Is there any point in making my child excel in areas if the school will be focusing on bringing other pupils up to the basic standard?

[Amyk01]

What would be the benefit of having my children learn the alphabet and numbers and spelling earlier than most, if when they go to school the teachers will be teaching pupils those things and my child will be bored as they are already at this level?

The same applies to swimming. The school gives children weekly lessons from age 6 upwards. If I ensure my child is a competent swimmer by this age anyway, what is the benefit if swimming classes with the school focus on those who cannot swim?

Why do you think that would be the case?

How old are your children?

Don't worry about it and just do your thing. Send your children to private swimming lessons - they won't learn much in school swimming classes anyway.

Oh I don't know, a love of reading, knowing they're less likely to drown etc?

Don't understand your post, tbh

Well learning to swim earlier could save his life. Just saying. Re reading etc it’s worth it for the pleasure they get from it. Once children learn to read they obtain a lot of independence and can self direct their learning.

If your DC are interested in counting or seem to want to learn to read, then follow their lead and go with it (but please don't teach the alphabet - get something like the Jolly Phonics Guides and start with the sounds)

IME no child ever really learned to swim well in school. Better (assuming you can afford lessons) to make sure yourself that they can swim really well than hope they benefit from large group s when 6+.

Advantage of reading early is that when they arrive at school they can consolidate their knowledge better, this then allows them to be pushed into working at greater depth. A good school will continue to do this throughout the years. Even if they have reached mastery level in some aspects there will always be something else that they can work on.

I had 4 children in my reception class last year that were working at high levels in both Literacy and Maths' however when it came to softer skills of emotional and social development they were below some of their classmates. As for resilience, taking risks and trying new activities they had poor skills in these as they couldn’t handle getting things wrong. Unfortunately these are quite important life skills that enable people to achieve well.

Your child won't be the only on who can read and do basic maths.
The school should differentiate.

If teaching the alphabet they teach sounds not letter names.

Swimming - again school should differentiate, and anyway it is fun and generally good for fitness.

I agree that teaching writing and spelling to preschoolers is not worth it.

Reading to them to widen vocabulary and style input , and helping them attain reading fluency once they have started reading will both give a multiplier effect. The more quality input the better.

Also talking maths seems to help, no need to write it down.

If you think your child can swim because they have had swimming lessons at school, check. All mine could do was a meter doggy paddle, then sink.

I taught dd to read before school. She is now an avid and very fast reader.

I also taught her maths. I thought that teaching her things would make a difference to her ability. It did. I also thought school would teach her at her level. They did not.

The reason I taught her things like maths, science and reading is that I think ability is a mixture of nature and nurture. The former is set, but the later does mean ability can be improved. IME children can learn things a lot faster than they are taught at primary school. It comes down to whether you see your child's education primarily as the school's responsibility or your responsibility.

From my experience It’s true that schools will focus on making sure that all/ as many kids as possible reach the required standard. Which means kids with more ability for learning can be under challenged. So it is a good idea to give them extra opportunities for learning at home. The 1:1 they get from you will be very powerful. I believe that also includes non curriculum activities such as museum visits, discussing items in the newspapers, discussing works of art etc.

Justrichmal puts it much better than me! I agree with her perspectives.

If you’re happy to teach them now, why not just carry on with that and miss out school altogether?

You might as well say what’s the point in putting in extra effort at work or doing extra training as other people don’t bother and get paid e same as you.
Surely you just concentrate and making yourself and your child the best they can be rather than worrying about others.

Our school puts children into groups depending on ability for literacy and maths. These are mixed across the whole foundation phase so DS1 when in reception was in a group with year 2s.
There will also be a large range of books so your child will be reading to thier ability.

There will be things your child may not be as good as such as art or music or writing or building etc

The sooner they can read fluently the sooner they can free read and that’s when they get really clever in my experience. The avid readers always tend to be the genius types. With regard to swimming the school lessons are pants but because my daughter could already swim they went separately into the big pool to work on skills rather than small pool working on the basics. We didn’t bother with lessons btw just taught them ourself. No need for expensive lessons they pick it up eventually. No formal learning before school about letters etc either just lots of reading. One is excelling now at high school (grades 8/9) and other is still primary and above average. Defo think it’s lots of reading from an early age

Have you heard of differentiating?

I’ve worked in a classroom and teachers tend to plan activities for different children depending upon ability . So higher ability children work on more advanced stuff than those who are struggling,

My son goes to private swimming lessons because where I grew up swimming lessons started at secondary age. None of my family can swim.

Ds school starts swimming lessons in yr4, however if a child is already past the minimum standard of what they say is acceptable swimming they don't go at all and stay in school while the rest go off.

Not really fair, but at least I know my child can swim

Delores, I think some schools are good at differentiation. However, in many schools differentiation does not actually exist.

My question would be
What would be the benefit of having my children learn the alphabet and numbers and spelling earlier than most, AT ALL ?

There are so many things pre-school children can be doing which are so much more beneficial, and make for a much more rounded child. They will then also be able to learn with their peers, afresh, when they go to school.

What would be the benefit of having my children learn the alphabet and numbers and spelling earlier than most, AT ALL ?

Because you believe that having a more academically able child will set them up for better exam results and a better career. It is basically why people pay thousands for private education.

In reception some kids will be able to multiply, divide, add etc while others will be working on their numbers up to 10. Some can read fluently some need to learn the alphabet. There's going to be a range of knowledge and ability. There's also a huge age range some kids are 25% older than others.

The school swimming lessons are mainly for fun so of course you should teach your DC to swim separately. As for reading - just foster a love of learning and reading. When they're reading they'll pick up the alphabet very quickly and start reading. They might be amongst the more advanced in Reception and it may well be that by Y1 or Y2 the others have caught up. I'd be more concerned with encouraging the DC to love reading and books.

Yes, no point . Do other more rewarding activities one to one with your child. Let them explore and play and socialise . They learn so quickly in school , it’s kind of like toilet training . Some people start too early and it takes them forever . Wait until the right time and it’s easy. My DD started school at 5 and went to a ‘ free play’ preschool and now she’s 7 is a real bookworm .

It’s an interesting debate. My perspective having had four go through primary and now onto HE (the oldest two) is that there’s limited value in pushing academics too young if your child isn’t ready. My DD didn’t get the hang of joining up letters into a honics and words until mid year one, so would have been at the bottom of all reception assessments for reading - and not for want of trying as we did a lot of reading for pleasure and learning letters at home. But it all clicked in year 1 and she’s now studying English at Oxford. Be led by what interests your child and what they’re ready for!

They differentiate. My dd could read in reception. She was given harder books to read. She is a good swimmer so is in the top group in school swimming lessons doing lengths. The teacher doesn't focus on the masses they should be meeting the needs of all in the class

Be led by what interests your child and what they’re ready for!
Gettingthroughtheweek, I agree with this. I just found dd was ready and interested in learning before she started school. It could have been your dd was taking a lot in, particularly the reading for pleasure. With dd, maths and science were so easy to teach her and she loved learning. She still loves learning and is top set in science and way ahead with maths.

I think if a child is enjoying learning, teach them. Just balance it with other activities, like social groups and park trips.

My DDs were both early readers and good at maths. They were properly challenged at primary - given extension and depth work to do that really stood them in good stead once they hit secondary age.

I also went for private swimming lessons and by the time they hit Year 4 when they did swimming, both of them could swim 400 metres at all major strokes, use fins and snorkel correctly, dive in, swim underwater and manage open water. School lessons were not much use, but they did enjoy them.