What is reasonable to expect from school

[Cat98]

Ds is in reception and is - I don't know if gifted, but certainly very bright. I have posted a thread on here before.
His teacher has told us he is amazingly bright, he scored in the 99th percentile for some language understanding test they did for his age - no idea what that is, and he's doing year 3 numeracy work. Apparently he's the 'brightest in a bright class'.

Anyway, I posted another thread before about being concerned because next year, due to small school/numbers, about 6 of them in his year will probably be kept down with next years reception. They do this strictly on age and because my ds is one of the youngest he will be one of them. Dh and I are concerned and want to meet with the head about it, the thing is I'm not really sure what reasonably to expect from them.

We want to ask how they are going to ensure they differentiate appropriately for the year 1 kids in that classroom, and especially ds given the level of work he is doing. Is this ok do you think, and what answers would you expect to hear if the school is doing its job?
Thank you.

It's not what they say. It's what they do that matters. School's can say all sorts of things but if they do not put it into practise it is meaningless. You are not wrong to want to discuss it with the school.

It should not matter which class your ds is in, they should provide him with an appropriate level of work. It would be easier for the staff to have all the brighter ones together but that is just tough.

Having said that, if your ds is a clear head and shoulders above the rest then it won't matter if he is in the year 1 group or not. He will need to be catered for individually. The difference between reception and year 1 curriculum would not have that much affect on reducing the attainment gap between him and the rest iyswim.

Short answer discuss with the school so they know that you are monitoring the situation. Ask for his levels at the start of next year and what is targets are for the end of the year and make sure there is progress. You could always pop on here to ask if the targets are challenging enough.

An extra year in reception might not be the end of the world if there is a good teacher and the work is differentiated. There are far more opportunities for free learning in reception.

DD was very happy in reception but became distressed through boredom in yrs 1 and 2 as there is much more whole class learning later on.

Will your son be moving back to his own year group later on? And will he be going to secondary school with his current peers? If so, will the reception teacher be covering the curriculum to allow him to reintegrate with his year group?

Thanks for the replies.

Soapboxqueen - I know they would have to actually do it but as you suggest we would keep track of it as best as we could. I don't know what the system is re levels here (we are in Wales) but I will certainly ask, and about his targets as well.

Napl - yes I wouldn't be so worried if it was half and half as ds is emotionally on the young side despite his academic skills. But because there's only a few I am concerned it will be hard to differentiate. It's a good point though that they would have to differentiate anyway.
The year groups are split all the way up the school afaik, though they usually don't for year R/1 as nursery are also in with year R for 2 hours! (Though they have their own teacher). They are back together for year 6 and going into comp. I am also sad for ds as he will be split from his 2 best buddies :(

Surely if the class he's in now are giving him y3 numeracy work then they'll just carry on with challenging him like that next year? It does seem a daft way to decide who goes in to which class but if those are the rules I suppose you'll just have to wait and see what happens

Next year in yr1 they will have recorded his NC levels (although obviously he is on them now but not " officially" iyswim as he is still in an EYFS class) so the school have to show he is making progress.

Have you been happy with how they have differentiated for him this year? IMO that is much more important as hopefully it shows they will continue to do so.

Have you got another parents eve before the end of the year? If so I would ask then.

DD is very able in her reading and writing ( reading at yr3 level) and I know that they (her teachers and HT) had a meeting over what to do with her next year (she is also in reception) so I would have thought your DS's school are probably thinking about it now too.