Help advice needed on YR1 parent's evening, confidence and scores

[CheeseMeisterGeneral]

Just come back from DD's YR1 parent's evening, now having thought about it wish l had asked more and feel l should be doing more for her

As usual her behaviour and attitude is fine. Her progress scores are then presented to me as very good progress during year one (something about 4 levels of progress in year 1 to date, usually expected over a whole academic year). She is showing a reading age of 6 (blue band)(she is going to be 6 in July this year), spelling age of 6.6, reading level 1b, writing 1b and maths 1b (each with 4pp next to them ?). It was almost implied thats great for the year then, until l asked well she might achieve more in the summer term no ? well maybe a 1a in maths.

l asked what l could do to support her learning, answer help in more imaginative writing, ok thats fine, anything else ? no just keep doing what your doing.

Now my concerns are varied I guess. One she has a good part of the year left to go and could achieve more if encouraged, but if i do not know how to get her there will the teacher ?

Two i am beginning to wonder how much child confidence plays in this, even though the assessment's are evidence based ? My DD is shy and will not volunteer information or answers without being asked even though she usually knows.

DD is my first child to go through the schooling system. l cannot help but compare my education and lack of parental involvement. l want her to achieve the best she can according to her ability. l do believe that even at this tender age children can be badged as quiet, compliant and left to drift somewhat without being challenged. l was one of those children and l do not want it for my DD. l have also read that usually children progress by two levels per year, if thats the case it is difficult not to get caught up in the grades and what they could mean for the future.

l have looked at the national strategy standards and APPs to try and understand the criteria for 1b, 1a and upwards to the 2's. Now thinking l would like some more time with her teacher to express my commitment to support DDs further progression and some ideas in how we could do this at home.

Do you think she would find this too pushy ?

Probably, yes.

As she is your first child in the system you are in unknown territory. Try not to focus too much on levels. Just do as much as you can at home with your dd, but try and make it fun. For example i play ' Shops' with my five year old son , which he absolutely loves.
I do agree that a child's confidence has a part to play. DD2 is very confident and therefore appears to be very able, while dd1 is rather shy and despite being able, appears to be struggling at school.

Honestly if I were you, I wouldnt bother with the teacher again, you don't want her to have you down as an anxious Mum. Get lots of books from the library and read read read to your DD, reading to a child helps in so many ways with their writing extending their vocab, imagination etc. Also buy some workbooks for 5/6 year olds and if your DD wants to, do some of the activities together. She sounds like she is dong just fine at the moment there is still lots of time left this year in Y1 for her to progress, dont worry!

I do try to do stuff at home with her in a fun way. Lots of drawing, writing, playdoh, word searches, we get through about 12 books a week from the library, maths work books etc etc.

Just reading the criteria for each grade you thing ahhh thats what he/she needs to demonstrate, how are you supposed to know ? and when you have a summer born you feel guilty you have already given them a disadvantage.

The teacher seemed to be pleased with your child's progress so I would leave it at that. At this stage in Yr1 the children are often having to do more formal work and most teachers would probably feel that this was enough (apart from reading and any homework set by the school).

The teacher has chosen to share the levels with you so you might ask for clarification of what they mean and what is expected. In the school where I work the children are expected to make 3 sub levels of progress in a year. A child who was a 1c in the Autumn Term would be expected to be a 1a by the end of the year. I'm not sure how your daughter could have made 4 sub levels of progress and still be a 1b.

I agree with others about just doing stuff at home. A child will learn more through playing and activities, so for maths, do baking, shopping, board games etc. For reading, look at cookery books, non fiction books. When you are out, get her to talk about what she sees, describe the scenery, smell, what people are wearing. How she feels, how people around her might be feeling.

All these things will help her communicate and thus help in school. If she can talk about what she sees she is more likely to do well in her writing stories.

If you do maths, ask her how she worked out her answers, this will help her when she has to explain to her teacher. Dont correct her unless you know the current teaching strategies though.

Just keep her happy and playful and she will do well at school.

I was over anxious and hassled the teachers about grades but it didnt do me any favours. It was only when I started working in schools I realised how much assessing the teachers are doing all the time and levels fluctuate, and so much goes into setting levels.

I would hope that the teacher would encourage her to get more involved in the class but this will take time and

Hi unless your child is unhappy in school and/or is demonstrating difficulties in an area I wouldn't worry about their levels until Years 3/4. Instill confidence in her so she is happy to engage in class.You sound like a good mum and your child will do well because she has you and you care...reinforce phonics understanding when reading, ask her questions like Does that sound right? What could you change to make it sound more right? Do not give her the answer straight away all the time ...lots of praise. Number bonds 1-20. World discussions..Why is that part of the bush greener than that darker bit of the bush?It's younger...etc,etc. Hope this doesn't sound patronising trying to offer help?!* (I am a teacher)

Thanks for your helpful replies. We will keep doing what we have been at home i think. Any tips in instilling more confidence in your child ?

Being comfortable around themselves. Talking about what they feel, think, see can help. Feedback and conversations all the time.

Feel proud about their achievements in whatever and everything they do.

Any tips in instilling more confidence in your child ?

Praising for effort* not achievement.

• Specific praise (You did well sounding out those new words ) rather than general praise (Well done).

• A hobby they are good at.

• Don't compare them to anyone else.

• Listening to them.

• Don't say 'because I'm the adult' or 'because you have to' but rather explain why they have to do something.

• Let them discuss with you why they have to do something. Teach them how to 'debate'. Listen to them and if they have a good point, change the rules.

• Don't correct everything they get wrong. (Choose one or two small areas to work on at a time - and only comment on them.)

• Don't correct spellings that they can't possibly be expected to know.

• Lots of unconditional love.

• Don't make a beg deal about how much they get in their weekly spelling test.

Thanks, think we are doing most of those things in the home environment, she just clams up a bit in class setting.

There are some very confident big personalities in her class, she looks a bit over shadowed with them to be honest.

Can't help thinking the more confident children easily demonstrate their abilities, whilst the quieter ones need a bit more encouragement, but still have the knowledge if they are asked.

Book, spellings and mini target wise she sails through them, but doesn't find them challenging. ie: looking at new spellings on a monday night and knowing them all correctly first time of me testing. When asked to tell teacher she is ready to show her a mini target (as the process) doesn't have the confidence to ??? so we have to wait weeks for the teacher to get around to asking her. It must be hard with a class of 30 odd.

Can I just add a word of warning:

one very efficient way of making someone lose confidence is to worry visibly about them being too quiet/not confident enough

not everybody can be the most confident person around; it doesn't have to mean the way they are isn't going to work perfectly well for them

the two sublevels a year is an average: it doesn't mean that children do or should learn at an absolutely even pace; ime they learn in fits and starts, so they can seem to stall for a bit and then suddenly shoot ahead, or as your dd seems to have done, move very fast for a bit and then slow down while they are digesting it

Cheesemeistergeneral, your dd sounds very similar to mine - especially regarding confidence. My dd1 is quiet and compliant and I think one of those children who is quite easy to ignore in a class of 30, many of whom are much louder and make their needs more obvious.
I am trying to encourage her to try new things and she is definitely getting better at it. She has recently started a few new after school activities with different groups of people, and after an initial wobble, she is enjoying them and getting a lot out of them. My hope is that her increased confidence out of school will start to rub off in school.
I agree with cory about not making it obvious that you are worried about it. If I act as though I'm assuming she'll join in straight away and have fun then she's far more likely to do so than if I faff about asking her if she's ok.

My daughter never came out of the book corner in pre-school. At her first parents evening, the teacher told me that there was nothing much she could say about her as she hadn't really done much! Now in Year 6, she's house captain, prefect and I can't stop her talking - humble she is not!

They develop confidence through age and experience but they will pick up the vibes you are giving out.

A way of instilling confidnece in a child is to develop their out of school activities - is there a local Rainbow unit she could join? Perhaps a dance class or drama might help to bring her out of herself? What does she enjoy doing - encourage her to develop an interest in a particular activity? Sport? Mixing wiht other children in a less formal environment and allowing her to develop confidence in her own abilities will all help.

Also guving her responsibilities at home is good to develop confidence; getting her to do little tasks for you in an enjoyable way. I am sure you have friends back to tea as well, that helps to boost confidence also.
Would you be able to offer to go and help in the class to do jobs?

Had the same feeling following DD1s Y1 parents evening last year. I was left reeling from the shock of DD1 going from super confident in reception to being anxious and not progressing as well in Y1. In reception she had an amazing teacher who was always great at praise and reward. In Y1 the teacher did not work in this way and I think she just got lost in the crowd and lost confidence. I've worked hard to build her confidence over the last year by encouraging her in activites she enjoys. I made her teacher aware at the beginning of Y2 that her confidence had suffered in y1 and this has helped a great deal. I just wish i had known ealier that she was slipping as I felt i let her down in a way:(

Also I think the change from reception to Y1 is huge. Much more formal work and less play. perhaps teachers could make parents more aware of expectaions at the begining of Y1?