Hi there, after a fantastic year in the village nursery I have noticed that my DS progress has stalled in Reception. His teacher is quite hard to pin down and she is also deputy head so is away from the classroom a lot leaving a large class of 30 quite often with a student and a TA who is sweet but does not have much control. I have witnessed this first hand while helping out. My DS is also a bit of a loner and wont join in unless encouraged but has a lovely time once he mucks in with other children. After much badgering and sometimes having to get stroppy with his teacher she has finally told me today that he does get stressed at lunchtimes when he is out with the whole school playing. He has been bullied and is much happier in smaller groups. She also told me that he was in a "special group" for phonics as he is behind and lazy. I was shocked by this as we had great reports from both playgroup and nursery. He is happy in his school or so he tells me.
There is a place in a great private school nearby where there only would be 13 in his class if and when he joins. I asked his teachers advice and she feels that they would not teach him independence which she feels is a big problem with him but would probably work with him on his phonics etc.
I have seen him thrive in smaller groups for swimming lessons etc. In a nutshell he is bright enough but if he can get away with it he will melt into the background.
What would you do? He is happy enough and I will feel terrible pulling him away but his teacher does not physically have the time to work on him.