Advice re going forward. Please!

[sewingandcoffee]

I live in NI and my fourth child is 5. He has just completed primary one. He was in a class of 31. 28 of whom went to preschool together. My son and two little girls joined at the start of P1.

He is a very quiet boy when not at home and so was bullied by two stronger willed boys. Consequently he lost all confidence in school and didn't answer in class and so to know understanding got lost. He is seriously behind in class and the teacher has put him on "special measures"

He is totally capable but I feel wasn't managed well last year. He is getting a new teacher now in September and so I wanted to ask you two questions.

1: would it be unreasonable to ask to meet with his new teacher early on to express my concerns and my absolute willingness to work at home with him over and above to bring him into line with the rest of the class.

2: where can I get some resources to help me get him revising at home. I have the Jolly Phonics kit and bought the biff chip and kipper books but was looking for work ideas also.

Thanks in advance.

Certainly meet with any teacher. They should be own your side. More importantly write to the school to ask what they could do to stop the bullying. Whether or not they really wish to address the bullying , and they should, it is important for you to leave a paper trail in writing. If any serious bullying happens in the future - and let's hope it does not - it is most important that there is a written record with the school regarding the bullying which has had such a detrimental effect. With your positive attitude and input from the teaching staff your son should make a good recovery. All the best.

Yes it's perfectly reasonable to speak to the teacher and I'm sure they will appreciate your support.

I'm recommending a new online course for parents called Help your child to read and writete*^. It's based on a linguistic phonics called Sounds Write which we use in my school and has excellent results much better than Jolly Phonics IMO, which I taught for 15 years.

Forgot to say the online course is completely free ...good luck.

Thank you both very much. I'm going to arrange to see the teacher definitely. I will do that cours too Mrs. Thank you all for your input.

How is he with maths?
If he isn't confident in maths as well, I would suggest to work on numbers during summer as well. Nothing special, just take any opportunity and use it. Counting up/down the stairs, counting trees, cars, etc on the road. Extend to how many white cars, how many red cars, how many in total, how many more white car than red, etc.
Open the packet of sweets. How many in total. Now you ate 3. How many left? How many can you have, if you shared equally with mum/sister, etc.
Getting solid number "sense" is the key for success with maths.

I think you get more response if you posted on primary education board, not education.

Thanks Irvine. I'll do that.

His number sense is great. He is ahead with his numbers. So I have no concerns in this regard.