Childrens commissioner talking about kids being able to repeat reception

[Tiredreal]

Not sure if this will happen but seems sensible except that obviously there would be issues with the repeated reception year group being oversubscribed then as it would be after applications etc.

Im not sure if it would help except the mildest of sen /young in year issues

I think a better approach would be changing year 1 so it is more along the same lines as reception with a much more play based curriculum. Ideally year 2 as well.

But this holds back loads of kids. Both mine were reading fluently in the first term of year 1 and fervently devouring paperbacks by the end of y1

How about we just accept a range of attainment as normal and stop trying to fix a rigid bar that all kids "must" meet. Some are just going to be less academic than others and that's fine

It should be accepted that you cannot squish 5 & 6 year olds in a narrow band. There's always going to be massive variation. You get 7 year olds who know all 12 times tables inside out who can't ride a bike, you get 7 year olds struggling with number bonds to 20 who can cartwheel on a gym beam.

I think assessing kids at the end of reception and grouping them according to their readiness to learn for year one would help.

I also agree that closing the gap in expectations and learning style between reception and year one would be beneficial.

Why would a child who can read not want to play?

My dd is repeating reception this year

DD commented extensively on how big the jump from reception to Y1 was. And she is old for her year, was able to concentrate for a good chunk of time, and is bright (always exceeding expectations across the board, averaged 115 in her SATS). If she found it hard going at times, I can only imagine what many of the children endured. It feels like they were set up to fail.

This is perfect common sense ... except that literacy and numeracy are flooring out in the UK, and there's enough evidence that it starts in early years. The school system really has to do everything possible to bump attainment while their brains are plastic and eager.

How to achieve that with limited resources is the question!

I had a child in my class who came to Reception able to read, write and do maths but his social skills were zero. His Dad thought this was OK because he was the same. He needed to learn to play and co-operate with other people. Social skills are assessed at the end of reception too.

Would it be possibly for numeracy and reading/writing in yrs 1, 2 to be taught in mixed year groups in KS1, based on current attainment? My DS got left behind after reception and has never caught up. If it could be more fluid, with mixed aged groups based on levels I could see my child may have achieved more as they’d be taught at their level.

We used to have mixed Phonics groups throughout Reception and KS1 based on ability.

@CaptainMyCaptain could you explain a bit about how social skills are assessed? I’d be interested to know as the social communication issues my boys have (autism) weren’t picked up until secondary with my eldest and y3 with my youngest. The youngest was only picked up because he was having significant challenges on drop-off and the new Headteacher went in observe

I have wondered how it was missed/how the assessments work as it was never picked up even when the SENCO was their class teacher

not a dig at schools just interested in

I've been retired for 10 years so things have probably changed a bit. If you look up the EYFS Statutory framework and the Foundation Stage Guidelines for PSHE it will give you an idea. I left in the middle of the year that child was in due to WRS so I didn't do his final assessment only the regular 6 week assessments I had to do. I hope he did learn some social skills because he didn't talk to or play with anyone. He may have had autism or it could have been because his parents told him he was a maths and literacy genius and didn't need to bother with anyone else, it was too soon to say. I don't think they would have welcomed an autism diagnosis. I also hold my hands up and confess I had 3 children in that class not toilet trained and others with SEND and only a Part Time TA so he was not always my priority. He was happy doing pages of sums which is not very EYFS friendly and only reinforcing what he could already do, he got all the answers right so he and his parents were quite happy.

I don't think it's weird that they want to finish year 11 with their peers. I'd have never forgiven my parents if they had held me back a year (I'm summer born) and then I hadn't gone off to Uni at 18.

I am not sure about it.

Some of the DC who seem "not ready" half way through reception make rapid progress later on and overtake peers who seemed ready earlier. Development isn't linear or even - its often nothing, nothing, Click!

You'd end up with DC being held back because reading hasn't clicked, suddenly leaping ahead in october of their second go at reception.

I see why they are considering it though. Children from poorer homes regularly start school absolutely miles behind better off kids, developmentally. Poorer speech, parents who've never shown them a book, who don't know how to play simple games & haven't had access to craft materials. better off peers have ridden bikes or horses, have play equipment in large gardens at home and are often physically more capable too. This is why its much more common for poorer kids to not be assessed as a "good" level of development per EYFS.
Offering a second go at reception would help to "close the gap" by giving these children who are behind a full extra year of free education to catch up, meaning they are then older/more capable when:

• taking sats
• taking 11+ tests
• sitting gcses and a-levels

The difference would be huge. If the social stigma could be dealt with, it could alter their self perception too, instead of feeling behind, they would be more likely to leave reception confident and feeling like they are "good at maths" etc.

I'd prefer it to be done as a deferred start for children deemed "not ready for reception" with a year in an alternative provision like a good quality low ratio nursery, however. No one likes having to repeat a year.

My DC are in a private school (not in England) where this is very common, as well as deferring start altogether. The latter causes more of a nightmare in lots of instances but still problems with the former.

Frankly it's madness and a sticking plaster, they know 4 is too young really to start and if you look across the world closer to 7 / 8 has much better outcomes. But it's obviously what to do with them in meantime - there is no provision. It's a bit of. Hodge podge hear with some nurseries and childminders happy to for the extra year others have a firmer cut off and the parents have no choice - even if it would have been sensible to defer.

School in the UK needs a complete rethink.

And then when everyone after April defers you’ll get the parents of the children born in February March and April all complaining their children are so much younger than the others and they should be allowed to defer as well. There was already a thread recently where someone described their February born child as one of the youngest in their year.

In Scotland probably where Feb borns are the youngest.