Ability Groups in Reception

[ElinElin]

Hi
My daugther is in Reception. In the autumn term they were getting the ORT books but just pitcure books. At the beginning of the term they were sent home pitcures of the characters and characters name written and had to match the names to the characters. My daughter learnt this the same day she got it and has known it very well ever since. Just after xmas she was still getting pic books and I heard some of her friends had word books. I mentioned this to the teacher who said she needs to match character names with the pic before she gets a word book. I was surprised and explained that she has been able to do this since Sept. The following day my DD came back with a reading book and a note that said 'your daughter can now match the character names with the pic'. I was a bit upset that this had only been noticed after I pointed it out. 2 days later I asked if I could speak to the teacher. I explained my concern and explained that my DD can do these things at home. She said she is not demonstrating it in school. I said why would that be, what is she like in class? Is she worried to speak etc? Then the teacher said, 'yes she doesn't contribute at all, never puts her hand up, not confident at all.' I was surprised again since when I attended the parent evening in Nov that teacher said she settled in really well, being proactive making friends and when I asked if she struggles with anything and can we practise at home she said no nothing. So in Nov it all seemed great and now Jan I am told she is not confident, doesn't contribute and is in the lowest ability group. I asked what can I do to help at home, teacher replied nothing you can't recreate a class room at home. I was so disappointed and surprised by her negative attitude and unwillingness to offer solutions. The day after my meeting with the teacher my daughter got a certificate in assembly for nice handwriting. It's a couple of weeks ago now and she is still in the same (lower) group. I spoke to my daughter's drama teacher and she said in her class she is really confident. Not sure what to believe or what to do!

Welcome to the world of school.

Teacher tells you everything's fine at parents evening, and actually it's not.

Your child can do more at home than they can do at school.

Yep, sounds like you've stumbled into a UK primary school.....

Sigh...

My experience of the UK state school system is the same as Indigobell and you.

I now try to get a better picture of school life by chatting to other mums, the TA and I help out at the school as a volunteer.

can anybody give me info on mixed ability classes in primary we have told that or five year old grandaughter will be in a class with 12 five year olds and 12 six year olds and we are concerned that one teacher will sruggle to support both groups.

A class of 24! That's hardly any for a teacher to support.

All classes in the UK have a huge ability spread. Even amongst 5 year old's you will have some who don't know their letters and some who can read novels.

Adding 6 year old's into the mix won't matter at all.

In the UK there is no such thing as a 'Y1 syllabus'. Every child is meant to be taught the next thing they need to learn, without regards to their age or class. The teacher is absolutely used to this.

It sounds like your teacher has different priorities and not focussing/aware of individuals.

If she isnt confidence in class she perhaps doesnt like the teacher. If you have met with negativity then maybe your DD has.

All I can suggest is continue to let her read at home, encourage her, praise her, be positive, and let her ride out the rest of the term. If she has practiced at home, then when she gets a new teacher she might be more positive.

With regards to mixing age groups, teachers can cope with this very well. They will still group into ability, even discretely, irrespective of ages.

The method of teaching is building up on prior knowledge, they wont teach one group of kids one thing, and the other group something completely different. They will all cover the same subject, but get deeper information as appropriate.

Hi
Thanks for your messages. I just find it difficult to know what to believe. My daughter is not usually that shy but I understand that things could be different in class. Another thing the teacher told me which I was surprised by is she told me to back off at home and don't do any reading etc with her unless she really asks to do it. My daughter is really keen to learn and when we do things at home she seems to pick things up quite fast. How much is an average child in reception expected to know i.e. which stage ORT books would they be at etc?

My son is an average reader and gets level 1+/2 ort. He's pretty good with single letter sounds and has a few 2 letter sounds like sh, ch, th.

If your dd is keen then I'd go for it. I don't understand why the teacher would tell you otherwise. My children go through periods of being really interested or receptive to learning and I indulge their curiousity so that when they go through periods of not being interested then it won't matter.

Don't let the teacher put you off doing things at home. Keep working with her, assuming she is happy with it, and think about getting some home resources - the book people have a great deal on the Read Write phonics books - a huge pile for about £12, and they are great. Keep gently pointing out to the teacher what you child is doing and enjoying. It sounds as though she is being a little overlooked, and perhaps the teacher is happy with the group sizes as they are. Be charmingly persistant!

I find it really odd that the teacher has told you not to bother reading together at home.

My DC's Reception teachers actively encourage this with every child in the class by sending a book home every day with the child's reading record for the parent to fill in. When the parent fills in the record the child gets a new book.

I can understand not pushing a child that isn't keen in the first place as that might be counter-productive, but if your DD enjoys reading then why on earth should't you read with her?

She sounds like my niece ... Niece could read before she started school but refused to speak up in class. Consequently she was put in the group of those "needing extra help with reading". The school did however work on building her confidence. When her confidence improved, miraculously so did her reading ability . Her music teacher also said she had bags of confidence ,it was just with her class teacher that she clammed up - in fact she spent the whole of her Reception year being pretty quiet, but is by all accounts a different child now in Y1 - seems like she just didn't "gel" with the YR teacher.

With your DD it sound like you should be asking what the school will do to help build her confidence/speak up in classs etc. DD's Reception uses something called "talking tins". Is there a class teaching assistant or nursery nurse that she feels more comfortable with and might speak up more with?

Thanks for your comments,I did ignore the teachers advice about not reading with her at home since I found it ridiculous and my daughter is so keen to learn. Anyway I think my DD has really got the hang of it now. Yesterday I was just writing down random words about 25 words, mostly 3 letter but some with 4 letters like fish, moon etc. My dd could read all of them without any help. I was really proud of her and she was excited. She kept saying write more mummy!
I am just wondering how long it will now take the teacher to pick up on the fact that she can read. Will she be assessed and placed in appropriate group? Haven't got much confidence in the teacher after what happend.