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....

I don’t think any school report - especially if negative or not meeting expectations should be a shock when read. So I think this should have been flagged to the parents months ago, it shouldn’t be a surprise on report day.

Had it been flagged at Christmas the parents could opt to do more at home, get a tutor (yes he is very young but it’s the parents choice - they may think 1 hour of maths tuition a week is well worth it), use daily maths apps, books etc.

Op next year I’d be asking for regular monthly catch up meetings to make sure I dont get a surprise report.You may find you are then kept up to date.

Op get work books or an app like doodle maths /english and complete the entire year one syllabus again over summer. Then look at getting the year 2 books.

Some of these comments are bizarre! OP, you don't sound unhinged at all, you sound like a caring and supportive parent who wants to help their child. As a former primary school teacher, the fact that this is the first time school have communicated this to you is very poor indeed. As several other posters have said, nothing in an end of year report should ever come as a surprise. It's good that you can speak with them next week - I would definitely ask them to give you their exact reasoning for working towards, especially in reading given the phonics score. I wouldn't be surprised if they backtrack!

The good news is that you have the summer to support your DS, and a lot can be achieved over 6 weeks should you wish 😊 Most children regress by half a term over the summer, so catching up in any weaker areas is entirely possible, especially as it doesn't even sound like he is particularly struggling anyway (despite the levels in the report). I used the Doodle app with both of my two for maths and they always found it really fun and I liked the structure.of it following the curriculum.

If it helps, my son (now just finished year 11 at a top grammar school and predicted fantastic grades), got a similarly surprising report in year 3. When I challenged his teachers they were unable to give me any real reasons - basically he was a quiet, hard working and well behaved kid with awful handwriting (now requires a laptop as his handwriting is caused by medical issues that hadn't been discovered back then) and they just never bothered to look past his handwriting and assumed he was behind in all areas just because he was behind in one.

I would be upset too, OP. I would also query it, given that he passed his phonics test by some margin - that indicates that he is working at the expected level in phonics if nothing else.

I can only imagine that PP who are so critical don't understand the current system, because working towards would mean that he is NOT doing ok. The school should have communicated that to you before now. Also, it's not a class ranking system and the levels of ability in the rest of the class should have no bearing on your DC's levels.

Off topic slightly but can anyone give ideas of English games or extra English resources for this age group. My DD is also working towards in 2 areas but the English is my concern. She’s autistic in a mainstream school and her speech is still delayed though much more improved so that was expected.
She had 32/40 in the phonics screening so just scaled through but as her concentration is not there, we knew she would have messed about that day.
If your child is not ND, then there should have been indications and I’ll ask the school.
Can anyone give an idea of English and writing games and resources you use for 6 and 7 year olds

He’s not doing fine, according to the teacher. He’s working below expected. He needs extra support and the OP is understandably dismayed that this info wasn’t communicated at parents’ eve.

This is definitely true. Everytime I picked him up from school, she looked upset and exhausted. The children said one day she was having a hard time with a pair of challenging children and said "I can't do this" and walked out of the classroom. The headteacher had to cover the rest of the day... she gives the impression she is struggling a d next academic year, she will be teaching ks2 instead.
I honestly think she didn't have a great time teaching this year, and it has impacted the communication home. 😕

Hi, I don't have a particular suggestion for activities/games but I would suggest looking into subscribing 'Twinkl'. They are a great resources platform used by many many schools.

Christ it's Y1. Calm down.

I didn't realise people were this intense so early in school.

Handwriting naturally changes enormously as they learn.

Surely the best thing to do is just carry on reading together, having fun with numbers and helping your child learn about the world.

Making it intense at this stage is a sure fire way to put them off learning.

Your child is making progress as expected and it's never a linear path. Some take a bit longer with the basics then fly. Some grasp things earlier but then progress more slowly.

It's worth keeping an eye on (and you already sound very engaged) but not worth creating stress for all of you.

I had exactly the same with ds in year 1. Parents evening was good, quick chats at the end of the day all good but report was a child that was way behind and seemed like she disliked him. Also given on the last day of term so no chance to come back on it, ask more questions.

I decided to give his new teacher a fresh start with him and we have just had his year 2 report and it’s all good.

If you're confident he is doing well I wouldn't worry. My son’s y1 report was like this. Year 2 all on or exceeding.
I blieve a few years later the school were doing it on purpose to inprove their progress scores for reporting.
Nothing to do with my child’s performance or progress between yr/1 - 2

Am I missing something? Name change fail?

Mumisconfused was replying to Freshstart25 who asked for activity advice I presume.

@Mumisconfused

"In the past we had to tell the teacher the books he was bringing home were too easy and not challenging him. She seemed surprised. We insisted to send a level up home, which she did.... since then he has gone up 2 more levels in reading. If we haven't pointed it to her, she would have not noticed his improvement"

I suppose they can only comment on what they see in the classroom and how well they perform on particular assessment on the day. My DC is an avid reader at home and I'm surprised by the words he's able to decode and read. He loves science and non fiction books so picks up a lot and asks loads of questions. Teacher describes him along the lines of "beginning to recognise simple words" despite at home being able to work out the word "schizophrenia" from one of my postgrad study books. At school, he struggles with the "Pat the cat sat on a mat" type reading assessments because the stories are boring for him so he rushes through and mistakes are interpreted as lack of understanding. I had him independently assessed and his reading is good for his age as I thought.

Keep encouraging DC at home. The good news is that the teacher is saying that they don't see any reason for concern which is a positive and will hopefully mean things will be easier for him going forward.

Reading isn’t just about the physics of actually reading but the breadth of reading.
Your DC might be able to read the words/sentences but it’s about understanding and being able to relay the emotions and concepts back to someone.

However, I wouldn’t worry so much about everything - just mentioned to his new Yr2 teacher in September and ask that they monitor certain aspects you’re worried about.
And remember, of all the kids all around the world, the UK starts formal school much earlier than a lot of them.
Finland for example have an excellent education system and they don’t start formal schooling until age 7.

With reference to your presentation concerns, don’t worry over summer - just do lots of fine motor skills activities with him to improve his pencil grip and hand/eye coordination. So using scisssors to cut up paper shapes, playing imaginative play with small figures, threading etc.
That’s going to help much more than blasting him all summer and putting him off reading/learning.

My son was at the same level in year 1. We weren't used to it because DD did so well at the same age. I do think there's a bit of a difference between girls and boys at this age.
He's really turned a corner in year 3 and there have been vast improvements. It used to be a battle to get him to read with me for more than 2 minutes. He jumped up 10 reading levels fairly quickly. His handwriting is brilliant now. He's Within for everything.

They're still so little and will get there when they're ready.

I would feel the same. The triangle between pupil, teacher and parent is suppose to be supportive with great communication for the benefit of the pupil. This teacher basically didn’t pay enough attention to your DC as a pupil and her report at Easter feels generic and dismissive. I agree with your DH he is probably low down on the priority list as he isn’t causing trouble in class. Too many pupils not enough teachers and probably disruptive pupils in the class. I would spend the summer encouraging reading and maths as previous posters have said.

But that is crappy teaching- a good teacher sees and brings out the best in their pupils.

From your comments it does sound like he has gone unnoticed a bit academically in a challenging/demanding class. 😔

But the good news is you can support him at home and he's only in year one.

Next year don't be shy to check in more often and make it clear you don't want him flying under the radar like last year. Most teachers would be happy to know you will be proactive IF you are told how to support at home.

Mine has just finished year one too and is a very well behaved little masker at school and doesn't obviously struggle with his work, he has definitely gone unnoticed at times this year but I've nudged the teacher a couple of times during the year, and asked her to observe him when she gets chance and she has been really receptive.

I do think that sadly teachers are just spread too thin in big classes with little support and often it's about the most demanding or struggling in the classroom unfortunately.

What reading scheme do the school use? What level is he? Can he form letters accurately and write sentences?

I know what it's like to feel anxious about a small child's education but you really are placing very high expectations on a teacher to fully understand your tiny child's exact learning stages out of a class of 30.

Just put it into perspective: your child is 5. They are not about to sit their A levels.

Take the pressure off and just let them enjoy learning and getting used to the school environment. It is enough.

My child scored outstanding in Reading only, rest of the subjects he got Working at the expected level. I tried really hard to help him have outstanding in all subjects, he works great at home but school is a different setting. You have 30 children one teacher and one assistant and the classroom can get very noisy. I would look into supporting him during the summer holidays with his handwriting and maths and reading 15min a day.

As others have said, the teacher focuses so much on the ones who are struggling that the more able pupils get left behind with no opportunities to be challenged to the best of their abilities. We're actually looking for another type of school for DC which is why we had him assessed.

It’s year 1 - kids progress at different rates. I couldn’t read until age 7, my maths was terrible all through primary - I left school with the top A level grades in my school and then went on to get a 2:1 law degree from a Russell Group uni.

My son couldn’t read until they stopped the shit show that is phonics, never managed his spellings, he struggled to write. He’s just won the Year 8 English prize.

Forget the grades. Is he happy? Is he confident? Is he having fun making friends? Social and personal skills are much more important at that age. Take the pressure off. In many countries he wouldn’t have even started school yet.

The teacher said she didn't notice this.... so it really looks like she didn't pay much attention to him.

This isn’t necessarily true at all. My son is totally different at school compared to home and always has been. He finds it much easier to concentrate in the classroom than with me at home - different place, different mindset.

But if OP’s child is genuinely “working towards” in all areas, he IS one of the struggling ones, not one of the more able ones.

He’d be having phonics intervention, maths intervention, English intervention in DS’s school (extra 1:1s run before and after school for a term)