So upset about school report. feeling like a shitty mother

[Harriet220909]

Had my son's school report back yesterday and I'm really upset
He hasn't met any of the targets for he's year. Not one.
I know I should have done more with him at home but I have an extremely demanding toddler, I'm stuck in a one bed flat so there's nowhere for him to go to do he's homework and I feel so shit.
He's such a bright child bit completly lacks confidence due to him being behind. He's writing is unreadable and when he asks me to read he's writing I try so hard to and he's little faces just crushes when I get it wrong

I feel awful and like I am failing him. He's got an awful father who never helps there's just little old me trying to do everything

And now he's behind and he knows it. Today he told me he feels stupid after attempting he's homework. I can't afford a tutor, how can I help him?

I just wish the school had told me he was behind instead of me having to read it on the report at the end of the year. I would have pushed him harder and tried to do more

Why would they disapprove?

BTW I linked to it because the activity is fairly typical of the settings I know

m.youtube.com/watch?v=sWf6oHE9YqY

m.youtube.com/watch?v=VTIsnGFQoU0

m.youtube.com/watch?v=yiXCJppA9Oo

Just love how my thread on concerns on my child has become a debate on the national corriculum.
Great advice on here but hard to see through the argument
My son read me a whole book. Stuggles on big words and picked up on a few sounds he found more difficult 'ea' and ice' as is 'nice' 'dice' (eye-s).

But still very proud he gave it a good go, he was so pleased with himself and a very happy mum to know he's feeling good about reading. Was lovely youngest was asleep (for once haha) and we had a good 2 hours together reading
Feeling very positive this evening

'Why would they disapprove?'
Because the girl is essentially not getting to do the fun part of using a computer, while the boy in some cases did not even have to do his own thinking.

Well done, Harriet's DS.
The trying is the most important part.

How do you know? Do you know the children? Do you know how they interact every day? There are lots if questions to answer and a good practitioner wouldn't jump to conclusions.

I'm glad you and your son had a lovely evening reading together.

I have a July and August children. My youngest has just finished Y7 and her handwriting has always been poor and still is. However it hasn't stopped her loving books, or doing well in her school work. She just has poor motor skills, but is good at other things.

I am fascinated by the intense discussion going on in this thread.
As with a lot of things there are good class rooms and bad classrooms in every country round the world.
My kids are not far out of this system aged 8&11 and I work in a reception/year 1 class.
The daily routine is that they come in andsit on the carpet.
The plan for the morning is explained to them and they go and choose which activities to do - some inside / some outside they are encouraged to do each activity for a bit some may be craft based some number based some dressing up or sand/water play.
During this time small groups are doing some mark making/ writing for year 1's when they have done they carry on with what they were doing. (About 5-10 minutes worth)
They stop their "work" at 10.30 for play time.

From 11-12 the above is repeated till lunch
From 1.30 the above is repeated till 3pm when they have a story before going home.
I can honestly say they play with choice activities for more than 80% of their day in school. Hardly sedulous!!

Oooh what is sedulous?? I mean arduous

Mrz, you are being silly.

Not only are the schools they observed undersupplied with computers (which are unnecessary items for four and five year olds but of course Ofsted doesn't realise that) society's sexism is being reinforced by the placing of mixed sex pairs to work together at the busy work.

'Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills' = Ofsted. What Ofsted thinks about English schools matters, whether you believe that or not. But it is empowered to perform an oversight function wrt Engish schools and to advise the government wrt education policy. It inspects schools, and a negative assessment can result in a change in governance. You might say that what Ofsted says goes, when it comes to English schools, despite not knowing each child individually, or apparently caring about what each child is like, individually.

No Math I'm disagreeing with you and your willingness to believe that a snap shot observation provides an accurate picture of day to day interactions and prefer not to make assumptions based on limited information.

How many Ofsted inspections have you personally experienced Math? How many times have you been interviewed by inspectors?

'I'm disagreeing with you and your willingness to believe that a snap shot observation provides an accurate picture of day to day interactions and prefer not to make assumptions based on limited information.'

You are disagreeing with Ofsted and its whole modus operandi, so, if you believe that that 'a snap shot observation provides an accurate picture of day to day interactions'.

And no, I have never had an inspection from Ofsted or an interview by Ofsted inspectors, both of which by their very nature are snapshots, with reports generated as a result of limited contact in inspections and interviews, and not based on in-depth or even slight specific knowledge of even one single child whose life Ofsted has the power to affect.

Why do you think the little vignette about the boys and the girls was included in the report?

Yes I'm disagreeing with the idea that Ofsted can make an accurate judgement about an interaction based on a few minutes observation. I've disagreed face to face with Ofsted and they unlike you were willing to listen.

Why was it included? Because no one challenged their conclusion

But it is absolutely true that Ofsted makes judgements based on a few minutes interaction in a classroom, or a few days' observation of a school overall.

They are empowered to do so, and it is apparently accepted that this is an adequate way for them to discharge their duties, that their observations and conclusions are accurate and trustworthy, and that advice they proffer to the government based on their observations is solid. The fate of schools is in their hands.

They mentioned the girl/boy situation because they could not see any educational value to it -- and without sitting right there in the room you have no idea if a teacher tried unsuccessfully to justify what was observed.

The way the government and Ofsted see it, at some point generally good practices have to be distinguished from generally bad practices, without regard to the specific individual circumstances operating in every single individual child's progress through school. What those practices may be depends on the priorities the government has in mind for children in the system and on government perceptions of what children are capable of learning. In the UK the priority is mastering of academic content from an early age. The government thinks this is both desirable and possible. Ofsted is the tool it uses to make sure the sausage factories continue to turn out sausages the voting public will be impressed with.

Its also true that they will listen if you challenge that judgement and can show they are wrong.

The problem with OFSTED is that it is an assessment based on criteria. It therefore relies on the criteria being entirely fit for purpose for all situations to give the right, sensible results every time like any assessment does. As yet they haven't cracked this and as schools are an extremely complex thing to assess they are unlikely to ever do so. Anyway no real assessments however accurate deliver the right results 100% of the time, even if criteria are correctly applied due to people making silly mistakes, misunderstanding something, assessor error etc.

That's a different thing to OFSTED inspectors being willing to listen, which of course they are because to be as accurate as possible the criteria as they are need to be applied correctly. That is their job.

Of course, in addition, at the margins the difference between a 2 and a 3 and a 3 and a 4 is the breadth of a hair but for a school the repercussions are massive. At the present time it seems quite based on the short term but that's just an observation from my own experience.

I have been through OFSTED as a teacher btw if that makes a difference.

We were discussing a specific point about a young boy hogging the computer while a girl told him what to type.
In my last inspection the inspector spent 8 minutes in my room (I actually invited them to come back but they were more interested in evidence in books ) in contrasts as a member of the management team I spent 5 or 6 hours being interviewed and providing evidence to support/challenge their views.

'...and can show they are wrong'

Aye, there's the rub.

It is likely that many schools deemed inadequate or requiring improvement have teachers who tried unsuccessfully to convince inspectors that they were doing a great job. After all, there is a lot riding on the Ofsted assessment.

It is likely there are many teachers who would not be able to give as good an account of themselves in a 5 or 6 hour interview process as you are Mrz.

I am not surprised they spent more time looking at paperwork/books than looking at what really goes on in the classroom or taking actual live children into account in their reports. That explains a lot about the reception and Y1 expectations and experience.

If you knew anything about EY classes you would know they are drowning in evidence ????

And no it's not likely they would challenge

Harriet please don't feel shitty. There's absolutely no need. He's very young - a lot changes! Sometimes the slowest starters can turn into the highest achievers. I've got a lot of DC and the first six were born very close together so I was often really pushed to do reading etc. I did try but often other things got in the way. Also as they got older there was never a quiet room for homework and they all shared small bedrooms (three, three and two - only space for beds, not desks). But it did teach them to work in noisy and busy environments which has stood them in good stead. They've all achieved well above average - if your boy is bright, I bet he will too. Certainly don't worry about him not having lots of quiet and space - it's nice to have (I expect), but not in any way essential to achievement or fulfilling potential.