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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Negative reception parents evening

46 replies

Auroraspyjamas · 25/10/2025 20:03

Dd5 started reception in sept. She goes in fine, says she enjoys it and has made lots of new friends. She comes back excited to tell us new things she has learned and seems to us to be picking up phonics and writing letters well.

However, we had the first parents evening and I found the teachers feedback very negative. She said dd’s voice is much louder than anyone else, that she finds it hard to concentrate at carpet time, gets distracted and distracts others, gets frustrated easily when things don’t go her way and can be ‘handsy’. She said one positive which is that dd occupies herself well and is always busy. Towards the end she said something like ‘ooooh it sounds like I’ve just been really negative but it’s all positive really.’

I left feeling quite worried and unsure how normal this kind of feedback is for a 5yr old.

yabu - this sounds like something to be concerned about and you should do x (please share)
yanbu - teacher sounds overly negative / this is normal enough for a 5 year old and she’ll probably pick it up with time

OP posts:
Camelcarpet · 25/10/2025 20:06

Its hard to say without knowing exactly how the conversation went. Did she offer any advice or suggestions of things to work on to support her? Id assume that if she said all the above she was trying to guage if you thought she was neurodivergent. Did you discuss that?

shhblackbag · 25/10/2025 20:09

Towards the end she said something like ‘ooooh it sounds like I’ve just been really negative but it’s all positive really.’

No wonder you're confused! This is such a strange statement to me.

CatsorDogsrule · 25/10/2025 20:09

At 5 already, she's presumably one of the oldest in the class, so will seem a lot more confident than most of the others.

Cheepcheepcheep · 25/10/2025 20:11

She sounds like my 3.5yo and this is something I’m worried about when he starts school next year (currently have an older DD who is flying school).

Not to be one of those annoying ‘have you tried..) but my 3.5yo on Friday got diagnosed with glue ear which has suddenly explained lots around not being able to follow instructions and the v loud voice thing. I’m not saying it’s a silver bullet but I’m hoping gromits will help and your thing about ‘her voice is the loudest’ popped out for me. Has she had her hearing tested at all?

Did she go to nursery before school? Any concerns there? It does sound like the teacher delivered it poorly but I’d be trying to harness the action points rather than (my natural reaction!) having my hackles raised.

stubbedit · 25/10/2025 20:12

I appreciate honesty but it has to be conducive for change. So for example I wouldn’t mind ‘we do notice her voice is quite loud and wondered if you’ve had her hearing tested’ but I would mind ‘she is very loud and makes us wince’ (I have a DS with slightly impaired hearing so I sympathise - I’m always asking him to be a bit quieter!)

It does sound really negative especially as she doesn’t sound all that concerned!

Auroraspyjamas · 25/10/2025 20:12

Camelcarpet · 25/10/2025 20:06

Its hard to say without knowing exactly how the conversation went. Did she offer any advice or suggestions of things to work on to support her? Id assume that if she said all the above she was trying to guage if you thought she was neurodivergent. Did you discuss that?

The interesting thing is we have wondered this ourselves so I mentioned this and asked what they thought and they said they hadn’t seen any signs of that but would keep an eye out but surely the things they mentioned are signs?

OP posts:
verycloakanddaggers · 25/10/2025 20:13

Voice is much louder?!? Well someone has to be loudest, if she's not shouting what is wrong?

I'd email, say you didn't understand the feedback and ask for a follow up meeting.

Auroraspyjamas · 25/10/2025 20:14

Camelcarpet · 25/10/2025 20:06

Its hard to say without knowing exactly how the conversation went. Did she offer any advice or suggestions of things to work on to support her? Id assume that if she said all the above she was trying to guage if you thought she was neurodivergent. Did you discuss that?

She asked if we’d noticed these things at home and said we could perhaps mention to her that these were things to work on

OP posts:
Thepeopleversuswork · 25/10/2025 20:17

That is odd and like other posters I would immediately assume they were hinting at possible neurodivergence.

If not then it does seem overly critical and negative for a five year old child.

Whats the school like? Is it a small rural school or a big city school? What’s the demographic like? Is it religious?

HeddaGarbled · 25/10/2025 20:17

yabu - this sounds like something to be concerned about and you should do x (please share)
yanbu - teacher sounds overly negative / this is normal enough for a 5 year old and she’ll probably pick it up with time

Somewhere between the two probably. I’d do a bit of observation of her in social settings.

CopperWhite · 25/10/2025 20:18

I’d want to know more about what being handsy is supposed to mean. The teacher hasn’t said that your dd is behind academically or that she struggles with friendships, it’s just that she’s not great at carpet time, same as lots of children. The points that were raised are mostly things that you can talk to your dd about, like distracting others and how she feels when things don’t go her way, and with the right encouragement, these things could resolve naturally as your dd grows.

lottiestars76 · 25/10/2025 21:07

I’d keep an eye for now, the teacher shouldn’t be making it negative straight away as at this point, children who are neurodivergent likely won’t have a diagnosis or parents even yet aware, so they should be monitoring and putting it forward to you in a way that’s not necessarily negative. The things they are describing are things my dd does who’s 5, mainly the hard to concentrate at carpet time, if she’s made to sit and watch she cannot focus or pay attention, so the teacher allows her to stand and move slightly, like swaying etc (something she’s done since she could stand unaided). My daughter is now on the pathway to being assessed for ADHD, I myself have ADHD and eldest sister has audhd so when she started school we already knew she was showing lots of signs and is likely neurodivergent. That probably made a difference to how the school are reacting to it, as they are being really supportive and she has a send support plan already in place. I’m really disappointed the school have come at this in a negative way, it might be that she is just a neurotypical child who, because she’s older, is just abit bored sometimes and confident when she’s with friends. It could be though that there is ADHD, but the school have a duty of care to put in place for children who are neurodivergent, diagnosed or not, which would be a send support plan with interventions to help her from becoming overstimulated, and will help her focus in a way that she can do.

Have you noticed any other behaviours at home op? Ask your daughter what does her head feel like , when she thinks. I say this because as someone with ADHD my head and mind is noisy every single minute, I have conversations, music, tv shows, check lists, narration of what I’m doing all going around over and over at the same time. I asked my 5 year old this and she said it’s very busy and noisy and I keep singing songs. So very similar to my own mind! This might help you to see if she’s showing any other ADHD traits and will help you to navigate from there.

I’d take a look on the ADHDuk website aswell, there’s a section for kids and families where it goes into detail around children, especially girls and how they present with ADHD ( most girls present differently to boys, and mask quite a lot) that will give you some good insight into ADHD and how it can look with young children.

I’d also request another meeting with the teachers and depending on if you do think there are signs of ADHD, I’d request that the senco be involved and then you could discuss putting in place a support plan so your daughter can have help and support whilst in school. Early intervention is so important, my main concern with my youngest was that my own experience and my eldest experience ( who we only suspected of neurodivergence beginning of year 5) was that it was so much harder once symptoms had started becoming more obvious, the masking wasn’t happening and the overwhelm and overstimulation was forcing burnout. You have to work backwards at that point, so my main goal with my youngest was to start as early as possible, so if it is ADHD , she doesn’t get told off constantly for being ‘ naughty’ but rather, she’s supported and has interventions in place.

Happy to talk more about this if you need, as I know I’m coming from a point of view that’s very used to neurodivergence in the household, and it can be really daunting at first, so if you think there’s any possibility or you see signs yourself, or if you would like some advice around assessments and how to get those via RTC I’m happy for you to DM.

Good luck! x

LadyQuackBeth · 25/10/2025 21:15

It's not that bad, they aren't fixed personality traits. A lot of kids are a bit too much at the start of school and settle down, some are not quite enough but then grow in confidence - this is her starting point, not end point. She's clearly in the former group and in a lot of ways that's easier, she's clearly happy and engaged.

Auroraspyjamas · 25/10/2025 22:35

Cheepcheepcheep · 25/10/2025 20:11

She sounds like my 3.5yo and this is something I’m worried about when he starts school next year (currently have an older DD who is flying school).

Not to be one of those annoying ‘have you tried..) but my 3.5yo on Friday got diagnosed with glue ear which has suddenly explained lots around not being able to follow instructions and the v loud voice thing. I’m not saying it’s a silver bullet but I’m hoping gromits will help and your thing about ‘her voice is the loudest’ popped out for me. Has she had her hearing tested at all?

Did she go to nursery before school? Any concerns there? It does sound like the teacher delivered it poorly but I’d be trying to harness the action points rather than (my natural reaction!) having my hackles raised.

It’s a good point about the hearing and the teacher did suggest that as well to be fair so we’ll get it checked out.

She did go to nursery before and they would sometimes mention she’d not listened well that day but they’d often say lots of the kids were the same so I wasn’t too worried.

OP posts:
Auroraspyjamas · 25/10/2025 22:37

Thepeopleversuswork · 25/10/2025 20:17

That is odd and like other posters I would immediately assume they were hinting at possible neurodivergence.

If not then it does seem overly critical and negative for a five year old child.

Whats the school like? Is it a small rural school or a big city school? What’s the demographic like? Is it religious?

A smallish school in a large town. I asked about neurodivergence (something we have previously considered ourselves) and she she seemed a bit surprised, said it wasn’t something they had picked up on but that she’d bear it in mind. But I wondered if perhaps she didn’t know much about it, as I agree her feedback does seem to point to that.

OP posts:
Auroraspyjamas · 25/10/2025 22:44

CopperWhite · 25/10/2025 20:18

I’d want to know more about what being handsy is supposed to mean. The teacher hasn’t said that your dd is behind academically or that she struggles with friendships, it’s just that she’s not great at carpet time, same as lots of children. The points that were raised are mostly things that you can talk to your dd about, like distracting others and how she feels when things don’t go her way, and with the right encouragement, these things could resolve naturally as your dd grows.

She gave an example of earlier that day dd had snatched a toy off another child. I spoke to dd about this and she said they snatched it off her first and she was just snatching it back. Still not ideal and perhaps that was just an example and there are other incidences. It was such a short session I didn’t have time to ask much more

OP posts:
Auroraspyjamas · 25/10/2025 22:46

lottiestars76 · 25/10/2025 21:07

I’d keep an eye for now, the teacher shouldn’t be making it negative straight away as at this point, children who are neurodivergent likely won’t have a diagnosis or parents even yet aware, so they should be monitoring and putting it forward to you in a way that’s not necessarily negative. The things they are describing are things my dd does who’s 5, mainly the hard to concentrate at carpet time, if she’s made to sit and watch she cannot focus or pay attention, so the teacher allows her to stand and move slightly, like swaying etc (something she’s done since she could stand unaided). My daughter is now on the pathway to being assessed for ADHD, I myself have ADHD and eldest sister has audhd so when she started school we already knew she was showing lots of signs and is likely neurodivergent. That probably made a difference to how the school are reacting to it, as they are being really supportive and she has a send support plan already in place. I’m really disappointed the school have come at this in a negative way, it might be that she is just a neurotypical child who, because she’s older, is just abit bored sometimes and confident when she’s with friends. It could be though that there is ADHD, but the school have a duty of care to put in place for children who are neurodivergent, diagnosed or not, which would be a send support plan with interventions to help her from becoming overstimulated, and will help her focus in a way that she can do.

Have you noticed any other behaviours at home op? Ask your daughter what does her head feel like , when she thinks. I say this because as someone with ADHD my head and mind is noisy every single minute, I have conversations, music, tv shows, check lists, narration of what I’m doing all going around over and over at the same time. I asked my 5 year old this and she said it’s very busy and noisy and I keep singing songs. So very similar to my own mind! This might help you to see if she’s showing any other ADHD traits and will help you to navigate from there.

I’d take a look on the ADHDuk website aswell, there’s a section for kids and families where it goes into detail around children, especially girls and how they present with ADHD ( most girls present differently to boys, and mask quite a lot) that will give you some good insight into ADHD and how it can look with young children.

I’d also request another meeting with the teachers and depending on if you do think there are signs of ADHD, I’d request that the senco be involved and then you could discuss putting in place a support plan so your daughter can have help and support whilst in school. Early intervention is so important, my main concern with my youngest was that my own experience and my eldest experience ( who we only suspected of neurodivergence beginning of year 5) was that it was so much harder once symptoms had started becoming more obvious, the masking wasn’t happening and the overwhelm and overstimulation was forcing burnout. You have to work backwards at that point, so my main goal with my youngest was to start as early as possible, so if it is ADHD , she doesn’t get told off constantly for being ‘ naughty’ but rather, she’s supported and has interventions in place.

Happy to talk more about this if you need, as I know I’m coming from a point of view that’s very used to neurodivergence in the household, and it can be really daunting at first, so if you think there’s any possibility or you see signs yourself, or if you would like some advice around assessments and how to get those via RTC I’m happy for you to DM.

Good luck! x

This is really helpful, thank you. We have noticed other stuff at home that might point to that (meltdowns, sensory sensitivities etc) but this didn’t seem to be on the teachers radar as a possibility so I think we’ll follow up about it.

OP posts:
Allswellthatendswelll · 25/10/2025 23:36

I'm a teacher and a reception parent and I wouldn't be happy with this. Firstly there shouldn't be big surprises at a parents evening so if there were concerns they should have been raised before.
Secondly I would never want a parent to leave feeling I'd been mainly negative- especially in their first ever parents evening. Thirdly I'd want to know how they were going to support my child with these challenges and whether they did expect SEN. I think you should go back to the teacher and/ or SENCO/ head of phase and ask for more clarification.

SunnySideDeepDown · 25/10/2025 23:43

Not all children who show disruptive behaviour are ND. It’s very possible she’s just a little loud which is a negative trait in a classroom but positive in many other settings.

Your poll options weren’t useful to me. YANBU to be confused by the teachers comments, I’d ask for clarification on if they are struggling with her behaviour. YABU to think this means there’s a huge issue. Chances are your child just needs to learn to fall in line a little at school and stop distracting people. That takes these little people time sometimes.

Do you correct her when she interrupts/talks to much at home? Do you have firm boundaries? Lots of parents treat their child like the centre of the universe and wonder why that doesn’t fly at school (not saying this is you)

Dagda · 26/10/2025 00:06

Auroraspyjamas · 25/10/2025 20:14

She asked if we’d noticed these things at home and said we could perhaps mention to her that these were things to work on

I wouldn’t mention that her voice is louder than others. It would be unhelpful, as it’s not purposeful and could be a hearing thing.

I wouldn’t be very happy to have this thrown at me at a parents evening which in my experience with my own children is a very rapid catchup. Any specific issues need their own meeting.

Auroraspyjamas · 26/10/2025 05:59

Dagda · 26/10/2025 00:06

I wouldn’t mention that her voice is louder than others. It would be unhelpful, as it’s not purposeful and could be a hearing thing.

I wouldn’t be very happy to have this thrown at me at a parents evening which in my experience with my own children is a very rapid catchup. Any specific issues need their own meeting.

I agree re voice, haven’t mentioned that bit too her but have mentioned the listening and communicating with words and not physically

OP posts:
Auroraspyjamas · 26/10/2025 06:00

SunnySideDeepDown · 25/10/2025 23:43

Not all children who show disruptive behaviour are ND. It’s very possible she’s just a little loud which is a negative trait in a classroom but positive in many other settings.

Your poll options weren’t useful to me. YANBU to be confused by the teachers comments, I’d ask for clarification on if they are struggling with her behaviour. YABU to think this means there’s a huge issue. Chances are your child just needs to learn to fall in line a little at school and stop distracting people. That takes these little people time sometimes.

Do you correct her when she interrupts/talks to much at home? Do you have firm boundaries? Lots of parents treat their child like the centre of the universe and wonder why that doesn’t fly at school (not saying this is you)

That’s a good point re interrupting at home. We do generally correct and tell her to put her hand on our hand rather than interrupting when we’re in a conversation but I do wonder if we could be a bit more consistent and boundaried about it, sometimes we just let it slide when it’s at home with us

OP posts:
Peridoteage · 26/10/2025 06:42

. A lot of kids are a bit too much at the start of school and settle down, some are not quite enough but then grow in confidence - this is her starting point, not end point. She's clearly in the former group and in a lot of ways that's easier, she's clearly happy and engaged

This.... lots of kids are loud & don't listen well. Lots of adults are too... i would get hearing checked just in case.

But you can work on improving her ability to focus/sit still/listen. Do you read her lots of stories at home & have her sit with you? Encourage her to stick at activities for slightly longer intervals and reward her for doing so.

Kids are like dogs, emminently trainable.

Peridoteage · 26/10/2025 06:43

Auroraspyjamas · 26/10/2025 06:00

That’s a good point re interrupting at home. We do generally correct and tell her to put her hand on our hand rather than interrupting when we’re in a conversation but I do wonder if we could be a bit more consistent and boundaried about it, sometimes we just let it slide when it’s at home with us

I had this with ds when he started school. We had to be much more consistent at home.

Peridoteage · 26/10/2025 06:45

We do generally correct and tell her to put her hand on our hand rather than interrupting when we’re in a conversation

Don't have her put a hand on you - this is probably where the "handsy" comment is coming from, if she's patting and pawing at the teacher for attention. Have her just wait until you finish speaking. Patience is an important trait.