Mixed Yr 1 and Year 2 class - work repeated from last year, please advise

[clottedcream]

DS moved to Year 2 in Sept from Year 1. It is a mixed class now with a good majority of the pupils being Year 1's.

My DS came home today and said it was boring today Mummy as we did work we'd done in year 1 and it was too easy

Is this the norm or are they doing it for the Year 1's who have joined ... I have parents evening tomorrow should I mention this?

I would ask the teacher how she/he differentiates the work for the differing abilities in the class. The work should be set according to ability, not year group.

This seems odd to me. I think it's unlikely they'll be covering the same themes as last year, (but if I'm mistaken, that'd definitely be a concern). Ds (now yr 3,) did 2 years in a yr 1/2 class & dd has just moved up into a predominately yr2 class (shes yr1). It was always explained to me that they worked on a two year rolling curriculum so that work was never repeated. Could it be your ds is misinterpreting what the teacher is actually asking them to do? Eg if they are being asked to write a paragraph, the teacher may be reminding the younger ones to use capital letters and connective words or whatever & your ds is therefore thinking that is what the whole exercise is all about, (while the focus for him should really be descriptive words & speech marks, or whatever).

When my ds went into yr 2 I was a bit concerned (he'd been working in the top group with the most able yr2s throughout yr1,) so I thought he may find it too easy, so I do understand your concerns, but they did continue to extend him & he was always given individual targets. Perhaps you could talk to ds to see if he could be misunderstanding. Also, at parents evening I think it'd be worth talking to the teacher about your ds's individual targets so you can check where he's at & that they seem appropriate. good luck.

Did he say what subject? Literacy and Numeracy (and science actually) I wouldn't call this odd at all. The teacher will have assessed that some children need to repeat it.

Please trust your teacher!! I know teachers get it wrong but it saddens me that everyone here assumes the teacher is just repeating and not caring about the year 2s. It may well be that your DS sees the work, thinks, "I've done this" and is annoyed (an admirable attitude!) and this sticks in his mind. This doesn't mean he didn't need to repeat it or that he didn't learn anything new.

As you have parents eve anyway you could mention it but I doubt it'll make any difference.

With maths, current teaching methods seem to be a topic (say telling the time) for 2 or 3 weeks and revisiting the same topic in a few months time to remind/consolidate/build on knowledge.

Even with literacy, there will be recurring topics because of the time of year. At this time of year there is lots of discussion about topics like Gunpowder Plot, fireworks, Poppy Day. I would have thought that many literacy exercises are also repeated- practicing punctuation, poems, wow words...

it was shapes...pentagons. He said he had done it last year when was in yr1 .