Reception DD is bored silly with school already

[whomovedmychocolate]

DD (5.3) has come home from her first week back really upset and saying she's fed up with school because the rest of the kids are so far behind her and they are just learning their letters and numbers.

I don't know what to do for the best; I was accelerated through school as was DH so I guess we sort of expect her to do well academically but we didn't think she'd get bored this early. She's at an excellent state school and we were thinking about moving her to the independent sector (if we can work out the finances) when she's eight or nine.

I can do extension work with her at home but actually, that's just alienating her at school because all her peers are just on such a radically different level. Should I talk to the teacher - I don't want to be an overbearing parent only ten weeks into the year but she's starting to lose the joy of going to school already :( And she was so happy about going to start with and so exciting about starting to learn formally. :(

Ah so I should look at the colour rather than the numbers/letters?

Is there some sort of 'idiots guide to parenting a kid in primary' because I know bugger all about this sort of thing? I only found out how to apply last year by chance.

Why is it that it's always the child's fault that she is bored or a load of posters immediately pop up to say that it is impossible to be bored in reception.I was bored rigid by school for the first few years and in parts for my whole school career and ds1 is exactly the same

,It's not about the academic achievement ,I could accept that people were at different levels it was the lack of stimulating conversation,when ds1was in reception his vocab was completely different from his peers and he found it difficult to find things in common with them to talk about,I was the same I can remember ds1being horrified that no one read the newspaper in yr2 and I wanted to talk about politics

I know what you are going to say"he needed to work on his social skills"what you actually mean is pretend to be interested in what the other 5 year olds are interested in,use short words and hide who you really are.ds1 still does it aged 18 now ,obviously there are more common themes but he finds small talk and classroom mindless gossip difficult ,don't get me wrong he can laugh and joke and party with the best of them but he also wants to talk about serious stuff ,his teacher asked me the other day if he realised how much more mature he was than his peer group he was ,I laughed it off but she is right ,he has just developed the skill of hiding it.

So OP I would encourage her to enjoy reception but also try and stretch her laterally outside school and understand that school is just one part of her life and her education.What about joining a children's language class and or children's yoga or cookery.

With respect mrswoodentop school is very different now to how it was when you were a child.

Sooty that was a bit if a rant it just touched a raw nerve

I appreciate your candour mrswoodentop. I can remember being bored in reception too. :)

I was thinking of taking her to try children's karate.

I have three children in school mrz so I know that but I still think that it is not impossible for a child to find school boring and that if they are struggling to find it interesting for whatever reason that is not necessarily due to some failing
In them .

By the way I meant sorry not sooty

I imagine the school is using older reading books which use the publishers levels and they have been matched to the book bands.

No, actually they are just all in a big basket and they appear to pick them for most children but the ones who are a bit further on pick their own. I don't know what they are matched in that way

The school should be able to offer her activities at her own level.
Depending on the school catchment I wouldn't expect there to be other children with a similar background even if they aren't as academically able. There are always children who enjoy "adult" company and find it difficult to relate to less mature children but all should be within the experience of a good school.

DH said that after his first week. He proceeded to spend another 21 years in eduation (to DPhil level!)

I doubt all her peers are "just learning letters and numbers" she sounds about the same level as my summer born ds in reception and he is at the top end, but there are plenty more like him and dd2 was way ahead of him at this stage. He couldn't care less how often he changes reading book etc. because he would prefer home books anyway.

I would think all the books in the basket have been matched to a particular book band.

No, they really are. They spent last week trying to write 'cat' School catchment is very deprived and they have a very high number of kids with additional learning needs.

I think it would be good to do all 3 things, i.e.:
(a) speak to the teacher, see what is possible;

(b) do "other" things at home with your DD. E.g. (this is going to sound poncey, but it reflects what we can do at home and what the school doesn't do) DD1 is learning Latin with her Dad, piano with me, and we've been working through british history this book is good if you don't have it which has taught me things too!; and

(c) not saying your DD has no social skills, but it is a social skill to be able to get on with everybody, from all walks of life, interests and levels of intelligence. She may as well start now!

Hope you get somewhere. Reception year was static, but once our DD was in Yr1 she started going into different classes for literacy and numeracy (not just her, they were all moved about so they could work at the right level) which did help a lot too.

"No, they really are. They spent last week trying to write "cat""

How do you know?

The teaching assistant told me so, and so did DD and one of her friends was really chuffed on Friday because she finally got it.

Mrswoodentop - my DS always wants to talk politics and finds all his peers immature. It is his problem though. It's even got a fancy label - aspergers.

Learning how to get on with his peers is the thing that will help him the most in life, and something I prioritise quite highly.

Also their books are made available for parents to have a look at the end of the week. Plus they have a progress diary (see in lots of ways this school is bloody brilliant) which notes what they have been doing.

DS (10) has a different kind of conversation at home than he does at school with his 'peers' which he has worked out means he can have friends he can relate to at school , he reads the newspaper and discusses politics with us at home- Mrswoodentop - I was one of those DC who couldn't relate to my peers because I just didn't get them and I hardly had any friends that I could get on with from an early age - I remember I was bemused at nursery school by the other children - i learned how to make friends properly much much later on in life - I wish I had been helped to relate to other children earlier on- sometimes in life you do have to play yourself down if you don't want to alienate threaten or whatever you call it, people - it may not be being true to yourself but I'd rather have friends - sorry that sounds rude about my friends I don't think they're below me at all - its just a social skill to alter your behaviour in light of different social situations - you notice the ones who don't they're the ones you avoid at parties. Its a good skill to learn early on - you don't have to be someone else you just have to be aware that other people are different.

So is your daughter writing cat or is she doing work at her level?

She shouldn't be bored.

Ds1 was assessed with a reading age of nearly 11 by the end of the second reception term. He wasn't bored at all because the reception class was fantastic fun and there was adequate differentiation in place for his reading and other areas of literacy. Ace teachers who were just brilliant.

While he was capable of reading most things, he still needed (and needs) to work on letter formation and also needed some coaxing into writing longer and more interesting things. His maths was at a higher level but not to the same degree and so there was still plenty to learn within the reception framework. The main thing for us though was that he was socialising and making good friends and basically having a laugh.

Different story at beginning of year 1 but issues are on way to being fully sorted. He used to get books from older years in reception. Now goes to year 4 for guided reading and to collect reading books.

We and the school think that it would be very bad for him to move up a year, which was mooted by my mil. It would made no differen being in year 2 instead of year 1 because he would still be ahead, but would be away from his peers and would be alienated I think.

Beginning of year 1 he complained of boredom. But reception to hear 1 transition can be tricky anyway. We've had meetings with the teachers and the school have put into place more appropriate differentiation and he still seems to be progressing, albeit not at such lightening speed as in reception though that is understandable.

Worth having a chat with the teachers to see if they have any feedback.

She wrote in her book 'Our cat is called Ziggy and he is very loud!'

My son wanted to talk about the stock market and how his shares were doing in nursery ... didn't go down well with the other three year olds
Then he went through a phase of British tanks and armoured vehicles in reception ...

whomovedmychocolate just because the area is deprived doesn't mean that the other chidlren in the class are going to be under achievers.

My DD in reception is nowhere near being able to write cat yet but she is quite capable of relating to her older DD and DS and friends of their in Year 3 and 6 playing games at their level without them 'dumbinmg down' for her - TBH being able to write cat at aged 5 is not necessarily an indicator of social interaction - at risk of being flamed it may be more to do with social class - not in a snob kind of way but I imagine OPs DD has had a very different upbringing to much of the the rest of the class and being able to read and write is not necesarily the issue here - its not snobbism its just likely that they have had such different experiences of life so far and therfore have less in common- the good news is that a shared school experience will narrow this gap hugely.

And is that sentence work 'at her level' or would she rather be writing more?

Doesnt sound like she's being kept back....