Weird school report?

[sambaba]

DD, just turned 5, has been able to read since 2. She can now read for example Harry Potter. She will ask about and respond to punctuation in text. Comprehension is amazing.
She started school this Sep and her first school report says underachieving for language and communication.
Both her nurseries identified her language was very advanced.
For context DH and I are both teachers and were also both GAT at literacy.
Is this a bit odd? I don't really plan on saying anything but I'm just a bit baffled.
It's two form entry and there are a lot of challenging kids I think including one whose been a bit violent at time, I suspect she's a gentle soul and doesn't say much.

This is exactly what I'm getting at, thank you.

SENCO’s don’t diagnose anything, they manage the SEN department.

You are really unnecessarily defensive when people are trying to advise you.
Being a teacher doesn't really help in this situation, you aren't going to view your own child in the same way as the ones you teach.

Sorry I'd forgotten the arm chair diagnosis of ND on Mumsnet is always right tho.

So what was the point of posting?
Honestly, I'd just speak to the teacher

I don't really get the point of posting as if you are a teacher etc surely you can assess her yourself. Just sounds like a brag

@sambaba what were you hoping to get from this thread? A load of people saying how clever your DD is and how the big blue meanie teachers were obviously wrong about their concerns?

I'm sorry you don't like the replies. But I stand by what I said. I don't believe for one moment that any 5 year old has the emotional development needed to fully comprehend the plot and themes of the Harry Potter books (the dumbed down films are a different matter altogether) and in my personal opinion you're doing her a disservice by not putting the effort in to find her more age appropriate reading material that will challenge her without going over her head. Saying "she is reading Harry Potter so can't have problems with language and communication" just makes no sense at all.

I'm not sure why you're not planning on raising it with the teacher. I would question it if my average child was "underachieving". Is that the term the school has actually used?

I'm wondering if the teacher is recording the children at a low level so it looks like they've made progress by the end of the year, or whether your DD isn't talking much at school? Or could it be that they have few observations of your DDs language and they are using data rather than teacher judgement? If your a teacher her you probably have your own theories, but I doubt MNetters have the answers.

Maybe the teacher has her confused with another child?

It doesn't matter what she can do at home if she isn't showing those skills in the classroom.

It took DD a term or two to really settle into Reception and show what she could do. In hindsight I ofcourse looked like a raving loon telling them she could read and was reading XYZ at home when at school she wasn't showing any of those skills. I remember her first parents evening and my nose was firmly out of joint because I knew what the were saying wasn't right. But is just took time.

Why would you ask here and not just ask the teacher if you dispute the report?

What are you wanting the people of mumsnet to tell you OP? Clearly you aren’t happy with the responses so far.
Is it just that MN isn’t impressed enough with your family of gifted and talented readers?

You have made the point that both of you are teachers including one who specialises in SEN and that you have 30 years experience between you no less and yet you still felt the need to come on a public forum and ask advice then get cross about the replies.

Such an odd post.

I was wondering this. Mistakes happen, especially at the end of a long and tiring term. We once got another child's report.

You are saying your DD is not ND. So by inference, average 5 year olds can read Harry Potter?

There are a few options - the teacher has 'cut and pated the wrong info into your child's report' the comment was not about reading but was about social interactions - and the boisterous nature of the class means your child is quite and a backseater!

The only way to know - is to ask the teacher.. not randos on the internet.

What 'age/year' do you teach?

I suspect neurodivergence in you and your child given how you interact in this thread and having a hyperlexic DC

This is so ridiculous it's making me laugh out loud. All she has said is that her child is very good at reading and understands what she's reading. Now you say that the OP is autistic and her daughter - no matter how many times she has told you isn't - is hyperlexic.

Your communication skills are very poor as your level of understanding.

I found that at this time of year the teacher hardly knows the child at all. I wouldn't worry what the report says too much. The end of year one should be much more accurate.

It sounds like you don't have any confidence in the class teacher given what you've said about her inappropriate discussions and the head having to intervene in front of parents. Do you have confidence in the school as a whole and are you prepared to stick with this teacher for this academic year even though you don't rate her teaching ability, rather than move schools?

Why are you so defensive OP? It's really odd.

My first port of call would be to ask the teacher about their reasons for that grading, and listen to the response. It's not that unusual for children to present v differently at home and at school so it could easily be possible that she doesn't communicate well in that environment (yet).

Btw I agree that Harry Potter is not thematically appropriate for a Reception pupil, regardless of whether they can read it or understand each sentence. Don't go up when you should go broad.

I have BTDT with my DS who taught himself to read at just 3. He could read anything at all and was tested with RA of 7y11m on school entry at 3y5m. I realised he was being given books that he could read but didn't conceptually grasp, like a book about cars that talked about relative engine speed, horsepower, that kind of thing.

100% this. The poor op.
Everyone loves to throw a ND diagnosis at someone. No wonder the OP is defensive when she clearly has a lot of experience, posts a genuine query in GAT and then is told she must have autism. Fucking hell!
We read to DS from a young age and he is very good at reading and comprehension.
I suspect with a difficult class with a couldn't child that her DD is prob a bit quiet due to this.

It's gifted and talented. Maybe she was looking for advice from other parents of gifted and talented kids and not this weird pile on.

You sound like an awful teacher.
Was kind of teacher manages send and thinks you need no in-depth knowledge.
No wonder schools struggle with Sen so much.

maybe unusual but not at all improbable - my six year old is really enjoying Harry Potter - he checks in with me about some vocab - and we chat about the story lines together - but he’s super happy reading it himself.

With all of these qualifications you and your DH have I’m really not sure what insight a bunch of random strangers on MN could possibly provide, here.

A conversation with the teacher is the obvious next step but I’m sure you already knew that.

Some of the responses on this thread are bizarre. The moment a woman dares to say that they have any expertise in anything or their child is talented at something, the vipers come out to bite.

As a teacher myself I would challenge because it doesn’t sound right. It might be a genuine mistake - our reporting software uses a really stupid drop down menu that we have to scroll and click to input our grades and every reporting period one of us ends up accidentally putting in the wrong descriptor or grade for a student where we’ve scrolled and clicked in the wrong place. It’s easily done and it might be as simple as that, and once made aware of it, the teacher will be able to give you an accurate report.

Alternatively, if not a mistake, it could be any number of things that would concern me - it might be that the teacher doesn’t actually know your child that well, or lacks the ability to assess them properly, or your child doesn’t feel safe enough in the classroom to be themselves. All of these are potential issues I would want to have a conversation about. So I definitely wouldn’t leave it.

To everyone on here insisting a child can’t read and understand a book as complex as Harry Potter at the age of 5 - of course they can, if that’s how their brain is wired. I was reading at 2 and could certainly have read and conceptually understood Harry Potter at 5. I have a strange ability to read and comprehend whole pages of text at a glance and can see words in the air as people say them. It’s come in very useful as an English teacher - makes marking essays much faster 😂 . I wouldn’t call myself gifted - and I’m not autistic. My brain just decodes and comprehends words very quickly. Unfortunately it doesn’t do the same for numbers!