am i being too pushy

[pinky15]

My dd is in year 2, however she is bright for her age and last year worked with the year2.
She is in a small school so have spilt classes last year it was year1 and 2 and she worked with the year 2 . However this school year she is in the same class and working as a year 2 , but is repeating all the work she did last year and is coming home bored.
Even down to her homework its the same the same reading books which last year she made no mistakes reading, her spelling lists are the same and she got them all right last year, so really no need to redo them.
I cannot understand why ?
When i asked last week was told thats her year group and no other children in the class at her level so she will have to wait for others to catch up to her this doesn't seem fair on her, and she was unable to move up to year 3 because its a shared class with year 4 so this would not be fair on her.
Anyone got any ideas , what i can do ?

The school should be differentiating the work for her. It is ridiculous to be bringing home the same books as last year and just to say "that's what Yr 2 do" is not on. She shouldn't be moved out of her peer group but if they have to get her reading books from yr 3 then that's what they should be doing. Also I would ask for her current NC level and what they expect her to reach by end yr 2. All children should show progression regardless of the starting point. If you get nowhere with the teacher I'd be speaking to the head. So no - I don't think you are being pushy!

Seems that's the possible downfall of dual year classes, they have this at the DC's school and told DD that if she's doing the y3 work ok they will let her work with the y4 but obviously she would be in the same position next year as your DD seems to be in now - they would probably have been as well letting her do the work with the rest of the y1's even if she found it less challenging than some, at least she wouldn't be bored in y2.

I don't know what you can do about it now though, perhaps have another word with the teacher? Kids just act up when they're bored and you don't want her to be getting into trouble or not looking forward to school.

No it isn't down to mixed age classes it's lazy teaching ... sorry but it's totally unacceptable and I would be very unhappy if our staff were working this way.

I have no experience of mixed classes but surely, surely they can do better than that! All but the most struggling children would be bored by doing the same work two years running!

That seems ridiculous! As mrz said, it is lazy teaching - they knew they had a bright child and chose to teach her with the next year up, they knew they were setting themselves up for a fall. I would be in huge trouble as a teacher if I did that, haven't they heard of effective differentiation?

They should have a rolling 2 year program or something similar so that children do not have to do the same thing again.

I would talk to teacher and if you get nowhere go to head. It is unacceptable (and I say this as a teacher, and I have taught mixed age classes)

I agree with MRZ.
DC and most local state schools (mixed or single yr classes irrelevant to my mind) seem to sort this out by streaming for specific subjects; for instance, y2s could end up working with y4s for maths or literacy. Conversely, low-achieving y4s would be pulled out for small group focused sessions.

Agree with mrz too, sounds incredibly lazy. Whether a class is split or not there will always be a huge range of ability within it - I would have thought working to each child's ability is the very least you'd expect of any teacher. In my DD's Yr2 class the kids are given different books and homework depending on their ability - and they were in Yr1 as well. Not pushy at all to complain, what a shame for your DD to be put off school and learning because her teacher can't be bothered to find something for her to do at her level.

Another voice in agreement. You're not being pushy. I used to teach and I know your child's teacher should be doing better. Your daughter should be given challenging, stimulating work which enables her to progress.

That is so so bad. I would be writing to the teacher and head about it. And if that failed, I would be looking at another school.

You don't sound pushy to me.

I know the teacher has told you that your DD is the only one in this position but presumably she was not the only child in Yr1 last year who worked with Yr2? So I would have thought there would be some other children bring failed in a similar way.

In addition, the teachers should have seen this situation coming. They would be aware that your DD had worked with Yr2 already, and they should have annex with this in mind.

This is the main reason I chose a school with seperate year groups, my son would also be climbing the walls. Yes, there should be differentiation, rolling- programmes, appropriate planning etc etc but often there isn't.

I teach year 5/6. Last year a boy from year 4 joined me as he was working at a level much higher than the rest of the class ( level 5A at the end of the year) He is with me again this year ( as a yr 5) and definitely won't be repeating any work he has covered this year. He will be with me next year too and STILL won't be repeating himself!