Will I seem like a pushy parent if I send this to DS1's new school??

[sylar]

DS1 's nursery have handed me his transfer report to send through to his new school for September since they "don't have the address" (or it seems the ability to look it up in the phone book/on the internet ).

Its is fine but contains all the usual "DS1 can recognise numbers 1 to 20 and understands past present and future" etc. Its clearly all worked through from a checklist rather than particularly useful information about DS1.

Will I seem like a nightmare pushy parent if I send it with a brief covering letter saying "here is the report from nursery. It might also be usfeul to know that DS1 will struggle to put on his own socks, may occasionally fall asleep late afternoon, can't yet swim (but thinks he can) and can read at book band x etc"

The query is mainly about the reading information. On the one hand I don't want the teacher to think I'm a pushy mum and I know there is some stigma about teaching children to read before they start school, but at the same time it seems silly to send him in without her knowing that he can read and have to work it out for herself. Its a selective school and so I would imagine a few of the children will have started reading.

What do you think?

It might do his confidence good anyway to know stuff and be able to answer questions at circle time e.g. the basic single letter ones. But I would like it if he could progress with his reading from where he is already at. Or is that unrealistic?

We have a home visit lined up, would that be a good time to casually mention the reading, counting to 100, basic maths type stuff? (Won't give the teacher a whole long list of things he can do as that would be very pfb and sad!)

MRZ by the way, it's intentionally grammer not grammar.... I am really quite literate don't ya know!

Sorry thegrammerpolice....no it isn't unrealistic for him to read at his own level but even as a reader he will benefit from daily phonics sessions if nothing else it will help with spelling and reading more complex words than those he's encountered so far. In my reception class this year I had children reading gold level books and children who were struggling with c.a.t. each reads at their own level but all do a short daily phonics session revising sounds already taught, blending and segmenting words and learning new sounds or new ways of writing those sounds.

When you say count to a 100 do you mean count a hundred objects or recite number names to a hundred?

Any information from parents should be valued, but teachers will always check for themselves anyway, we're a suspicious lot! What a parent/child thinks they can do and what a teacher thinks don't always coincide. For example,I have had several parents say " xxx knows all her letters and numbers to 20" when what they can actually do is sing a nice number song but have no idea about number/quantity correpsondence! ( I'm not saying this is the case for your DD, but you never know!) We also like to know about swimming, because our reception children DO swim!

mrz - he can count to 100 reciting and count items up to 20 (maybe beyond but I've no idea as can't think when we've counted more than 20 things really). I think he'd get bored counting more than that so won't bother asking him to see if he can!

He can also tell you one, two or three more or less than most numbers and do stuff like count things in his head he can't see (e.g. how many days until Friday on Monday - always knows what day it is - and gets it right). So I think he has a good grasp of the basics of numeracy rather than just reciting.

That's useful to know as I will ensure I hint at this with the teacher rather than just saying he can count which I agree is different.
Also great discussing this with you as you have made me feel much more positive about him doing phonics basics.

I would tell the teacher that he can count 20+ objects and recite numbers to 100 as obviously there is a big difference in the two skills one is more useful than the other if you see what I mean and the teacher may have to plan different tasks for him.

ok that's the content but how exactly should I start this conversation (during the home visit) so I don't sound pushy?

I have two transfer reports from 2 childcare settings, and I think they're both a load of tick-sheet EYFS rubbish, and don't reveal anything about DS that isn't obvious to someone who's spent a day with him. (Got that off my chest!). I feel sorry for the pre school staff lumbered with producing them.

He can do loads of things that are not listed on the "framework" but I really have lost faith in it. I did write a small essay in the "parents contributions" section but I don't think they were at interested.

Don't suppose that helps the OP but I share your frustration.

You could give it a week or 2 and then chat to the teacher after school if you have any concerns.

"I have two transfer reports from 2 childcare settings, and I think they're both a load of tick-sheet EYFS rubbish, and don't reveal anything about DS that isn't obvious to someone who's spent a day with him. (Got that off my chest!)."

Yep, got the second nurseries report thing today and it was exactly as you put it. There was nothing negative but it was all based on a very basic ticksheet. But as you suggest it's not really the fault of the staff.

Frustrating all the same.

I would rather my child's new teacher relied on her own observations and assessments, rather than someone else's.

Applesinmy pocket; I love your comments. All of them!

However, as a Cambridge graduate myself, I've always been pretty laisez-faire with my children. I think that at University you realise that everything you've done until then is pretty basic and a bright child will just pick it up whether they are taught well, taught badly, start at 7, start at 3 or never even go to school.

It's only at University you discover your own limits. (and for me it was the buckling of thin walled structures using vector calculus. It is still a complete mystery to me!)

"a bright child will just pick it up whether they are taught well, taught badly, start at 7, start at 3 or never even go to school."

But Builde surely the foundations are important too?

So many children these days can't spell properly or have appalling grammer (couldn't resist that). You don't learn that sort of thing at university, you learn it at primary school.

see I dont think you're being pushy

kmy dd2 is 4.3 and writes her own name in big and small letters
knows what the numbers are written down

WANTS to write other stuff and learn what the letters are

WANTS to read

I will help her, she sees it as playing and loves it

she doesn't go to school till she is 5 and a half

I reckon she might be reading by then, dunno, but I wont need to tell the school as the nursery is attached to the school

Sylar - I don't think it would be pushy, given the school. I wouldn't write a note, though - I'd mention it at the home visit. Teachers will make their own assessment, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't say anything. My DS was reading pretty much anything by the time he went into Reception at an independent school, and they started him on ORT level 5. I did mention that he was a bit beyond that (he hadn't been to nursery, so there weren't any forms to fill in), so they immediately moved him up to level 8 and then took him off it altogether. It would have been crazy for him to be doing letter sounds. The school was very responsive and has remained that way. The only problem I then had was when DD started Reception and the teachers thought that she would be reading as DS had been. They were quite surprised to find that not only was she not reading, but she wasn't confident about all her letter sounds!

Re: the swimming (although the same principle would also apply to the reading), no teacher is going to accept a 4yo's assertion that he can swim without checking it out for themselves before chucking them in the deep end.
These teachers are trained, fgs!