Parent's night advice

[Anice]

I'd appreciate advice from someone who knows how schools work in practice on how to handle parents night this week?

DS2 is in year 2 and his teacher is a NQT. She's very sweet, I think she wants to do a good job, the little girls love her, BUT my son isn't making any progress under her (and other parents are privately saying the same to me about their children). One issue is class discipline - its a really noisy class although it wasn't last year when they were in year one. Several of the boys are quite boisterous, although my son is not. He is clever though and he entered the year at level 2b in numeracy and literacy. He finished the reading schemes a year ago and he is still only one of four children (out of 30) who have advanced this far.

If I am honest, I don't blame the teacher because I think she tries her best but I do blame the head for not giving her more help.

I looked at what my son could do this weekend and I was shocked at how little he has improved since he left year 1. he doesn't even know how to answer in sentences and he has never seen any sort of reading comprehension exercise. In maths, he is able to do his big brother's year 4 homework faster and more accurately than DS1 (and DS1 is in the top set) but the work DS2 is given at school is so basic that he barely tries. The teacher knows what he is capable of, but she has said to me before that she is unwilling to give him work that would take him beyond year 2. We discussed the maths last term and she was very defensive. She just says that the work is challenging and that is that. She also said that the class is not noisy but she backtracked when I pointed out that I help out regularly in school with reading (and now she shuts the door is she realises that i am working nearby). DS2 no longer seems to enjoy school and tries to pretend illness most days now whereas he wanted to go there last year.
Is it worth having another go at getting my son an education this year - we are only half way through after all - or should I just write ti off? If I do raise these issues, what can I say that won't result in a childish "is", "isn't", "is" battle. I don't see the point unless I can realistically hope to achieve something.
Any advice or insight would be good as to how to handle this?? Please!

choccyp1g - thank you. its not reason 1 - the teacher has only been teaching for a few months so it would be unreasonable to judge her yet and anyway the HT's whole demeanour was anti-me, almost as though she was defending the teacher.
So if you are right, then it was all about stopping me from helping. In that case, she got her wish. But she's stupid because I kept my head down and just did what the teacher asked me to do with the children. I was always careful never to talk to any of the staff about school policy or any plans because I didn't want to compromise them, knowing that the HT is the way she is. So, when I talked to the teachers, it was only to suggest that X child gets a sight test or to tell her how Y child was progressing or to ask permission to gift a particular child who had no books of her own at home some of my children's old books.

Anice
The bands we use in our school don't have brown but the 'highest' is lime which is a level 3c.

I'd be a bit concerned that he hasn't written anything beyond a couple of sentences, if he was assessed a 2c the year before. I would expect a story of at least what we might call a paragraph (even though the child might not call it that).

Is it possible he was overmarked last year? Some children do have a large difference between their reading and writing levels.

However I think we might be getting a bit bogged down in the intricacies.

If a child in my class had made no progress (and I don't necessarily mean a sub level) I would be looking for a reason, and trying to remedy that. Is his reading better than in September? His writing? Children might not progress enough to hit another sub level, but progress might be being made in smaller increments. They do not progress in a nice straight upwards line, as much as the Government would like us to think they should.

So my questions would be: Is this child making any progress? If not, why? Is it the teaching or is there a potential issue with the child? And what am I going to do about it? This is what they need to be focusing on in my opinion.

it is possible that he was overmarked. The teacher was very experienced but mistakes do happen.

As to the maths, I know exactly what happened... the teacher made him re-do the work because the rest of his group needed to do it. He has now done 32000 questions correctly at this level. Doubtless he will be allowed to progress to the next work in the coming weeks and he will be taught the year 4 stuff in two years time (if we are still there).

The head was not looking for answers, she was looking for a fight.

Thank God that its half term and I can forget about the whole thing for a while because its stressing me out!

Enjoy the break with your boy. :)

I agree - thank god it's half term! My HT almost ruined my day today by suspending me from volunteering without explanation. She'd told me it was imperative (her word) we meet because she has a concern about my volunteering (and something to do with my PTA involvement)but because I wouldn't meet her without my husband present and she only offered 2 slots he couldn't do this week she has decided to suspend me without meeting at all. The irony is I was thinking I would stop volunteering anyway to concentrate on a personal project and because I don't think the small amount of time I spend in YR 2 is helping any child that much. But I won't allow her to get away with this without telling me exactly what she suspects me www.mumsnet.com/te/6.gifof...!

Enjoy the hols.www.mumsnet.com/te/wine.gif