Do less able children get much more attention

[grandpainmypocket]

At our school, the kids who are struggling with reading get heard every day but the others get heard individually only once a week which is not a lot. I can see they should get extra support and it helps the class as a whole as well as them but it seems quite imbalanced.

If the less able dcs were heard for example four times a week and the others twice a week that would seem fairer.

I guess this is a bit of a AIBU to think that?

What's the norm?

I think there is too little time spent reading full stop. But I don't begrudge those struggling the extra help. How are they m,eant to catch up otherwise?

I don't begrudge them at all and think it's right they should get extra help. I suppose it's the level of difference that I'm wondering about i.e. every day versus only once a week.

DS1 is able, and never received extra help.

DS2 struggles academically, and has always been taken out in a small group of children each day to be given extra help.

Now if DS1 had been pushed a little bit more, maybe he could be taking his GCSE's now at 11.

Of course it's imbalanced, because some children really need lots of extra help.Just be thankful that your DC isn't in the group of kids who are struggling.

Don't you read with your child at home, or is it just once a week with the teacher?

When I think this through it's probably not fair of me to relate the two. Maybe it's just that the 'rest of the class' should read more than once a week imho and that is unrelated to the ones who need help.
Hope the OP didn't come across the wrong was as it was simply me being curious about it.

Lots at home but I think school should do it too.

Do you think that possibly the 'less able' children aren't always getting the same support at home?

I know some of them are from very supportive homes. But I don't know all of them.

Yes in my opinion and experience as a parent classroom helper. I think it is right and proper that all children are given the opportunity to reach their potential and extra help should be given to those who are below average achievers. However, as the mum of 2 dd's who are both above average achievers (though by no means in the genius category) I don't think dd's are given enough teacher input to reach their potential. The teachers in our school do a great job and their focus is very much on supporting the under average achievers. We will be moving dd1 to private school for year 3 and will do he same when dd2 is ready for year 3 when they would otherwise move to junior school with even larger classes. We are lucky to be able to scrape together the money to do so.

Once DC get to a certain stage in reading, they are actually practising all the time without even realising. Reading the back of the cornflake packet, reading road signs, reading the instructions on the worksheets, reading the notices around the classroom, reading the notes that get sent home re clubs etc.
Whereas the ones that are still struggling with the basics of reading, only read during the designated reading sessions. So yes it is reasonable to weight the reading much more to the strugglers.

Well put choccypig!

Agree with choccypig. And I had one able child and one struggling, so have seen this first hand.

Lots of the time it's targetting the kids who don't get heard to read at home as well - not pure ability levels, although it might look like this from the outside.

Most schools I go in have a target list of kids it's a case of try to hear every day if possible - because of the fact that it's the only time they'll get heard. Others get heard as much as humanly possible too - but it might not be every day (unless you've got a class full of helpers and TAs!)

Generally, no I don't shower the less able with attention and leave the more able to fend for themselves because from my own childhood I know one brutal truth - nothing has the potential to cause as much mayhem in the class as a bright, bored child. Because of that, and the fact that I was that kid at school and got into endless bother for it - I make sure I keep firmly on the case of both ends of the spectrum.

I have twins, 1 very able (dd) 1 struggling a lot (ds). DD is heard once a week in school but I make sure I hear her everyday unless she is tired, then I just write in her book saying she hasn't read. DS is heard everyday (just phonic sounds and word flash cards, no book).

I think I'm just a bit at the fact some children get heard every day and others once a week. The difference should be there but is bigger than I expected.

I know half the children in the group's families and they are definitely the sort who read at home and are supportive.

Choccy - this is year 1 so I doubt there are many past that stage.

The differences in reading ability can be huge espcially in foundation/KS1.

Ds's reading is heard everyday. Tonight I timed him to see how long it took him to get to the page he read at school. Two minutes! He read the rest of the book at the same pace so I really wonder how long they actually spend listening to reading. Ds is one of the less able readers but all of the class is listened to individually on a daily basis.

How ridiculous. As if being able to read really well is a disability or disadvantage comparable to being unable to read! What do you expect to happen in school? Don't throw a pity-party because you child is doing well, for heaven's sake!

It's like moaning that the people in intensive care in hospital (you know, the really sick ones) get more 'attention' than the ones who are better!

My dd is in year 1 and has only read to her teacher once so far this year - yesterday. Before that, she also read once to a parent helper.

The children who are struggling do seem to get heard more often, but I don't have a problem with that - obviously, they need a bit of extra help.

Also, though my dd's teacher doesn't hear her read too often, she does ensure that dd has appropriately differentiated work - so it may not be a case of getting less attention, but rather just different attention. iyswim!

My son was in the average class of 30.
He has SN.
He is quiet, not disruptive (yes, you read that right, SN does not - disruptive).

There was one teacher, on TA in his class. Despite being offically reconised as having SN he got NO extra help, no help at all.
Despite not being able to read or do even basic maths, he was given same homework as the rest of the class (and threatend with missed playtime if he didnt do it)
He was in year 2 and could not read or write or understand what was going on in the classroom.

He is now in a special needs school. He can read and write, he has only been there since Easter.

Long answer to your question.

Short answer, NO, not IME.

It's not just the less able who get read with more often. At our school the less able do get read with 3 or 4 times a week, those who are at the expected level for their age get read with once a week, but the very top group who are far ahead of their peers also get read with at least 4 times a week. DD (7 and in y2) is read with at least 4 times a week yet is a free reader. I think they seem to focus on the top and bottom of the class.

It is typical schools bringing everyone to the median, rater than pushing each to the maximum.

just out of interest what do teachers do about parents who don't bother listening to their child read? or indeed help their child generally?

do you try to encourage them or do you just have to accept it and try to pick up the slack at school?

That is terrible sigent- an example of government initiatives in action- support the SEN and the G&T and let the ones int middle coast along! I would be furious if my child was in the middle group in your school!