Should a school be doing anything extra for a child with advanced literacy skills?

[Aranea]

I'm just wondering what is sensible and reasonable to expect. My dd is in Y2. Last year she was assessed by the Educational Psychologist (the SENCo organised this as there have been concerns about possible dyspraxia) and the EP was apparently quite blown away by her. I'm told they had a great chat, and she came out as quite ahead in almost all areas but particularly in literacy where at the time (aged 6 in Y1) she had a reading age of 10.5 and other verbal/comprehension skills to match.

The SENCo and her teacher were lovely, really positive about her, and her teacher was imaginative about extending her in school and encouraging her. She said that she thought dd would really benefit from a book discussion group or similar, and organised for her to meet weekly with a child in Y5 to read and discuss books together. I was delighted and dd loved it.

This relationship with the older child is supposed to be continuing this year, but so far in Y2 I think they have actually met about 4 times. Dd has been doing a bit of reading/discussing with a student teacher, but she has now left. DD was quite tearful about this as she has so much loved being able to discuss texts. So I went to ask this year's class teacher whether the sessions with the older child would be resuming. She said that the reason it hadn't been happening was that she kept forgetting to remind the other child's teacher on the appropriate day and that it wasn't at the top of her list of things to do in the morning, what with lesson plans etc.

I think it's very sad that the teacher doesn't seem to see it as a priority, especially since there seems to be no reason for it not to happen other than just forgetting to organise it.

I don't want to be too pushy with the teacher but I was wondering whether it would be sensible to ask the deputy head what provision the school might make for dd next year, bearing in mind that this doesn't really seem to have worked as it should. But would I be overstepping the mark? Would you expect a school to provide extension/enrichment for an advanced child or is it not generally expected?

Can I ask why they suspected dyspraxia?

Yes

She has co-ordination difficulties. She was being seen by an OT, and in fact the reason they asked the EP to see her was because the OT observed her in class and suggested it would be a good idea. He was of the opinion that she appeared withdrawn and was not coping socially. I panicked but actually now I think he was wrong. She's a little quirky and doesn't like big group situations much but she is maturing and I'm less worried about her than I was. Her handwriting is fine btw.

libelaction - do you mean yes they should be doing something? If so what sort of thing would you expect?

but they don't in my school so it depends on how good the schools is - my HT wants an outstanding for OFSTED she's going to get a huge shhock when they notice that none of the able children have much in the way of provision that end.

TBH it sounds like you are being a precious. As the mother of the older child concerned I would feel a bit miffed that he or she was being used as essentially a TA to your DD; what did they get out of it?

Can't you discuss books at home with her and get her to write reviews etc?

There are other ways to provide extension work for an able child.

Yes she should be provided for - most can be done in class though, teaching her to her ability- setting higher targets for her than the others providing opportunities for her to use her skills - ie if her reading is at that level it can be transferred into writing - shared reading with more able children - should be arranged as a usual thing maybe at a lunchtime - perhaps with a child who would not 'keep frogetting' There's lots that can and should be done.

It seems unusual for an EP to see a child who is achieving well (I struggle to get EP time for children with learning difficulties). I did wonder if the class teacher was focusing on difficulties that had necessitated the EP involvement.

Could be the older child/or their teacher doesn't want to continue with the reading groups and the teacher is making the excuse of forgetting. I've set up things and the child hasn't wanted to miss out on things happening in their own class so hasn't turned up.

I'm trying not to be precious, that's why I'm asking here. I did actually ask last year what the older child was getting out of it. I was told that they saw it as beneficial for older children to be involved with and supportive of the younger ones. I rather liked that ethos, and actually I think if my dd was the older child I would feel proud of her. I'm sure she would enjoy doing something like that when she's older.

So what other ways could/should she be extended? That's what I'm asking really isn't it?

'forgetting' xposted with iamnotinterested - it only works if children are well matched - and agree that TA could do some - she could be asked to write book reviews of her books , provided with more challenging reading material - it's not precious to expect your child to be taught to their ability.

Maybe that is it mrz, that the older child isn't keen any more. Though when I asked the teacher whether it had all come to an end, she was at pains to tell me that that wasn't the case, which she didn't have to really.

Extending an able reader in class should be pretty simple it's just a matter of matching reading material to the child's ability and level of maturity. The Oxford All Star scheme is aimed at younger children who are good readers.

She's quite happy with her reading material - they let her pick her own chapter books from the library, and at home she's reading The Peppermint Pig at the moment - but she is desperate to discuss content and I would like to see her writing extended further. Maybe there isn't really anything else that can happen in class. It just seems a shame as she is so happy when she gets to do that bit extra in school and she is so glum about phonics lessons.

See my earlier post about writing book reviews -it's not quite the same but it provides some opportunity.

I think book reviews are an excellent idea. I might ask about that, thank you.

There is a lot you can do yourself.

My DS2 (10) has always been massively ahead of his class in literacy. so with the input of his english teacher, we have drawn up a list of (GCSE) texts for him and I am always looking for suitable adult texts for him to read. He gets through about a book a week so it is something of a challenge, but I always try to have at least a couple of good books at home for him to read.

I bought him a laptop about a year ago and he has taught himself to type. He also gets set extra english assignments, which he writes for fun. He also submits work for competitions etc. However, I would wonder what he was doing if he was asked to work with a yr 1 child.

She has stacks of great stuff to read at home and always has a book on the go. She is a fast reader, but there is so much great children's fiction that I don't see it as a problem. It's such a pleasure being able to share all the books I used to love as a child. Of course we talk about books at home and read other kinds of texts too, poetry and science, but I want her to feel excited about going to school. I don't want her to feel that all the exciting stuff happens at home, which has always been her attitude so far.

My DD reads with an older child - and they both benefit from it.

When they don't want to do it they 'forget' and I think recently it's stopped due to them not wanting to. But it worked well for a year and a half.

But it was certainly the kids responsibility to remember and meet each day. They used to do it straight after lunch.

I wish they could leave it up to the children to organise and meet, that sounds like a good arrangement. But the layout of the school means that's not possible as they have to be escorted to meet each other.

elasta my DS has been a study buddy with a younger child albeit at secondary school and he too got a lot out of it. I didn't 'wonder' I just assumed that he was giving up 20 mins of his time to help another member of his school community. Since joining the sixth form he has stopped.

Perhaps other children are catching up now, and there's no need for individual sessions?

Several of my Y2 class have 11+ reading ages, but their levels of comprehension are only just above the expected levels at this stage in Y2.

In our primary school all the P1's are matched with an older child for paired reading - it seems to work really well.

Why not contact your local library to see if they run a children's reading group? In addition, meeting once a week is a big commitment on the part of all involved and it may be that the older student's teacher is not happy for her to miss a chunk of a lesson each week, or that the older student does not want to give up her break/lunch time on a too regular basis. It could also be that the Year 5 student doesn't have the time to read a book per week - their spare time becomes more precious as they get older Maybe if it was once a month, that would give all involved more time to read the texts. Why not suggest that you run an inschool reading group to encourage all able readers who would like to join, rather than just two.

Just to say that either of my dd's (year 6 and 3) would love to read with a younger child like that, so it's not necessarily a chore for the older one.