things. And as years have gone by reading habits have further widened. But the biff and oxford tree books have been amazing in relation to grammar, punctuation etc all the way through plus the stories in time chronicles matched up with other things they were reading in DK books.

In relation to other reading material, bear in mind that most of the stuff aimed at young kids nowadays is adrenalin and hook fuelled dramas which are not great for bog standard grammar punctuation or getting a comprehensive grounding whereas biff etc are Even the re-writes of biff etc are a bit bonkers. And by final year in primary nowadays, half the kids are reading oversexualised manga or not reading at all and just playing violent video games. I think biff and chip to be preferable over that.

I saw a reference to it on the UK literacy trust's website - I think it was an oecd report, 2019 (or 2016?) - if you can't find let me know and I will try to find it again. (ie this was to do with 55-65 vs school leavers levels of literacy, I assume that is what you meant!)

I have primary aged dc so no, not out of date and this simply has not been true of their schools. Perhaps we’ve made bad choices 🥺

4 or 5

@Longma As I said in my second post, I was volunteering in my daughter's reception class twice a week from the beginning of the autumn term when she started school and knew all the children in her class. She was by no means the only four year old who was writing like the sample the OP posted, or better. There were also children who couldn't even hold a pencil correctly when they started school, and who didn't know the alphabet, and obviously all children are very different. My daughter was always desperately keen to learn how to read and write at a very young age and she really enjoyed the time we spent reading and writing before she started school. She also loved maths and knew the easier times tables when she started Reception and could do very basic addition and subtraction . Again, other children in her class were the same, whilst others had no understanding of maths at all.

I've worked in a number of schools over the last 20 years and have regularly seen writing of the standard in the first post from Reception children, and it's clear from many of the other posts on this thread that other people have seen the same.

I go in lots of schools. While many have a play based reception there's still lots of work on phonics and the formal learning leaps up in year 1 while many European counterparts would still be play based.

English is possibly the language least amenable to straightforward phonic attack. The correspondence of letter and sound isn't uniform. Vowels present difficulties. There are iirc 220 words that constitute 75% of the vocabulary in typical literature aimed at children up to age 8 that are exceptions to most rules. (E.g. two, to, too, said, says, a, the...).

Yes the exceptions to the “rules “ are so numerous as to border on comical.

Totally agree @mathanxiety although years ago I remember a poster on here who would always pop on similar threads to insist that English is actually totally phonetic, you just have to learn all the sounds!

We have a mixed year 1 and 2 class which is much more formal though we do obviously cater for the year 1s in terms of what is expected from them, they are taught all subjects apart from maths and English and phonics together. I wouldn’t send my child to this setup.

Why wouldn't you send them? DS was in the lower half of a mixed age class in years 2 to 4 and thrived. He preferred it to his first two years of school.

My 4 year old in reception can write more neatly than that but she wouldn't be able to write something so easily read or spelled correctly. She is one of the better ones in her class. Lots of them are 5.5 in her class and write worse than your picture. I think that picture looks fine for a 5.5 year old. I doubt there are many 3 year olds who can write that well - more likely people mis remembering!