"Ministers are planning a new reading test for six-year-olds to identify struggling pupils earlier. "

[Spingsummer]

Here is the link for the article www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1306316/Thousands-pupils-unable-write-properly-struggle-basic-maths.html

Brilliant. Just what we need - thousands of pounds spent to tell us what we know already. Fgs.

the good old DM
News must be slow today no cats in bins it seems

I have to admit that I have had a core of boys over the last three years who can not transfer their oral literacy to their written work in Y2. All of them have picked up by Y4 - they're not SEN and they engage wholeheartedly in literacy lessons. They're just totally uninterested in the writing process!.... but they do form part of that '20% failing' statistic.

Since returning to Y2 (after 3 years in KS2) I have found that the goalposts have tightened for writing and that we are making more and more demands on young children, particularly with the massive leap from 1a to 2c.

I think KS1 should end in Y3, with targets based on good, reliable statistics from Y2 (not the dubious assessments from Y1 and FS!). By then, most children have good fine motor skills and can physically write at length. Their oral and written vocabularies are better, and they are more capable of retaining information.

What do other people think?

As for a new reading test....

I think the expectations for 6 & 7 year old children to write in a particular genre is an issue. Having said that we are going against the trend with our boys achieving highly in literacy

I've just been reading a thread on TES a NQT faced with a child about to enter Y1 having been assessed as level 4 by the previous teacher!!

How, mrz? Your secret please!

bribery

RollaCoasta - I agree with you as my ds is y6 in sept and I saw him changing his attitude towards writing

in a way i nthis respect teaching boys and girls is completely different cup of tea I think

My dd1 couldnt read or write at all from reception or year 1, in year 2 she suddenly just picked it up, and now loves reading and her writing has also improved as a result...I dont think a six year olds abilities is indicative of what they will be like in future.

There were some children in my dd's reception class who could read brilliantly, and my dd couldn't read at all.

What kind of bribery?
We give prizes for targets / completion of reading adventures... that kind of bribery?

RollaCoasta you have made some very good points there. BTW what is the massive leap from 1a to 2c that you mentioned? what differentiates the two?

shhhhhhh! ..... chocolate

Can see that would work... but not allowed in school for birthdays even down my way!! Do you think plums and pears would have the same effect?!

To be assessed at 1a, children use 'simple words and phrases to communicate meaning'. At 2c the children are expected to have developed their writing, and must include more detail. (For instance: L1 writing 'We went to the park. I played on the swings.' develops into 'I went to the park near my house with mummy and Josh. I went on a swing and swung as high as the clouds.' in L2.)

At 2c are expected to write connected sentences (and, then); to be able to spell mono-syllabic words correctly; to spell phonetically so all their work can be read; to write legibly; to use fullstops and capital letters (not with 100% accuracy).

The devil is really in the detail.

An accidental discovery (big tin of heroes - gift from a parent) and a temp nursery nurse ... they don't even realise that they are gradually having to do more for the same reward until they get to the point the reward isn't necessary - but boys like an instant reward rather than collecting 10 stickers to get a prize or certificate
once the tin was empty that was it... but the motivation continued or came from them wanting to do well rather than wanting to do well to get a reward.
We are a healthy school so parents were consulted and no one objected
We use Big Talk /Writing (adapted to suit us) so focus very early on grammar, punctuation, handwriting,and spelling which seems to get good results. We don't group by ability and include literacy in every lesson regardless of subject.

How odd. I thought this government was all about de-centralisation of education, empowering schools, dismantling the New Labour Stalinist agenda, Academies, Parent Run Schools, etc etc etc. And here they are adding in another government directed mandated test. Well. Well. Well. (sarcasm)

To quote Ian Hislop, you don't fatten a pig by weighing it every day.

mrz, I often think your school (and its teachers ) sounds lovely when I read your posts.

Its not normal practice there, but I know one of the reading volunteers (not a parent) in dd's school used the Chocolate Method in Y1, with great effect

To be fair they did say they would introduce reading tests for 6 year olds before the election back in April www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/interrogation-by-email-michael-gove-explains-his-plans-for-britains-schools-1948804.html then again in May
www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/education-bill-to-introduce-new-reading-tests-1982946.html but the DM have just got around to sensationalising it

I agree that boys like the instant rewards... hmmm.... sweeties... got an idea I won't be able to do that one! Maybe bits of jigsaw or something.....

We do much the same as you re. organisation, big talk/write, etc and writing through creative curriculum.

Jolly Phonics was not working - we have a transient population (lost and replaced 11 going from Y1-Y2 last year! Turn around during the year is also quite high) so have decided to run with Read, Write Inc as it will give us an immediate assessment on entry and a very structured approach. The problem is, we never know what's going to walk through the door - had a L1 arrive a week before summer half term this year (with statemented brother in Y6!)

Still, enough about literacy matters! We're starting Forest School this term.... yippee!!

To some European countries this would look normal as many children on the continent start their reception year when they are 6 and the year 1 when they the children are 7-year-olds. May be that is why so many children in England struggle because they go to school too early?

My friend is going to send her DC to the Steiner School. She says he can start his reception at this school when he is 6. I have read on the MN comments about the Steiner system and it looks as many children still struggle to read by the age of 8 because of their laid back approach to reading and studying in general. There were mentioned many other bad points which I did not like. Looks like a rip off business.

My DS's motivation for studying is not high even with bribing :) But you never know how it goes at his school.

I used Big Cat Phonics on the IWB (with JP actions) in reception and it continued into Y1 This year I'm starting Y2 using Phonics International
I'm starting Forest schools in KS1 in September! we do "woodland school" in nursery and reception

I'd agree that learning to read isn't a predictable linear process and expecting all children to be at a certain level at the end of YR1 when they're 6 is setting children up for failure - and the vast majority of these children will 'get it' at some point between ages 6 and 7.
Having said all that I do think that identifying children who are finding reading difficult and offering them support might well be helpful. The problem there is that there is this dogmatic perception of synthetic phonics as a magic bullet and when it doesn't work (or work well enough) nothing else is available. Support in learning to read needs to be available, needs to incorporate alternative methods delivered by people trained in those methods and needs to be based on non-judgmental assessment. All of this will cost money, so it won't happen.

Any teacher (even crap ones) can tell you exactly who does, and does not find reading difficult without a test, and so can their parents. Now if the huge amount of money which will be spent on the test was spent on offering more support for those who find it difficult instead, that would be incredibly useful. But it's stupid to waste it on telling us something we already know.

It's that buzzword "accountability" and apparently parents like tests

mrz,

Unfortunately it's true about parents liking tests - I seem to be the only parent at my children's school who hates them, thinks they're a pointless waste of time and interfere with actual learning. KS1 tests aren't so bad because if handled well, the children don't know they're being tested - my two both came home talking about the 'fun activity' that they did when in YR2. I'm dreading the KS2 tests though - more than an entire term spent drilling, drilling, drilling - what a sad waste, when most secondary schools take no notice of the tests at all and in fact retest the children as soon as they start.

I think it boils down to parents not trusting teachers, and that in turn boils down to endless media stories about bad teachers and endless government interference in schools and the curriculum (obviously if governments feel the need to do this then schools MUST be bad, yes?).

Call me naive, but as an involved parent I have good grounds to trust the professionals who teach my children, so I set more store by their assessments than by any centralised test...