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....

If DC's attention isn't great OP then i would ask for him to be sat at the front of the class/near the teacher for any input. It made a huge difference to DS who it turned out had ASD. Some kids can't filter out distractions, miss input as they are distracted and then struggle with the work because they've missed input. If he is quiet and well behaved though you might really struggle to get this put in place, we did even with a diagnosis.

You have the whole summer now OP to read and do fun activities with your DC, just find out what they need to work on and do a little bit each day over the hols in a fun way. No matter what your child's report or teacher says I would be constantly looking at ways to keep your child progressing. You can make learning much more fun and individualised to your childs interests, with 121 support at home than a teacher with a class of 30 can.

Homework? At 5-6years old?? Should just be reading at that age.

You are obviously doing all you can OP. National targets for educational attainment at key stages are set at a national level.
Our children are not nationally uniform. They are individuals who progress and learn in different ways and at different rates . That is what is so stifling and limiting about education. No criticism of teachers or schools per se but it isn't a child centred system. Mostly the complete opposite of that leading to too many children 'failing' to hit targets when in reality they are not failing at anything. Being failed more like it by the adults around them often.

It is the summer now. OP your child is so young. Enjoy him, enjoy the time off if you have it too, make sure he enjoys it.. Let him pursue the things he loves including just playing and being a child for a few weeks. He is very young. It will all be fine

But he is working to where expected.

Based on my DS (also just finished Year 1), I suspect that there’s been a mistake somewhere. For context, he’s a good, accurate and fluent reader and got full marks in his phonic screening but he’s not reading chapter books or anything like that and he got GD in reading. A child who can read well and got a solid pass in their phonics screening should surely be at least meeting expectations?!

I also agree that this should have been flagged much earlier. Last term we were told where he was and what he’d likely to get at the end of the year. We also have had to be quite proactive though - DS teacher had no idea, for example, that DS could do all his times tables until we told her. I think intelligent and easy-to-manage children can definitely easily get overlooked.

Just had the same, although mine is working as expected in reading and maths, but not in spelling or writing. This was never communicated to me at any parents evening throughout the year . Last year I was made aware that my son was struggling with reading and phonics so I put extra focus on reading, and I wasn't surprised when his school report said he a little behind with reading. Again I have focused a lot on reading/phonics this year and he has made amazing progress, he's now exactly where he should be and passed phonics with a very good score. Had I known about the spelling/writing I could have done extra at home, on top of the homework. I wish the teacher had told me, but I am not that bothered, he is one of the younger ones. One of the best things about his report for me they commented on how kind he was to everyone, I loved that.

Did you mean to post this from your main name in a different thread or is this a NC fail?

It sounds like your son is a quiet child who is overlooked by his teacher. I wouldn't worry at all although I might ask for an explanation as it shouldn't be a surprise and it might well be wrong as based on what you have said he is doing really well at reading so the issue is the school. It doesn't matter too much at this age anyway.

I don't think 5 year olds should have homework. Would just try and spend summer doing things he enjoys and reading.

Some schools report the expected level as at the end of the phase they are in. So year 2 for a year 1 child So noone in year one meets the expected level (or a tiny number) in year 1 as they should be working towards it as they have a whole year left to get there

Obviously not all schools do that, but one i worked in did and one of my children's did .

Working towards in year 1 is fine and not unusual. Children develop at different rates and there is plenty of time to catch up. Personally I feel that the expectation of these very young children is too great
Also when was his birthday as that can have an impact too.

OP is responding to a previous commenter who asked about resources.

Some schools report the expected level aa at the end of the phase they are in. So year 2 for a year 1 chilx. So noone in year one meets the expected level (or a tiny number) do in year 1 as they should be working towards it as they have a whole year left to get there

Obviously not all schools do that, but one i worked in did and one of my children's did .

Wouldn’t that information be clearly communicated to the parents though?

My experience is different. We "home schooled" for years R 1 and 2 which for us meant we let him play and discover whatever. He started school in year 3, his teacher had been teaching year R and 1 for years but wanted a change. He was assessed as fine for maths but waaay behind for reading and writing. During the year he steadily moved tables until he was in the gifted and talented group.

His teacher was lovely and I felt bad when she said she felt her career had been a waste of time as she had worked hard trying to get 4 and 5 year olds to do what they'd master easily at 7 and 8.

I think pushing lots of school and homework on 4 and 5 year olds can be counter productive. Just my experience.

Not always. The school i worked in made an effort but, despite working in education and knowing this, the school one of my chikdren went to did crap difficult to understand reporting that was unclear. The secondary in particular was terrible.

I've been a primary school teacher for 17 years, and most of it in KS1 and early years...
When I read through your first few posts, this was what came to mind... A teacher who has had a hard year. Are they young/new to teaching? Assessments and working out where a child "fits" can be hard for someone quite new to the game.
But I can tell you know, if your DS got 36/40 in his phonics screening, the likelihood of him being "working towards" for reading is pretty low. In my experience, the test is a pretty good average for working out where children "fit".

The "greater depth" children get 40/40 without batting an eye. The "better end of average" get 35+ and the "just abouts" get 32-35.
So, unless they bullshitted the test (which, sadly, is possible), your DS sounds like he's doing just fine.

Couldn't agree more and the early start here fits with what my son's teacher said.

No, she thought he was doing as expected as the teacher didn't raise any issues at parents evening and now she finds out that he is "behind" in all areas.

Find out how they assess the three levels and which bits he has not achieved. He might have what one calls a spiky profil, so he is ahead in some areas but has gaps that bring his overall score down.

Is this the first report you have received in the year?

It is really bad practice to only inform parents on an end of year report that their child isn’t age related. You 100% should have been told this prior to now and you need to address this with the school.
However, your child is only year one and you have lots of time to help. Your child has passed their Phonics Screening Check so is age related in Phonics.

Well, yes and no. Reading isn't just phonics. Parents often tell me that their child reads really well and understands what they have read, but the child has little comprehension due to limited vocabulary or grammatical understanding.

Mirroring school at home is not the ideal. Learning at home should be natural, through daily conversation that develops their understanding of the world, their vocabulary and their interests.

What's your gut telling you in terms of their ability to learn and retain? If you think it's just an attention span issue then that will hopefully come as their brain develops and you can work on some strategies at home. He's still so young and piling on pressure at this age wouldn't be the best. My DD has timing issues but I'm of the opinion that it's hard to expect a 7 year old to grasp time when they don't really understand time yet, 10 mins seems like an eternity to them at that age and I'd rather slowly develop that slowly overtime with her rather than expect immediate results.

Well, I can only go on what I've seen over the past 10 years ish of administering the test myself... That it's a pretty good indicator of general reading skill. Is it spot on for every child? No. Have I seen the odd child pass, who fluked it? Yes. Very occasionally.
But I've never seen a child fail, who I'd been sure would pass.

Do you mean your child has recall of every times table up to 12 x 12? I can understand a teacher not necessarily knowing a child knows some times tables in Y1 because it is simply not on the curriculum, but if your child is really doing that (end of Y4 expectation, fairly achievable for those who work at it by midway through Y3) they are probably very fluent in other areas of maths too?

It may be that they base it on tests or something. It isn't great practice but some schools insist on this even if the teacher's judgement is different.

Reading is a weird one. I have a child in my class who did well in his test, reads a lot, but got 0/7 questions correct in his benchmarking assessment recently. I was expecting him to get to free reader and he's still two levels below that! Another two children got to FR but came out 'below' in the assessment. I don't bloody understand it sometimes.

Gifted and talented is also tricky. There's a very disruptive boy in our school whom I suspect is very bright, and who is probably bored. The problem is his test marks are low because he doesn't give a shit. It's all very well saying they're bored, but how are we able to support that if we have no proof they are working at the very top bracket for their age? Being bright is all very well, but if you don't apply yourself and work hard, it's not going to count for much.