To be apprehensive about this school

[CoconutSky]

DD starts reception tomorrow. It’s a class of 60 split with 2 teachers and 1 TA
The ofsted report is good however there are serious issues with a high % of children being unable to read properly by the time they hit KS2
That isn’t my only concern. In the hand book I read the Reception class visited the library once a week, there are weekly walks to a local park to observe nature which has turned out to be untrue
The school itself is unappealing and dirty looking, the toys are battered, sparse and mismatched, the floor is filthy, there is nothing educational on the walls, all the blinds are broken, the carpet which they sit on in a morning is heavily stained and what toys and learning resources there are, are utterly shit.
She isn’t 5 til Nov but I need her in school as she is completely ready. I have left it way to late but was somewhat shoehorned into sending her here for ease of pickup

I have got her uniform and book bag ready and I’m just feeling sick with it. I don’t want my child going here at all.

Anyone?

Yes I supported my daughter reading rather than teach. I am not a teacher by anybody’s stretch of the imagination.

It sounds dire but you need to be practical.

She can spend months or a year there while you find her a place elsewhere.

Children across Europe don't formally read and write until they are 7 so she will cope with it for now. The class size is awful ...4 year olds need a huge amount of individual attention so there will be a lot if ignored needs

You just need to get really really focused in finding out where rhe spare places are within a few miles of you.

Teaching to read is not the same as reading with. Teaching phonics is a professional skill. It is absolutely NOT a parents job to do that, though I completely agree they should support and read with as much as possible. What state are we in where we can't even expect our education system to do the most basic, underpinning everything skill.

You need to do phonics with your child in reception (and beyond) to support their learning to read.

When listening to them read you need to help them sound out correctly, and definitely not to guess from the first letter or the pictures.

That is separate to general you reading to them.

That’s supporting what they are doing in school which is all well and good, but it isn’t actually putting the responsibility of teaching them to read on me, which makes me 😱

I think learning to read, and school in general, is a partnership between school and home.
School may introduce the sounds first, but if you don't support and practice at home progress will be a lot slower.

Hi op - I taught my sons myself using flash cards with the sight words (the first hundred words make up 50 percent of all words in primary) then used phonics and the Teach Your Monster to Read app

it’s an amazing app. You sound like a brilliant mum so your child will do brilliantly. The filth of the school is a digust!

These days teachers & TAs in reception don't even listen to most children read individually unless they are struggling a lot. My children read only twice with an adult in a full year of reception & it was not a teacher or TA, it was a parent helper. There is a total reliance on parents doing the bulk of the reading teaching - the teachers introduce the sounds in phonics sessions, but parents do all the legwork with regular reading at home, hearing the child sound out & blend and correcting. Our school sent links to videos and did a training session on the phonic scheme.

The best readers are the ones with parents who do a lot at home.

You can't put your child on waiting lists for other schools without first making an application and being refused. Do this through your LA.

Oh and i did more in teaching eldest phonics before school than he learned from the teacher in a full year of reception & its a good school.

Phonics isn't especially difficult to teach one on one. there are loads of great resources & materials online. The hard bit of teaching is dealing with 30 kids at once.

It makes me so sad to read this. You are right to be concerned.
What I would say, though, is that tomorrow is a really big day for your DD and it is important that she settles in. Therefore, try to hide your worries from your DD and I wouldn't mention that she's likely to move schools as, if you do, she might not engage in the same way.
Also, to pick up on some of your points:

• my DC were in a free flow set up. It worked well for them. They did have technical classes at either end of this big room which was sort of divided by book shelves and both of them made friends across the classes. DC2's favourite activities and people were in the "other" class.
• when they talk about about a library visit, they probably don't mean the public library in town but the school library. In my experience, schools are really keen to encourage reading and will make going to the library part of their routine so that children get to experience a range of books. Organising a trip to the local library is quite an undertaking by the time you have roped in parent volunteers and I doubt they'd do any external trips this term anyway as they want to get to know the children
• Forest school probably will happen as it has so many benefits. Again, it is unlikely to happen in the first few weeks as they want to get to know the children first. It is also massively time consuming as getting the children out of their uniform and into their forest school clothes can take children of that age an eternity. Even if they are in their own clothes rather than uniform, they might have to change footwear or put waterproofs on.
• dirty carpet tiles and things are just life in Reception. When DC2 started, they had re-furnished the classroom over the summer. By October half term, it needed doing again! Life in reception includes children wetting themselves, vomiting, dropping a pot of paint, rolling play doh into the floor.

As others have said, go on waitlists for other schools, do everything you can at home to encourage your DD's love of learning and see how it goes. Good teachers, a caring environment and a nice bunch of kids are vital at this age. You'll also begin to understand the demographic more once your DD is there and better understand the writing statistics. Is it not well taught - in which case anything they say about a new scheme would be interesting - or do they have a high number of children who speak English as a second language for example? If they do, are they children who were born in this country and so have been speaking English at nursery even if not at home for years. Or did they recently arrive in the country and have never spoken English. What are the SEN levels like? That can have a massive impact on stats. It can also be an advantage of having the free flow classes as it is easier to group by ability for phonics and things so your DD is more likely to be in a group with children of a more similar ability to you.

When do you actually do it? I’m still a year off this so I may well be off in my expectations but I know getting DS to do much after nursery is difficult; he’s too tired and just wants to play independently or (more usual) watch TV.

Sorry ok legally I meant! Clearly not ok from a learning point of view

Wasn’t trying to be pedantic 😀

Sorry OP, I just want to clarify that you mean she is turning 5 in Nov 2024 or nov 2025?

Well it doesn’t sound great but at the moment you don’t have any other option but to get on waiting lists for other schools-
IME there is quite a lot of movement of kids in and out of the area in the first few years of primary. You will get offered an alternative at some point .

Because if she is only turning 5 in nov 2025 I would absolutely not send her to school. You might think she is beyond ready but research shows ut that they're usually not. As a pediatric OT I can tell you I see this daily. The kids are maybe bright and love to learn and then parents want to put them in school a year early. But they are not emotionally ready. They have had a full year less of emotional and social development than their peers. you are also depriving them of a full year of play, that is 1.) very necessary for their development and 2.) they will never get it back.
Beside the developmental part, she school is clearly horrible. Keep her out and try for a better school next year.
If she turns 5 in 2 months time, obv disregard

She must be turning 5 in Nov 24 to be starting Reception. At least if they are in England that is.

All you can do is get her on the waiting lists and move her when a place comes up.

My son was at a very problematic school and could not read anything by mid-year 1. I moved him and within 4 months he was reading at a level exceeding his class and got full marks on the KS1 phonics screening. They have ability to close the gap really fast. He moved from a class of 1:16 to 1:26 class so size isn’t an issue in a well functioning school.

1:30 is the legal norm now here. I will say that all primary schools are constantly fundraising.

Just for comparison, my df who was at school in the 50s was at a grammar school in Yorkshire at the time, with 45 in his class. He still managed to get to Balliol.

The OP clearly says ‘She isn’t 5 til Nov.’

There is literally nothing whatsoever indicating she’s sending her a year early. I’m not being awkward, I just genuinely don’t know where you’ve got the impression the OP is sending a three year old to school.

Some schools don’t pity displays up until children are back so they can be part of that process. I think see how it goes but look at other options. You’ll need to be added to waiting lists by the LA

Just hoping there is an easy solution for OP. But you're probably right, she is already 4 :)

Research shows it’s the parenting that matters far more than the school in the lower years and that this reverses by secondary. As long as your child is safe (physically and emotionally), you can make up the educational shortfall at home. Maybe with a tutor in time if necessary.

Yes, I was exactly the same. School taught DC their phonics and basic sounds, and we read regularly at home to cement their learning. The same as we later did with timetables and manage other things. We certainly didn't teach them.