Advice needed about school.. worried about daugther

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So my daughter is 5 in April. She started school in September 2021. However since starting her teacher has informed me that my 4 yr old isn’t very good at number recognition and keeps getting muddled. We’ve done lots of practising and currently has been given number 16 & 17 to practice at home. She’s had no issues since being at home over Christmas we have done lots of practising. She returned 2 days ago and I’ve messaged the teacher to say I had seen in her diary she was still struggling with certain numbers… the teacher responded saying she was in touch with their SENco and my daughter will have an assessment in the next two weeks! She then went on to say she had been monitoring my daughter and also noticed she struggles with grasping new information… and that she is going to be working on her memory.

I’m really upset as my daughters nursery never high lighted any issues and I’ve never thought my daughter had any problems… until now. Is the teacher being a bit over zealous? It all seems a bit extreme a 4 yr old requiring an assessment this young, or maybe it’s the ‘done’ thing these days? I feel like I’ve now failed my daughter somehow and she’s going to be classed as stupid. On the other hand if there really is an ‘issue’ I of course don’t want her to struggle and welcome the extra help. Feeling sad for my daughter and don’t know what else to do.

In terms of nursery not noticing, lots of children that age just aren’t interested so most nurseries wouldn’t push them, so wouldn’t realise if there was an issue. If the teacher is being over zealous the assessment will show that. I think it’s much better that they are trying to help her than just wait and see, if she is struggling the earlier she gets help the better.

You're only supposed to know numbers to 20 by the end of reception. Not sure my 4yo knows 16 and 17. She can't blend words yet, they've only been at school 2 minutes!

Reception teacher here! Are you in England? New statuory curriculum has now been introduced whereby children need a solid and secure understanding of numbers within 10. If you Google statutory framework for EYFS you will find it. There is no mention of numbers to 20 anymore. I don't mean to criticise a fellow teacher but it seems a bit much personally! I would perhaps have a quiet word with your child's teacher if you can. Good luck!

The teacher is doing exactly the right thing. If she’s not sure whether or not there’s reason to be concerned, which would be fair enough considering she’s a teacher not an Ed Psych QA and your dd is only 4, then her job is to seek advice from someone more knowledgeable like the SENCO. It might be that the senco observes your dd for a session and can then make a few helpful suggestions that the teacher can implement, and that will be the end of it.

Try not to over worry, this doesn’t automatically mean there’s something terribly wrong. It’s a good thing that the teacher is on the ball and is communicating openly with you.

My 4 year old is doing well and I love her school- they’re only on number “7” and from the maths tutorial I attended understand they are only meant to have a solid understanding of 1-10. Sounds like the school is the issue

My EYFS class are still working on numbers up to 5.

It's pointless expecting children to recognise a written number if they haven't yet grasped what that number actually means.

She then went on to say she had been monitoring my daughter and also noticed she struggles with grasping new information… and that she is going to be working on her memory.

Could it be that she's talking about your daughter's working memory? By that I mean how much information she's able to retain in one go when given more than one thing to remember. If so then it would make sense that the teacher would want to flag that up with the SENCO as a potential issue.

If it's just about not knowing certain numbers then it seems like overkill at this stage.