Slow start to phonics in reception reassurance/ advice needed

[csla]

DD is in reception (born Dec). After the parents evening in October we were told that she is in the bottom set for phonics. She can sound and blend cvc words and recognises around 20 'common exception' words. They are learning diagraphs now. Does anyone have experience of this and whether there is anything we can do at home to help? Her teacher asked that we support at home but only recommended a couple of online games. Although I appreciate it's early days I'm worried she could continue to fall behind. Does anyone have experience of a slow start but their children have learnt to read well? Thanks! 😊

Don’t worry!! Kids are ready to read at different ages, and all the extra practice and intervention in the world isn’t going to make much of a difference if they aren’t ready yet. Same as when they were learning to walk or crawl.

There’s also no such thing as falling behind in early years / ks1. Struggling with phonics when she is 5 is no indicator of future academic potential.

both of mine were not ready for reading in reception, and one wasn’t really ready until mid y1. Painfully slow progress through that time, definitely bottom sets and put in interventions. For each of them things clicked at a certain point and it all came much faster. Now in y3 and one is exceeding expectations and other meeting expectations, and that is despite having a late diagnosis of a vision issue that affects reading. Both are total book worms and do very well in school.

I don’t think any of the extra work we did at home made much of a difference, tbh, and in some instances was counter productive as it threatened to turn them off reading. The most valuable thing we did with them is make reading fun - reading interesting, fun, sometimes challenging books to them every night, making sure they had access to visually interesting books to look at even when they couldn’t yet read, getting a Yoto player so they could listen to audiobooks.

My youngest was appallingly bad at phonics and found the first few years of phonics / reading / spelling a rather painful and frustrating experience. They're currently in year 4, reading for pleasure for around an hour or so before bed every day, and with a reading age well above their chronological age.

Your child might turn out to be a great reader, or the opposite, or anything in between. Frustrating though it is, you just have to keep trying to help them when they're minded to do something literacy-related, keep it fun (difficult with the beyond dull reading scheme books schools use), and try to develop a habit of enjoying words, books and stories.

How long has she been in school? If she is in reception, I am guessing she is 5? Depressing that the suggestion is that she is falling behind. I hope she is not aware that she is considered to be less able than her peers. A few years ago reception children might just be learning initial sounds at this age. As an ex primary school teacher, I am surprised that that level of progress is considered a problem. She doesn't sound to be falling behind.She must be part of a very able cohort, if with those skills, she is in the bottom group! I have taught dozens of children and nearly all learnt to read. One of my daughters was 8 or 9 before she got the hang of it, the other could read simple books when she was 5. Children develop at different rates and have different learning styles. Your daughter sounds as though she has made a promising start to me. Schools set great store by phonics these days. It is not the only avenue to reading. If you want a successful, literate reader, make sure she has access to a range of great books, like Julia Donaldson rhyming books and traditional tales or non fiction if that is her thing. There are dozens of super picture books around . Children become literate by hearing and sharing books and wanting to read them themselves. A device like a yoto is great for recording stories onto. I record stories for my granddaughter who listens to them a lot and when we share the book in print she wants to try sections herself. She is 6 (Nov birthday) and is clearly becoming a reader. (She really dislikes the tedious phonics based reading books school sends home; she can decode them fairly well but reads them under protest).There are fun phonic and reading games on the Internet. Try the suggested ones and see if she enjoys them. Also encourage her to write, sounding out some words. Dgd has secret diaries she 'writes in' , does cards and we write menus, lists and instructions as part of play. I hope she continues to do well. Lots of praise and encouragement. I am sure she will be fine.

Phonics lead here in large 4 form entry (I’m responsible for phonics throughout the school) : the expectation at the end of autumn term is that children know all single sounds and can orally blend into words. Children that do not know any digraphs yet are NOT behind. I’d pin your child’s teacher down on exactly what the expectation is at the start of spring one and where your DC is behind on that. Be specific. Which sounds is she or he lacking against what they SHOULD know. Knowing 20 exception words is fantastic. They certainly don’t sound behind to me!! Which scheme do they follow and which group are they in? Don’t settle for vague answers and ask to speak to phonics lead if you get nowhere.

ask for a set of digraph cards to support the digraphs they are now learning. Review these single sounds plus digraphs over the dinner table.
ask for additional reading books at their level and read them at home with them daily at least.

Don't panic.

DD (15) massively struggled with phonics. School put in a lot of extra help and somehow she got 100% in the phonics test (suspect she would not have done a week later).

She's severely dyslexic and didn't learn to read until she well over 7. She's now in top set English for GCSE, can't spell at all, finds reading hard, but is regarded as exceptionally able for creative writing and has targets of 8.

Chances are that your DD will be completely normal and just pick things up at a different pace/time and things will be totally fine. But even if she doesn't, it doesn't mean she can't succeed.

We compensated by me reading lots of books and lots of high quality films/TV/Musicals with advanced vocabulary (Narnia, 5 Children & It, Tom's Midnight Garden, Roald Dahl etc)

Thanks for all the responses. They use 'read write inc'. They did an assessment at some point in the first term and told us she is in the bottom of 4 groups and is receiving extra support in school but if we could do some practice at home that would be helpful. She did attend the school nursery so maybe they expected more by the first term of reception.

Her 'exception' words are in a book and she gets given a new set of around 7 every time she can read them all (teacher tests weekly). She's now on her 4th set although I wonder if sometimes she's learns by rote (although she can read them out of sequence).

The first term of reception does seem so young for them to be in ability groups.

I've just seen that there is a parent support pack on amazon for read write inc. which contains flash cards so I'll order that. I'll also ask for another discussion with the teacher in a few weeks.

Thanks

Can’t believe they said to you a 4 year old is “in the bottom set for phonics”. Where have we gone wrong with childhood 😔
When will these men in suits in Whitehall who write the curriculum realise that children all develop at their own pace and are not robots following a line on a graph?

Sorry op probably not the response you were looking for but it amazes me (& I’m an ex primary teacher!).

Thanks, I know what you mean. I also really hope she doesn't become aware she is considered 'bottom' at this very early stage of her school life.

My DD’s school use RWI and my youngest was in reception during lock down.

Are they expecting her to have done set one by now? There are a few diagraphs in set one. In my DD’s class (decial one area, ie super middle class) about half the kids are still on set 1 and half have moved onto set 2.

Do school think she is at the same place as you do?

I’ve taught Reception for a long long time and I can’t believe that a child who is blending CVC words and recognises 20 common exception words is in the ‘bottom’ set (awful way of putting it btw, I’d never say that to a parent.)
The children who I’d say are struggling at this (very early) stage are the ones who can’t oral blend yet (the stage before blending for reading) and who don’t consistently recognise a good number of the sounds they’ve been taught in their phonics scheme so far.
Even children who are struggling at this point often catch up before the end of the year. We give those children extra phonics intervention and it’s wonderful when you see things click.
From what you’ve said above, it really sounds as if your child is well on track. I’d definitely be asking the teacher what extra your child should be doing in order to be on track.

My summer born Dd was not even blending anything at that point in reception, now yr 2 she’s top of the class in English and spelling, loves reading and writing, ridiculous amounts of books got through. Wish I hadn’t bothered with all the extra work we did with her as it clicked in it’s own time. So just to say, don’t worry that this (which doesn’t even sound like it should have been flagged as an issue at this point anyway) is a predictor of achievement over the next few years.

Check on YouTube they have a lot of read write inc stuff and it will help you with the sounds etc ask which set she is on and which ones she is struggling with but I wouldn't panic as others have said, my son struggled with phonics but was reading books and comprehending what the book was about at an early age, personally I don't think phonics is for every child.

I find it very hard to believe that an early years teacher is using the phrase 'bottom set'.

However, just enjoy bookscwith your little one. Reading comes at its own pace. Some children don't get on well with the phonics system (I know, sacrilegious) and will develop skills in a different way.

Reception teacher here. That is not behind. That is absolutely bang on where she needs to be at this point in the year. I'm really confused by her teacher telling you she's behind!! A child blending cvd words by christmas- perfect. Picked up some comments exception words? Great! Please don't worry. They must have an exceptionally advanced class if she's in the bottom group. I always have children who can't blend and have only picked up a handful of sounds at thjs point in the year.

Thanks. She said there are four groups for phonics and she's in the "bottom group".

I don’t think she needs more school work at home. Just read with her. If you read a variety of diverse and interesting picture books and follow the words with your finger, she’ll pick up the rules of language quite naturally over time.

Thanks, that's reassuring.

My daughter really struggled with phonics and didn't start reading books like her friends until much later, it worried me so so much and I did all I could to help. She's just smashed her gcses!

I think the teacher telling you your child is in the lower class is really unfair and provided unacceptable stress and worry for you. I don't feel this is helpful, why not talk to you about the next steps and how you can help your child? That would have been more productive

You might find this useful and reassuring - it's the rwi training expectations for progress. Based on this, your child is a bit ahead of where the scheme requires her to be.

If you want info about Read write inc, there are videos for parents showing how it is taught as well as access to some resources at https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parentsandcarers/#:~:text=Free%20Read%20Write%20Inc.&text=Parents%20and%20carers%20can%20access,are%20also%20available%20to%20download.
I wouldn’t rush to get the home packs until you have had further conversation with her teacher as has been suggested. I have been trained to teach and have taught Read, write inc. it is normal to group children according to progress because of the way it is taught. As I said earlier, phonics is only one skill in learning to read. It is so regrettable how so much focus is on pushing such young children. What happened to learning through play and creativity? As I readied my granddaughter for school today, I asked her what she would tell her classmates and teacher about her holiday experiences . She said ‘ Nothing, there won’t be time for any of that. It will just be maths. I don’t want to go to school’. What a shame. She’s only just 6!

My now 12 year old was in the lower phonics group in reception to begin with. He picked it up soon enough & is currently reading The Hobbit. Just read lots with them for fun and build a love of books at this age that's the most important bit

With RWI they move the groups around quite frequently as they assess progress. So you might find at some points she makes a leap in her learning and moves 'up' the groups. From what you have said it seems like she is doing really well for one term at school. I don't think either of my boys were that far ahead and both a good readers now.

Ok: exception words ARE meant to be sight words as they are not phonetically decodable. In RWI language they are “red” words.

My school and academy are RWI so I know the scheme inside out.

In RWI they are supposed to be assessed every half term and regrouped so she should have been assessed in Dec. There is a RWI document called expectations of progress which shows you exactly what a child should be able to do at each termly assessment and what sounds she should know at each half term. What level books is she bringing home - if ANY? If your child is in group 1C or above (ditty or red) they are not below expectations. The END of reception goal is for them to be able to read green books and know the first 6 set 2 digraphs. Just because some children are higher doesn’t mean she’s behind. And yes, a central part of RWI is that a child is placed at their stage not age. Our groups work vertically across reception and KS1. It works well as some children arrive into school with knowledge and others nothing.

in terms of what you can do:

firstly - don’t put off a discussion with the teacher. Go in armed with questions. Ask them to plot her last assessment point against the expectations of progress document I referred to above. That should tell you whether she is really behind or not.

In ditty and red groups they learn the following digraphs : sh/qu/ch/ng/nk/ll/zz/ss and ff. If you google “RWI Set one cards” you can download the pdf copy of the cards and print. You can also search for “RWI speed sound lessons” for the relevant digraph.

any other questions pls ask.

Read to her every night at bedtime.

She isn’t behind. My Reception class haven’t started digraphs yet!