Spellings for year 4.... (moan)

[Spamminit]

So my 9yo yr4 child is an able boy. In the upper groups etc etc. Always does well in spelling tests and is very proud of himself.

Yesterday he brought home spellings that included 'car' 'I'll' 'have' and 'can'. The most difficult word on the list was 'success'.

I sent a note into school querying the words and got a call this morning from his class teacher explaining that the national curriculum has changed and the easier words are words that all yr3 and 4 should know. I looked at the curriculum on gov.uk and it contradicts all that she said!

Words on the curriculum for that age are words such as:

disappointed
disengaged
appointment

The words on the curriculum are nore suitable to his age and ability and I have sent the relevant pages of the document to her by email and explained that I am concerned that he does not have suitable opportunities to reach his full potential.

To add, they were marked as requiring improvement in their ofsted inspection in March. Am I being a complete pain in the arse or am I entitled to complain about my child's education?

That should read more suitable.

The main points of their inspection grade was that able students are not adequately challenged.

If you are able to provide evidence for your concerns that your DC is being insufficiently challenged and that the NC provides for a higher level of challenge than he is currently getting at school, you are quite right to draw the teacher's attention to this.

Ahh, yes the new English curriculum. You are right, the spellings have got harder. What might have been previously taught in Year 5 or 6, may be now in Year 3 or 4. Not in all cases, but some words and spelling patterns have been moved about.

But, you have made your point. Leave it there. This is a teacher who will be under a great deal.of stress due to the school going into RI.

You have access to the spelling appendices for his year group. Work from there at home. Link it in with spellings from school if you can. For example, if he has a contraction on his list, look for other contractions to practise. Look for particular spelling patterns.

I'd be pleased if my DC had to learn spellings they already knew!!

Is this a consolidation exercise? I know my DC go through phases of bringing home lists of words that they already know in a "checking that they do really know the basics sort of exercise". The main test that a child can spell is what they do in their writing anyway - not what they can manage to put in short term memory for a test!