A bit worried about DS’s nursery report

[eitherororor]

DS is four and 3/4, goes to school in September. He’s been attending the same nursery three days a week since he was 10 months.

The report seems a bit flat to be honest. It seems to be a bit worded nicely but hinting at wider issues (phrases like ‘active child’ spring to mind!)

He is developing in all areas. They’ve said things like he can’t recognise letters or numbers and that he mumbles and gets words confused.

I don’t know, it just seems to damn with faint praise a bit. The staff are lovely and when I’ve spoken to them on parents evenings they’ve been quick to assure me there are no concerns at all. I just sort of feel that if I was his reception teacher I’d feel a bit wary of him!

Being able to parrot 12345 is not the same as properly counting to five or knowing what five objects is though. Lots of kids can ' count' to 5 but not touch each object and count 3, 5 or 7 objects as 5. Language of maths is important too, probably more than being able to count to 20 or even recognise the numbers. Eg which is taller, heavier, which piece of cake is bigger.

Sorry but what things do you do with him outside nursery then you would know what he could and couldn't do and wouldn't need to worry about the report from the nursery.

What are you sorry for?

Thanks for replies. I think DS has often seemed a little behind a lot of children I know, to the point where I was once very worried (his language and communication skills seemed to be very poor) but he did catch up and no issues now. Every so often though I do find the ‘old’ worries come back if you like.

The EYFS is until they finish Reception. I’d expect most children leaving nursery to be ‘developing’ at this stage and they should be secure in these skills at the end of Reception.

They would be making the judgements against the nursery criteria rather than against the end of reception criteria.
So for example the literacy expectation for a 3-4 year old in nursery would be "Write some letters accurately" whereas by the end of reception it would be "Write short sentences with words with known sound-letter correspondences using a capital letter and full stop".

I'm not entirely clear on what your concerns are. It's correct that school readiness isn't about knowing phonics or numbers. That's all taught at school. The focus is on things like potty training and independent self-care so if he can do all that, he'll be fine.

It sounds like the report just tells you what he can and can't do so you know, that's the point of a report.

Did he ever see a Speech and Language Therapist if you had concerns about his communication?