My daughter is 5.10 yrs old. At age 4 we sent her to a Steiner school, where there was no numeracy or literacy whatsoever. It was our intention to continue within the Steiner system. Steiner schools deliberately avoid reading, writing, numeracy until the age of 7.
We moved to a new area in April this year when our daughter (J) was 5.4 yrs old. We decided to put her into a mainstream ie not Steiner, fee paying school. She started in Reception in April. Having never had any numeracy or literacy, she was now exposed to the normal curriculum in Reception. We did a lot at home too esp over the summer. She grasped the basic phonic scheme and is able to read by herself (Oxford Tree level 2). Numeracy was more difficult but she can count in order to 20. She is now in Year 1.
Her class tutor indicated at parents' evening (2 weeks ago) that J is not able to cope with Year 1 work. It is too advanced for her. She said that the gaps in her basic learning and understanding because of her delayed start mean that she cannot keep up. In addition to that, J, who used to love school (both the Steiner and Reception) has been saying for a few weeks that she finds it hard and cannot do the work, she gets a little upset and sometimes says she does not want to go as she finds the work "tricky". Her form tutor has taken to giving her Reception work sheets in class, which she CAN do and which she really enjoys.
We are faced with a dilemma. Do we continue her in Yr 1 and hope that the school helps to bring her up to speed, knowing that she cannot engage with the work she is being given. Or do we allow her to go back to Reception (we've only had 6 weeks of it so we are near the beginning), so that she build a solid foundation. She may be ahead of the other kids in literacy as she has gone through the Phonics work books several times since April. She will fall back 1 year and lose her immediate circle of friends. She would love to go back to Reception as she has said so many times - long before it was on the agenda.
The school have suggested that a return would be sensible and would be more than happy to accomodate it.
What do you think? I am torn. I know that going back 1 year would be better for her educationally but a part of me resists it (prob because of the guilt associated with cocking it all up).