Hello,
I attended the first of three INSPIRE or induction sessions at the school which has been allocated to my DS for starting in September. Not a school at all of my choice but I won't bore anyone with those details again and now at the point of trying to make good of a bad situation for the sake of my DS.
I was a bit shocked that we have been given an envelope full of words which the children must learn to read before they start school in Sept, there are 27 simple high frequency words. Along with this we have been given a CD ROM with phonics activities and have been encouraged to start teaching the children to write and form letters properly.
It all seems a bit much to me, my DS2 was only 4 last week and he does know his letters and I think will get the words no problem, he enjoys that type of learning and credit to the school they have also given a special reward chart which accompanies the words. It's the writing I don't want to push. All of my family are somewhat challenged when it comes to writing skills or anything which involves controlling a pencil or paint brush - put it this way I can spot and identify my kids art work within seconds (if it makes the wall at all ..). We're arty in our heads but can't translate that via a pencil, pen or paintbrush, poor DS1 has been stuck in top set for art as his CATS indicated he should be there ... he scored a 3a on a recent assessment (year 7 so not good). I am not remotely bothered as he has plenty other talents and with computers and the like writing is becoming less important and at some point soon in his life he will reach the happy point where no one will ever ask him to draw a picture ever again (he can write by the way it's just very untidy and he's slow and finds it uncomfortable, as both me and Dh do).
Anyway DS2 is just starting to get his pencil control, he's recently started to enjoy colouring and is starting to be able to do it within the lines and is doing some drawing and dot to dot puzzles. I am really pleased with his progress and enthusiasm and do not want to push it by asking him to start forming letters. I know others in his year group can write their names and I even saw one little girl cut out a complicated shape with scissors during the induction today, my ds could barely control the scissors to cut at all. I don't see this as a reason to rush him though ..he's still developing.
Does this sound quite pushy to others? Is it normal to set such tasks before starting school?
None of it seems to fit in with things I have discussed with DS2's pre-school teachers and my own beliefs about early education which is about not forcing anything at this stage and allowing children to guide the pace of their learning, mainly through play. DS1's school didn't ask for any of this.
The school IS due to be Ofsted'd in September and previous reports describe entry level children as being 'well below average' I am cynically wondering if this is a ploy to avoid such comments?
Any thoughts welcome, it just stood out as a bit OTT to me.
Catherine