How much better would DCs do if more schools were like this?

[Cortina]

In our state primary there is a feeling that if a child is 'average' or above then parents should accept it and not worry too much about any 'homework', expanding of minds etc. To try to do anything more would be to upset the status quo it seems. Some are cleverer than others and that's the way it goes. Also so much of what happens and what is being taught seems to be fairly invisible, especially from reception to around Y4.

I know they follow the NC but beyond that I don't have a 'feel' for what's being tackled and how I can encourage and help my child. To ask and want to reinforce is to interfere and hothouse.

I love that this school has a creative approach to teaching english. I love that children are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. 'Average' pupils can improve, pupils are actively & clearly told 'what you need to do to improve'. Does your school have a system like this? I wish ours did.

My first time at doing links, I hope they work! :)

How to improve your work

Reinforcing at home

My DD1 is in Y1 of a state school and we get personalised targets every week for her writing, and reading. I am really pleased with this as it gives us some focus when helping her at home.

We don't get anything for maths, which I think it's a shame. I might suggest this at parents' evening!!

Great first link though, however I could not get the second one to work!!

brilliant school blog

Have tried again.

Personalised targets EVERY WEEK sounds great! I think the children may get these in our school but they are not communicated back to the parents if so. They need to be, especially in the early years, I think.

I feel like I am shooting in the dark so much of the time, I know there are many holes in understanding but as average, or slightly above, just told things are 'fine' and that's all I need to know. Not just mean, that's the policy it seems.

dd1 in yr3 gets a target for improvement put at the end of every piece of work she hands in for marking.

Do you get to see the target? Do the books come home?

Our DCs used to attend a state primary with a very similar approach. We're really feeling it now we've moved to an area with fixed catchments, where the teachers really don't understand why "fine" isn't the sort of response we'd like to questions about progress.

It is a bit sad there there can be so much variation.

I don't think 'fine' is ever an acceptable answer, but I am in the minority. Most of my friends say that we can't expect or hope for much more. Surely a parents evening, for example, is a complete waste of time if the teacher just says 'fine' to every question and you get the feeling it will get their back up to probe further.

Our state school set 2 or 3 targets that are child specific for numeracy and literacy.

We are informed what these are at Parents Evening but the child is informed at a different time. As their targets have never been the same at consecutive Parents Evenings, I assume that they achieve them.

For nursery and Reception, there is a weekly meeting for parents who want to learn about what the children are doing that week. For example, my child is in Reception and the teachers will tell us what sounds they are doing, numeracy and topic work. As there are only about 10 mums there, it's easy to get questions answered about other school things like upcoming events and routine.

That sounds great for the early years crazygracie.

So there are 2-3 literacy/numeracy targets a year which you are told at Parents Evening?

Our local prep gives out two weekly newsletter type updates, I think this sounds like a great idea. It love to know what goes on in the classroom etc.

Cortina, this is how it works in Y1 at my DD's school:

The kids have a reading diary and a writing book. Every week they have 2 books to read and some pieces of writing to complete. The teacher marks both with the "next target". So for example for reading the teacher will put "let's now work on expression" or "try forming different sentences with the tricky words" or for writing it will be something like "try forming sentences using these connectives" or "try forming sentences with the rhyming words we looked at this week".

Shame they don't do it for maths though so like you, I have absolutely no idea where she should be with that and it makes it really hard to help her!

Maybe you could suggest that your school does the same, but a lot of schools are not that open to suggestions.........

PS We also get the termly newsletter with what they will cover in class and what we can generally do at home. Although this is helpful, really I find the targets more helpful as they are personalised!

Emy you said: Every week they have 2 books to read and some pieces of writing to complete. The teacher marks both with the "next target". So for example for reading the teacher will put "let's now work on expression" or "try forming different sentences with the tricky words" or for writing it will be something like "try forming sentences using these connectives" or "try forming sentences with the rhyming words we looked at this week".

This sounds great. You can actually SEE their progression as early as Y1. You can actually help with these various aspects! I try to cover these areas on my own at home but I waste time reinforcing strengths when there are other more pressing concerns. To unearth these 'concerns' takes time, patience and dedication.

As work, I think, is differentiated it's hard for those who really improve to move up through ability groupings & fully 'realise' their improvement and progression etc too. I found the other day that only those deemed able enough get a chance to 'learn' the various project spelling words. So my son's work will be littered with mistakes which IMO he is more than capable of learning at home.

PS Emy, is this a state school?

The termly newsletters sound great too, ideally I'd want them every few weeks though...:)

Yes Cortina, it's our local village state school!

They only started doing the writing diary from January and I do find it very helpful, because like you I didn't have a clue what to focus on at home - it is hard unless you are a teacher yourself!!

Cortina- the targets are termly.
We also get sent a curriculum for every half term.

Sounds good. We get a curriculum at the start of the year but I've found it's just a loose guide/lip service. They certainly don't follow the NC in the order it's written on the document we have.

As far as I am concerned the more information we receive the better.