How structured is Yr 1 at your children's school, and what do you think of it?

[emkana]

At my children's school they are very keen to make the transition from Reception to Year 1 a very gradual one, and to still offer lots of child-led activities and play-based learning. One of the reasons I love the school! What is it like at your children's school, and what do you think of it?

Gabid, yes, we've had a similar experience. Bear in mind though, that Italian is a phonetic language, therefore easier to read and write than english.

Gabid, yes it's the calendar year they turn 6 here too. And yes - they are learning at a great pace. Dd could already read simple books in English. ORT level 2 I think...Tim has a fish and chip shop etc. She was spelling Mum, Cat and her own name.....I have done this with her over a long period.

At the weekend though she sat and wrote, completely off her own back and unassisted, a short story about a chicken - it was no literary masterpiece but included "le poulet a fait le dictee et puis il a pris feu. Le poulet s'appelle Pistache" (the chicken did his dictation, then caught on fire , the chicken is called Pistachio")

And all this in beautiful cursive script. Some of the words were spelt phonetically rather than correctly but still! It is truly amazing to see how fast they are progressing.

German is mostly phonitic so its easier than English. My friend's DS in Germany was 6 and before he started school my friend said that he knew all the letter but couldn't blend them. Her DS is a bright boy and when he started school he learned quickly. In the English school system this would have been a problem.

In my DS's and friends' schools there are several young Y1 children who get extra support with reading etc., but maybe they are just a bit too young and should have stayed in nursery a bit longer.

Same in France - they enter Year 1 in the September of the calendar year they turn 6. DD is a November baby, so would have been an older DC in Year 1 in England; she is a younger DC in Year 1 in France.

I'm quite shocked reading this thread as it seems children aren't able to read and write in reception classes before they move into Year 1. We have a very play based reception class but all our children can read and write (at least one sentence usually much more) Y1 works in a similar way so there isn't any real difference

mrz - why "shocked", and why does it matter?

The impression from this thread is a number of people believe that children don't learn to read and write in reception which just isn't the case. The expectation is very much that children are taught these skills and they can learn them and play and have fun and be four/five year olds.

DS1 had a split YR1, first term in a preprep that was v. structured and the other two terms in a state primary that was play based. He found the transition difficult at first but came to enjoy the creative element of the play based system.

Although he loved the structure, as many DC on this thread appear to, my heart would sink as I walked past his classroom after dropping him off in the mornings. All the DC had their heads down and were getting on with work and all I could think was they're so little. They have many many more years of schooling but not that many more of playing.

I can't comment on UK reception class. I am sure they cover lots. My friend's dd (year 1 in UK) is far advanced at reading compared to my dd who is about 15 months older. In my case, they start much later and catch up much quicker - or so it seems. The extra year seems to make a difference.

mrz - yes, most children do read and write, but in my experience for too many (and the 3 I know is too many)it is too early and too much structure because they are developmentally not ready and are not interested yet so they don't learn in reception. In Y1 they are behind, they get extra support and have just turned 5!! All seems to be starting too young.

The theory 'the earlier they start the more they learn' just isn't right.

DD2 is in Year 1 and is having a much more gradual transition than DD1 did at the same school. The current Year 1 teacher says that they intend to step up the level of structure stepping up every half term.

At this stage in the year, there still seems to be a lot of play-based learning. At the same time, they have begun to learn French, have timetabled sessions for PE and Music, are in ability groups for part of the time and have (just) begun to have some very gentle "home learning".

So, in fact, on paper it is beginning to look rather structured, but DD2 still thinks she's playing most of the time. Whereas at this stage in Year 1, DD1 was complaining bitterly that "all the toys have gone" :-(

gabid, I totally agree. At also I read a report once upon time that showed that there was a higher incidence of dyslexia in countries where formal schooling started earlier. The intimation is that some brains are just NOT ready, but they are forced to conform, leading to problems later.

My ds loved reception in the UK (he did 6 months of reception and 6 months of yr 1 and then we moved back to Italy), but he wasn't at all ready to read and write.
Of course he learnt his 20 key worlds (with great struggles) and to write (sort of) his letters, but he just wasn't ready and wasn't interested in progressing.

The ideal age for formal learning is 7!

I'm not convinced by the sudden leap in France from touchy-feely maternelle to their style of "formal learning." The French system, of which I have some knowledge, is not ideal for all. I have several nieces and nephews going through that system and two of them, who are both exceptionally bright, had colossal problems with the sudden jump from touchy-feely maternelle to the (imo) excessive rigidity of the formal teaching structure in French schools. There seemed to be an obsession to the point of brute stupidity in one school with neat handwriting. Children were jumped on far too quickly for, eg, using the wrong coloured pen to write their work. A child would be made to repeat its work ad nauseam to improve its handwriting without any regard to content, because interesting content appeared to be covered after the acquisition of the good handwriting and no-one was allowed to jump a stage (one wonders what happens to the mental health of children with dyspraxia in that school!). Obviously, this is probably an example of bad practice in a French school and sticking excessively to the perceived correct order of learning rather than responding to individual children's needs. HOWEVER, I do think it demonstrates that maybe a sudden jump to "formal learning" at age 7 is not all it's cracked up to be - it is an alternative method which can work for some, but has to be handled well. Which means it isn't exactly better than the more gradual progression here, it's just different, with different issues as a result. In other words, waiting until age 7 and then suddenly cracking on with it is taking the idea that we are all ready for formal learning at age 7 to extremes. Either method, if taught effectively, can work reasonably well for the majority at the end of the education process. Either method can be an abject failure.

Portofino - could there have been a connection in the research between some old fashioned methods of teaching young children to read (ie by word recognition rather than phonics) and the dyslexia? Eg maybe children's brains are ready to cope with synthetic phonics teaching at a much younger age, but cannot cope with word recognition until older. Does anyone know what methods are used to teach reading in French, German and Italian schools?

Rabbit, the faults of the French system you describe in your post are similar to those of the Italian system.
As I said earlier, I'm very fond of the Italian set up (3 yrs of maternelle and then primary), but I find that formal teaching can be too rigid here too (not to mention that the latest reform has even reintroduced marks).

It is easier to learn to read in Italian as it is a phonetic language.
Dd is in her first year of primary and they are taught to link consonant to vowel, like MA, ME, MI, IM, AM etc.

Ds really struggled with word recognition when he did his year at reception in the UK.

I honestly don't know rabbit. In my dd's school they do the combination method - teaching individual letters plus word recognition. Hence dd learns the letter P plus the word plume at the same time.

Obviously gabid my experience of 600+ reception children (and 3 or 400 nursery children) is that very few struggle with learning to read. A few minutes a day learning phonemes and how they work together to make words is exciting for most children and leaves them lots of time to play and learn about their world ...

rabbitstew - there are different methods of teaching reading used in France - the school gets to choose. My DD is learning with phonetic method that is immensely similar to English phonics.

That's interesting, Portofino. The method being used by my DD's school is fully decodable - no word recognition is taught at all.

DC's school made the transition throughout reception so there was no big jump iyswim.

By the end of reception ( when DC were still four - summer birthdays) they had been taught to read the basics and could write and do basic numeracy.

I did sometimes think they were very little to be doing it, but as it was mixed with a lot of time outdoors, and plenty of art and crafts, it did work.

By year one they were expected to be able to do quite a lot, really. Certainly I remember spelling lists and small amount of homework. Plus French had been introduced, albeit conversational.

My dd's reception class was hideously, rigidly, boringly over-structured and formal. Only a very vague nod to the EYFS principles.

As a result, although her Y1 class is still more formal than I would like, it feels less formal than last year as they are a year older (if you see what I mean).

Last year, her reading and writing came on well, but there was absolutely no high quality investigative, exploratory child-led play, and very little support for the development of appropriate social skills

My ds's y1 class seems really formal, far more so than the reception class he just came from. Right now, he's having to read and write independently - which he can't. This time last year he was still in nursery and because of his age he wasn't able to start reception til January. Far too much, too soon and with too little support. It's turned school from something enjoyable to something stressful. Poor kid, I'm sure we didn't have the same pressure at that age.

Very interesting to compare! It seems that despite the National Curriculum, EYFS, etc, there is still a big variation of approach within schools. No wonder, when combined with sometimes not very good teachers, and occasionally, discrepancies in funding between schools, some schools succeed and some fail, even when the children inside the schools aren't that different!!!!! Maybe it is just too many schools taking the wrong approach to perfectly acceptable ideas, rather than the whole reading-too-early thing being the problem.