went to dd1's first parents evening yesterday and am feeling a bit frustrated

[CatIsSleepy]

sorry this will probably all sound a bit woolly and unfocussed

I guess I don't know what my expectations should be of reception but I am not that impressed with things so far. Her teacher didn't have that much to say about dd1 other than she is doing 'OK' and she is a bit quiet and shy and doesn't speak up much in class (which contrasts with her being pretty loud, strong-willed, at times exuberant and funny and other times darned annoying at home). (Big contrast with her nursery teacher, different school, who had tons to say about her and wrote a 4 page report about her-and this was with dd1 only going there 3 hours a day)

i don't think this teacher is the most engaging person, and have heard less than good things about her, especially if you do have a child who is a bit quiet. But it strikes me she doesn't really try to engage with dd1 and draw her out a bit, or encourage her to speak out in class.
Plus there seems to be no one-to-one work with dd1 at all but i don't know if I should expect this or not. There's no big emphasis on reading words yet, just letters and sounds which I guess is fine but seems they could be moving on a bit by now? aargh I don't know! i know she's very young still and it should be mostly about playing but I can't help fretting a bit.

i know from yr1 on the teachers are meant to be much better. So if she hangs back a bit in class this year and is not drawn out by her teacher and doesn't make much progress with actually reading, does it matter, if next year things are much better?
thank you for your patience if you have managed to read my ramblings!

It's reception. Chill. My DD had much the same as yours...quiet...not speaking much.

They're very young still...reading will come. Things move much faster in year 1 and you will find that lessons get more focused. It's still very ply based in reception.

Have you heard similar thoughts on the teacher from other parents?

My DD went into year 1 unable to write anything other than her name and no reading skills at all.

She's in year 2 now and reads fluenty and can write cursive.

It will happen.

Parents evening was exactly like that for me too last term. this term I am hoping for much more of an insight to what the teacher knows about my child. my dd has a tendancy to wonder off and do her own thing so I need to know what they do to keep her focused. the teacher said last term that she is at the 'right level'
but this term I want to hear that she has exceeded 'average'.

my dd has always been quiet at school, she is starting to come out of herself a bit now in year 1 but its very much on her terms.

its reception so relax, i dont find dd's school parents evening particularly enlightening compaired to what some parents seem to get told but dd is making good progress and mostly enjoys school (although didnt want to go this morning) so im happy enough.

crystal, why does it mater if you dd has exceeded average? as long as she is happy and progressing?

just wondering really not having a go.

Some teachers are really poor at Parents Evenings. I have 3 kids and with my oldest 2, the teachers clearly knew my child and welcomed lots of questions and had anecdotes to share. The Reception teacher literally read out a short summary that she had printed on a piece of paper on the lines of
"Settling well and tends to gravitate towards the construction toys. Behaviour is very good an popular with classmates. Independent and knows 30 key words. Targets are XXX for literacy and YYY for numeracy and ZZZ for writing."

At our school (normal state school) they are currently working on phase 3 of letters and sounds. Once they have completed those sounds I think that my son's reading will progress as he will have loads more tools to decode words.

Flickaty- I just want my pfb to do well. I could be accused of being pushy.

crystal- every one wants their children to do well PFB or not. but her teacher said she is where she should be and that is good isnt it?
Kids develope at different rates so the brightest kids now could be very average by the time they are in the juniors, so relax as long as she is progressing at the right pace for her and she likes school and has made friends and likes her techer she is fine.

What I mean to say is I think dd is capable of more.