School reports results came as a surprise

[Mumisconfused]

AIBU to be upset the teacher didn't provide enough feedback at parents meeting, around Easter time, and now the report for DC, who just finished YR1, mentions 'working towards expected' in all areas? We were not aware of this!

We did ask her specifically to let us know if there was areas dc needed more support back in April, and she said dc needs to work in the presentation of his work (which is true). But she only mentioned that! She said maths and reading was fine.... in the phonics test dc got 36/40 words, which I think it's very good. DC reads long sentences and has a good understanding of what dc has just read...

I understand dc's concentration is not great, and we also asked the teacher since the beggining of yr1 if she thinks dc's concentration is as expected for a 5/6 years old, and she didn't really noticed anything. DH thinks she doesn't pay much attention on him because he is very well behaved and she's too busy dealing with not so well behaved kids.... I am starting to think he is right.

How can she have not flagged this to us, when we asked in April? She removed the chance of us giving him extra support at home....

move forward, over the summer break work on SPAG and maths.
lots of coloring cutting playdough and some writing, continue with the reading.
as you know it shouldn't have been a surprise but there is little that can be done about that at this point.

Yes I agree with this, and I don’t know why people are being so critical of the OP. You should have a really good idea what the report will say, if you’ve been to parents evenings during the year, so for it to come as a shock means something has gone awry with the communication home.

They are a child not a robot no child is good at everything and maybe step back and breathe your child is not an extension on you and what ypu have decided for them, yes children should try their best and get help if it is needed but it comes across as you getting a little hysterical over it

I think I understand you, @Mumisconfused. You don’t feel as if you and DS’s teacher have been working as a team. I would be disappointed, too.

I would start by trying to meet next year’s teacher to try to establish a teamwork relationship.

You sound like you're very well placed to support your kid at home and you seem happy with what you see him do.

Your husband is probably right, he's probably just keeping his head down at school and the teacher hasn't got a full picture of his abilities. Don't get me wrong, that's poor from her...but unless there are serious issues to address, it's a year 1 report...it doesn't mean anything!

Keep it to embarrass them with at their wedding!

No. The ability of other children in the class has no bearing at all on whether a child is judged to be working at the expected level for their age.

OP, you need to ask for an urgent meeting with the teacher. If his phonics and reading are as good as you say, I don’t understand how he can be "working towards". You need to ask her to explain.

Are you reading with him at home, OP? If you want your child to make progress in school, ideally you should be spending a minimum of 30 minutes a day reading with him as that will help him make the most progress. Make sure that the books he is reading are challenging too and helping to develop his vocabulary.

I would not be happy about this.

Schools are required to communicate progress once per term, if he was working below age related expectations that should have been made crystal clear last term at the latest and they should have been flagging what interventions they were doing.

That said, if he is reading chapter books fluently and passed the phonics check I am very surprised he didn't come in ok for reading. I would ask to see the teacher. They use software to write reports now, is it possible a mistake has been made?

If you want your child to make progress in school, ideally you should be spending a minimum of 30 minutes a day reading with him as that will help him make the most progress.

This is rubbish. 10 mins is fine for a 5-6. Little and often is more effective than a long session that is off putting. Both mine were GD for reading and we never once pushed 30 mins reading at home until they were old enough to choose to.

They teacher is marked against the highest achievers and lowest ability - middles get missed.

I'd argue the opposite. Current educational approach is based on levelling, which means a curriculum pitched at the middle and a closing the gap between lower attainers and that bulk of the class. It's widely acknowledged that higher attainers aren't served especially well by it.

I’m wondering if the teacher selected the wrong option from the drop down menu for the working towards/ meeting expectations? His reading sounds like it is going well, struggling to see how he isn't meeting expectations there. What book band/ book scheme is he on?

Maybe he has made good progress from his starting point but that is still a bit behind the top achievers in his class. Half the class will likely be below.

That's good there is an opportunity to discuss it next week, I would definitely attend. Rather than being confrontational make sure you use the school based evidence rather than 'at home he can do xyz' because maybe at school they don't do this. The phonics assessment is a good starting point for reading. I would be asking what phonics group they are in (you might already know that) and query which group would have been expected for year 1 (as this is where it does sound like he is working at year 1 standards).
Many schools start sending home school books at the end of term so that will also allow you to see what his work in school looks like and topics covered. If you see lots of corrections then this would indicate that they have had help to fix their work so not at that level maybe. My children's school use green pen so you can spot this.

That’s not how it works.

Maybe he has made good progress from his starting point but that is still a bit behind the top achievers in his class. Half the class will likely be below.

No - these are age related expectations intended to be what most kids without learning difficulties can achieve. It would be unusual to half the class to be below. In lots of schools it might only be 10-20% of the class.

It sounds like you had either a below par teacher or an overworked teacher with a lot of challenging behaviour so your child got missed. I’d expect there to be some communication for a child working towards age related. Over summer I would practice what they have been working on in maths, writing and phonics. Hopefully you will get a better teacher next year and you know now to push for information.

I homeschooled my eldest in lockdowns in year r and then year 1. It was awful but it did show me that we needed to be far more invested at home. We had been doing reading and the things they suggest to teach numbers but that experience made me realize we needed to be checking learning of the curriculum weekly. We bought the cpg books and started working through to ensure she had a good grounding in what she needed.

Also school books are useless for reading. Buy buff chip and kipper series and read one a day with your ds. If he's keen and grasping phonics then if he was my ds Id have wanted him to have finished the bands by yr 1.

I knew someone would eventually post something ridiculous like this.

He’s in year 1. I’m sure he’s doing absolutely fine. Relax.

You sound like you were expecting the teacher to know at the start of y1 that your child wouldn’t reach ARE. The assessment isn’t done until the end of the year so the information wasn’t there to give you.

You were aware that you child needed help with attention and presentation so it’s not like you were told nothing, and I don’t see how you’ve drawn the conclusion that your child was forgotten about. Without knowing you and your husband, obviously I can’t tell, but it’s not uncommon for parents to blame teachers where they realise their child doesn’t have the natural high ability they want them to have.

If your child had been forgotten about, they wouldn’t have done so well in their phonics screening or be reading as well as you say.

If your child is younger in the year, this could affect things too.

While I agree that nothing in the report should come as a surprise, the level of surprise experienced by parents is influenced by their understanding of assessment and reporting and their perception or expectation of their child’s ability.

Some of the replies are very rude. It is appropriate for the parent of a 6yo to want to support him and understand the best way to do this.

With what you have said about the reading, it sounds strange he hasn't achieved the expected standard. I would go to the meeting and explore why that is. Hopefully you will either come away knowing why or knowing it is probably an oversight and you don't need to worry too much. It may be in a busy class, the teacher hasn't observed things, although she has the phonics check and his book band to consider.

I have 2 DCs. My eldest was super confident but my youngest is a bit less so. At the start of year 1 his teacher was a bit puzzled as she said he speaks well using a good range of vocabulary but doesn't know what many of the words mean when she asks him. We were fairly sure he often did know, or at least had some idea, but was worried about getting it wrong or simply didn't want the attention. His teacher has been great and he has grown in confidence and will now answer questions. In contrast, he was a bit wary of his Reception teacher and so I don't think she ever saw the boy we saw at home. We read his Reception report as a picture of his school presentation influenced by confidence in that setting.

Sounds like poor communication, I was aware of one of our children being a little behind from the teacher at parents evening, she then pulled me to one side to explain that he was emerging rather then expected in his report.
Im fully aware as a parent that there are things he struggles with but he’s only just 5 so not worried.
One of my eldest children had a new teacher for one year and I was totally blindsided by his report that year, behind in lots of things and I was told he wouldn’t catch up before leaving primary school……
Previous reports and parents evening had put him at expected for most things. We got extra tutoring for him, his next report from a teacher the following year said he was ahead or expected in all areas bar one and now he’s in secondary, he’s in the top 1/3 of his year group.
I wouldn’t panic keep an eye on the early part of next year and ask his new teacher after he’s settled if he seems to be struggling with anything.
I never got to the bottom of our one off emerging report and put it down to something going awry that school year with their assessments etc

“Working towards” in all areas is NOT “normal, doing fine” though is it? Normal would be “meeting expectations”. You might be “working towards” in one or two areas, but not across the board.

“Working towards” in all areas would trigger an intervention and SEN assessment in DS’s school (which is a London state school with 40% FSM, not a leafy suburb).

I can see where you're coming from.

I would expect the teacher at parents evening to indicate whether a child is at ARE or working towards etc.

So either she/he didnt comment on it at parents evening, or they did or at least gave you the impression your dc was on track to be at the expected level, and they've had a drop since then.

I would ask:

• has something changed since parents evening since you weren't aware then this was the level
• what the school's plan

In my experience, it's actually not a bad thing as in my dc's school my child working below then got lots of interventions, small group work etc which has been great and she's now up to ARE in year 5.

The quiet kids get forgotten….. local primary literally forgot my son in a swimming pool (and didn’t think it was a big issue).
We went private after that, and its worth every penny although we strictly speaking can’t afford it.