Y1 very ahead or not?

[strictlovingmum]

DD (5.4) in Y1 currently, able and hard working girl, I know it and DD's teacher confirmed it at the October parents evening, but that is it.
DD steadily moved up reading levels now at the purple, sound reading ability, at home will happily read other materials and her favourite poems.
DD has a very mature handwriting, seldom makes spelling mistakes, had her christmas story displayed in the school corridor, it was of a very good standard.
In numeracy DD does excel, mentally will add any two digit numbers, will subtract mentally up to 20, and knows times tables multiplying with 2,4 and 5, what confuses me is following;
Roll on, December interim report states Literacy B working within expected level, Numeracy B working within the expected level (DD needs to be able to recall her addition and subtraction up to 10 mentally), DD can do this in her sleep.
My question is,
Does DD's teacher have very high standards and expectations, or perhaps she just not getting DD at all?, DD's class is very small in non selective independent school.
I am not interested in school acknowledging DD's intellect ( I know breadth of her knowledge), But am I right in thinking that it would be useful if school could tailor more challenging work for her?, Is it unreasonable to expect that form school?
And lastly, why B's in her report?
I can't help but feel DD has been short changed a little bit

TIA

I can't see the big deal, it's only a october parent evening. I never expect everything is corrected in detail in as early as october.From what you said, you Dd should be comfortable sit the top table, but not that much ahead.I mean ahead, gifted, is far away out of any table.
Don't worry .
Do something if you can,like reading ,learning through play.

When you say b are you referring to national curriculum 1b, or a scoring system the school uses (I realise it's a private school so they might not follow the NC)? If she is at 1b, thn that's good for this early on in the year, as it is the expectation for the end of yr1.

Tbh, Your dd sounds likes she's doing similar things to mine & she has been assessed as 1b, (with what seem like very simplistic targets of recognising numbers to 20 etc). My own assessment is that she's working at around 2b, (2,3 5 & 10 times tables, adding up to/within 100, recognising 1/2, 1/4, 1/3, telling the time etc). So I started a thread before Xmas to ask basically the same as you did & a lot of the posts I got back seem to suggest things crank up a bit in the spring term & not to worry. If she's getting 1b already, they've recognised she's able, although perhaps not exactly how able, but you have to bear in mind they don't always do the same in school as they can do at home. Personally I'm going to give it about 3 weeks next term & then arrange a catch up with the teacher to find out if there is a discepency & get an idea of her current targets etc.

they do not always perfornm the same in school, confidence, pressure of getting it right, distractions, a couple of mistakes and the teacher thinks she has reached her ability, not spending long enough on a topic for the teacher to really get to the bottom of what each child knows... I also have one who can do a lot of what you said but also could not add numbers to 20 in school. I am trying to give it time and not scream, and I keep practising with dd.

My dd is also in year 1 and reading white band (she reads anything and everything at home). She can count in 2s, 5s and 10s but I think reading is her forte. She uses connectives and a range of punctuation, such as the exclamation mark and the apostrophe. One of her stories started a sentence with 'Slowly and silently...' which amazed me! Her reports have given her targets like making sure she uses a capital letter and full stops, yet at parents' eve, the report was really glowing. I think sometimes written reports are fairly generic in format and give the same target to a lot of children.

My dd has been assessed as a level 2a in reading - but not sure about writing. I have also had reports with simplistic targets and when I questioned dd's teacher - one of the targets was a complete error! It is always worth checking, as teachers have so many reports to do, they can sometimes be rather generic. Your dd certainly sounds ahead of mine in terms of maths ability and would probably be one of the more able in her class in reading.

Your DD certainly sounds bright but not exceptional and within normal age expected levels. I don't understand your concern. If she's doing well then surely you should be happy? Year One is not about hot housing it is about consolidating what has been learned in Reception and getting children used to a slightly more formal way of organising their work and their thinking. Let your DD enjoy her schooling and try and chill out a bit!

Thank you all for replying, Joyn I don't think school is relaying on NC levels, and I think the B's are in the relation to A's, which would be working at above expected level, perhaps is me being a bit precious about the whole thing and expected DD to score all A's.
I agree with all of you who says DD is bright, yes she is very much so, and my dilemma is not about whether DD is gifted or not, I know now that she isn't, but certainly I feel DD's work particularly in maths is of a very high standard, being able to add 54+46 or 42+42 in her head very swiftly and to answer automatically 5x9 among other things, bearing in mind DD very recently turned 5 I feel B in maths was very stingy, but hey I am her mother I am bound to feel this way.
Wellybobs yes I agree about big discrepancies between parents meeting and the actual report, in places I wondered if I was reading about my child.
Objectives:
To recall her addition and subtraction to 10
To use capital letters and full stops all the time, well she does.
To continue to contribute to the class discussions with appropriate and intelligent input and answers.

So is 1b what is expected at the end of year 1?

I think it's 1A mum80

Not boasting here but my dd got 2A in year 1 and 3A in year 2.

With respect, ibizagirl, then what are you doing??

"Not boasting here but my DD got 2a in year 1 and 3a in year 2"

Love the input ibizagirl

ibizagirl - my DS got a 3B in Y2 and is expected to start Maths AS Level in Y3!

TA can go higher than level 3 in year 2.

Sorry if i offended anyone but i really wasn't boasting.

Oh ibizagirl, no-one is offended, just a little amused, perhaps.

She sounds conscientious rather than gifted.

She does sound higher than average but not gifted but thats not to say she won't be in the future. Most y1 children would be expected to be working on basic times tables or counting in 2's, 5's, 10's etc. Purple level is higher than year 1 expectations but I know at least 6 year 1 children in DS's class that are above this (a lot more much lower I add). Also adding 2 digit numbers in their head is sometimes easier than them putting it on paper as they use partitioning.

I run a pre-school and we are often told most pre-schools and infant schools give levels that are too high so they may be on the cautious side so it may be she is actually higher than this but what you need to remember is also they need to be working consistently at that level and not just producing the odd piece of work at that level.

I have been through a similar situation and as long as you ask the right questions you will be able to get to the bottom of it if there is an issue with how they are levelling her and her progress. Don't worry too much though as she sounds as if she is doing really well!!!!

OP what I found was that the children have to be ticking all the boxes to move up levels. So - and teachers feel free to correct me - if a child can do really whizzy addition but hasn't totally mastered shapes or measurements then they will not move up.

I had this problem with both my eldest children. DS1 in particular who writes incredibly well but because he regularly forgets full stops then he does get penalised a little.

Levels are a funny thing, the most important thing is that you feel your child is making progress.

PS there are also many children in DS1's class on purple so this is not hugely unusual but she is still doing very well!!

We did get to the bottom if it, after gentle persuasion on my part, teacher reluctantly evaluated DD based on NC levels as follows;
Literacy 2a
Numeracy 3c working towards sub level 3b
As for the B's in DD's report, apparently DD works consistently most of the time, but on occasion can't be bothered and will laps, for A's she will have to be working consistently all the time and producing the work of same high standard, so that is why? B's.
In teacher words "Giftedness is not the case here, she is just very able and mature for her age, for giftedness I would be looking for more of everything, e.g.. special talents such as music, drawings etc".
Never the less DD is doing fine, moved onto the chapter books, she gets to choose her own books for special box, she is chuffed to bits, so all is good.
DD's school does not operate G&T they have their own criteria and by the sound of it, it's tough.

Why are some teachers so reluctant to acknowledge a child's talents, it doesn't just have to be in music or art, they don't have to say they are G&T - most schools don't really fully participate in a G&T programme till KS2 from past experience!

Your DD's levels are excellent, the fact she was only on purple level reading shows that maybe the teacher wasn't keen to push her as 2a is much higher than that level!

She is doing more than fine - average for end of Y2 is 2b so she is above already! Just make sure the school continue to help her progress - imagine what she could be doing at the end of Y2!!

Teachers oppinions on what giftedness really grate on me
''Giftedness is not the case here, she is just very able and mature for her age, for giftedness I would be looking for more of everything, e.g.. special talents such as music, drawings etc".
I just don't think alot of teachers 'get' what true giftedness is,do they actually learn about gifted children during teacher training?

Sorry that should say 'on what giftedness is'