Had ds registered to start at an independant school in reception in September. At the start of this school year I contacted the school and asked if there was anything I needed to be doing to prepare him, they said no,and that he'd be invited to come and spend a day in their nursery prior to starting.
I got a letter a couple of weeks back asking me to arrange for him to come in to the nursery to 'meet the children he will be starting reception with' (he's currently attending my workplace nursery which I'm more than happy with). I ring and make arrangements, and am told that he'll need wellies, fruit snack etc, I should settle him and then leave him, and that I'll be seeing the head teacher for a chat to give me a chance to ask any questions.
Anyhow, on the appointed day I drop him off, he runs in and starts playing, I give him a kiss and tell him to have fun. A couple of hours later I go back to pick him up, & he tells me he really likes it and it's been fun.
Then the head arrives with a sheaf of papers, which are the assessments they've done on him. I was a bit gobsmacked because there had been no mention of assessment.
She tells me that he's done really well at numeracy,colour and shape recognition,and that he's really articulate with 'super' social skills, but that she's really concerned about his literacy as he only recognizes one letter (the one his name starts with), and he should be much further on by this point (he's not quite three and a half). She says she'll reassess him in four weeks, but if he hasn't made significant progress by then she won't be able to accept him into the school, as he'd struggle too much and it wouldn't be fair on him.
I left in a complete daze, alternately furious that they'd assessed him without my knowledge or consent and upset that he's lagging so far behind his peers.
I contacted his nursery who said of course he wouldn't recognise letters, as they are using the 'letters and sounds' pack that is recommended by the government, and that the local LEA had told its nurseries that they shouldn't do any letter recognition or phonics, as that was for schools to teach in reception.
His keyworker was appalled at how he'd been treated, and told me he's not behind at all, in fact he's ahead of a lot of his peers. She spent an hour going through all the assessments they've done with him, and he does indeed appear to be ahead of the game. She said they've got all the Jolly Phonics resources at the nursery, but don't use them because the LEA said not to. She's drawn up a learning plan for him and started doing Jolly Phonics one to one with him, and he's picking it up really quickly, so he'd probably pass the reassessment with flying colours.
But we chose this school because it's quite small and presents itself as having an inclusive family atmosphere where pupils are encouraged to 'have a go'. When we went to look around it was all about allowing the child to develop at their own pace, producing well rounded individuals and not just about academic excellence. Although they did say that with class sizes no bigger than twelve it was fairly easy to 'bring them on' academically.
I do have concerns about him, because he's a late August baby, and will only be 4 and a few days when he starts reception, and I had hoped that this school would help him get over the 'handicap' of being so much younger than a lot of his peers, because they'd be able to give him extra attention.
My question is, am I being unreasonable in thinking this probably isn't the school for my son, or is it sour grapes because they said he wasn't up to scratch?
Thanks if you managed to get this far!