"good level of progress"

[JessKM]

Hi,
Was informed yesterday that my daughter did not make a "good level of progress" this year and is one of many in the year group (4 form year group) in reception that did not achieve this and this has been flagged up by the borough. apparently around 30 other parents have recieved this reassuring message. What I dont understand is that when I got her End of foundation stage report last week it said she was above average in all areas of the EYFS curriculum apart from Personal and social development, and in her (and my) defence, she is on the autistic spectrum and I wouldnt expect her to be achieving above her peers there!
I was really really shocked, I was so pleased that she had done well last week and now to find out shes not is a total shock! I did not see tht one coming!

Any teachers out there (or mums who have experience of this) what would my girl have to have done to make a good level of progress, enough to please the box ticking beurocrats? And also, does that mean my daughters teacher got it wrong when she said she was doing ok????

Your DDs preschool setting will have assessed her level of attainment on the EFFS curriculum and passed that information to the school.

The school then reassess at the end of reception.

It could be that your DD was doing very well in her preschool setting, and has continued to do very well in her reception class - but that the school hasn't enabled her to make as much progress as would be hoped.

The 'making progress' thing is not a reflection on your daughter or her abilities, it is a reflection on the school and the extra value their teaching has (or has not) brought to your DDs progress.

e.g. if a child joined nursery class achieving all the EYFS goals, then the school would still be expected to teach and help the child progress still further - not just report that they were at the same level at the end of reception.

Does any of that make any sense??

Can I ask who has sent the letter, the school or the LEA?

piprabbit the OP is talking about her reception child not a pre school child.

I realise that mrz - I was assuming that the school has some sort of baseline (either from the preschool or their own observations in Sept) against which to assess a child's progress.

The child is at the end of reception these are her foundation stage profile scores

I would go in and talk to the teacher and ask for an explanation.

Expected level of progress is what they would expect the average child to improve by in a given year. It may be that she plateaued - maybe the social side of things has taken up all her attention this year and she hasn't leaped forward in the accademic - so she is similar to when she started school.

Not always a concern because all kids learn in fits and starts and don't follow a nice steady curve. Get the school to explain the details before you start to panic.

It may also be that she has a problem of some kind and this is the first stage of identifying it and addressing it - so try and look at it as a positive rather than a negative.

The OP knows her daughter has a problem as she has ASD.
I'm assuming the LEA has set target scores and generated automatic alerts for any children failing to meet these

Sorry for not being clearer, yes she is at the end of her reception year, she is already a year behind her peers as she had a significant hospitalisation during her original reception year (from November thru to June) and so it was felt that she would be best suited to restarting and repeating the year.

We were approached very casually at the end of the day by the foundation stage co-ordinator and told this, on wednesday evening, there was no formal letters, but apparently there are many children in the same boat Im assuming there will be some kind of follow up.

At her IEP reviews we have always been informed that she is 'on target' and doing well and achieving within the national levels for everything except personal emotional development and so this is where her targets lay, and she has made progress through all of these.

Piprabit - if this is a reflection of the value of the school, should I be worried that theyre not meeting her needs? (oh gosh, that made me sound like one of those awful pushy mums, which i dont ever want to be!) becuase shes always seemed happy there, and theyve always seemed to support her and us as a family fantastically! My elder child has excelled at the school despite it having a bad report from the dreaded Ofsted last year, I think very highly of it!!

Thanks for all you help ladies, you guys really are rather fabulous!

I think I might know what has happened ... at the end of reception year schools submit EYFS profile scores to LEAs and the government. Once they are "processed" the school/teacher receives a printout showing children who may require support. What I'm not sure of is why the teacher has worried you with this as you are obviously aware of your daughter's difficulties and knew from her report review areas of concern. IMHO there was nothing to gain in your situation by her speaking to you in this way. I assume since she has repeated reception your daughter has a statement of SEN?

She does not have a statement yet, as our LEA has a policy of not issuing statements to avoid 'labels', however she is on school action plus and the moment she is under a temporary IPRA (Individual pupil resourcing arrangement) that was carried over from our last school in a different area. I think when that expires in a few months they will look at a statement of SEN, but as she is not severe and only currently gets in class support which isnt on a 1:1 basis theyre not pushing for it.

I enquired today with the class teacher who knew very little about it, was unaware that we had been informed by the heinous EYFS co-ordinating witch and said as a school they were still interpretting the data and we had very little to be concerned about, as these marks were an indicator of progress made in a class, not for a child! I think someone above mentioned something similar! I was so furious as I had been so worried about her, but still not teachers fault, she was very apologetic and pointed out that if she had had any concerns she would have raised them with us, and has on many occasions!

Its just a bit frigtening thinking that I had let her down and could have supported her more (I think we all think that at some point anyway) but to have some jumped up EYFSCO jumping on you accusing you of not doing enough....why I could......

I intend to have a few coffees and chocolate biccys and think about whether to take it any further.

Thanks for all your help you wonderful ladies! (mrz are you a teacher or do you just know ur shiz?)

have a fabulous weekend!

x

Oh incidentally, my DD was coming first in a running race at sports day today, until she looked over her shoulder and assumed the other 8 children were "chasing her", so she took off in the other direction....never a dull moment!

one proud mum right here

Jess I am a teacher and taught reception for many years. I'm also a SENCO and mother of an ASD son.
sounds very much like something my son would have done in reception

Lol, well I know where to come next time I have a question!!!!!! Thanks so much!
How old is ur son?
x