ah yes, the "more experience" card.
undoubtedly you do have a wider experience, but sometimes this does not translate into better knowledge of a particular child.
I am sorry your ds struggled with is writing. dd1 is too, due to motor issues. it is too early to tell whether she will ever write fluently anyway.
her typing, though, is ok. so i guess she is doing alright.
my point, I suppose, is that you could have had dd1 in your reception class, and thought she was oding fine - all phonics learnt by the end of the year - not decoding yet, but hey, she has severe dleays, so doing well overall. and that's it - hand over ot the next teacher.
so you would not have failed her, ostensibly. except you would have, as the teachers she had when she was reception age did, because you were pushing phonics and ignoring how she actually wanted to (and was able to) learn. boxes ticked on paper do not necessarily mean success. (obviously this applies as much to sight words as it does to phonics!)
like namechange, i am not saying phonics does not have a very valuable place. dd1 has thoroughly loved her phonics work. but she is unable to blend and decode. at all. she is, however, highly motivated to carry on trying, and she wil get there eventually, I have no dubt, as she has incredible staying power. but what has lead her to this point is being able to use her sight words, and memory skills, in order to achieve some success, and to understand the point of reading. if we had not taken this dual appraoch, she would still have enjoyed her phonics, but would not be reading simple stories, as she is now.