Does anyone else's primary school not do compulsory homework, even reading.

[nappyaddict]

DS' school doesn't and mostly I am pleased about this. However I am a bit concerned about reading. I read to him at home but as he is no where near free reading (only stage 1 Biff, Chip, Kipper books) he can't read any of the books we have to me. I would like him to read most nights but because the school don't send books home he doesn't do any reading of his own at home. He is in year 2. He didn't have books sent home in reception, he had a book sent home once a week in year 1 and none since the start of year 2. I mentioned it to the teacher back in October and she said they don't send books home til they understand the comprehension of it but surely he should have had something by now. At first I didn't mind because it was a battle getting him to read those god awful boring books anyway but now I'm thinking perhaps I should start getting a bit concerned?

[Yfronts]

In your shoes I would commit yourself to 15 mins a day reading with your son. Or talk to the SENCO and find out what you can do to help at home as you intend to support him

[teacherwith2kids]

I think stargirl's advice is he best one - use the Special Needs boards for the query, as the question of homework in a Special School is a specialised area which only a relatively small subset of parents / teachers will have experience of.

As I have said above, the children I have taught who could have been at Special School but for various reasons were in mainstream DID have reading books sent home, but that is perhaps a different situation as there is an element of 'whole class / whole school policy', which may not be applicable in a MLD Special School.

[boxershorts]

some schools break homework rules by giving excess.

[boxershorts]

its a long time ago. But I never did any homework

[stargirl1701]

So, all of the children in the school have moderate learning difficulties?

I think you may find more experienced and specialist support on the Special Needs boards.

[nappyaddict]

It's an MLD school.

[stargirl1701]

Is it a state school? Or private? Is it a special needs school? Or mainstream?

[nappyaddict]

There is 1 teacher and 3 TAs in his class and about 10 children I think. All the children in his class have SN, some are at the same level as him for reading, others are reading things like Horrid Henry. I have spoken with 4 parents, 2 have books sent home and are good readers, the other 2 have never had one sent home like my son and are at about the same level as him. He has 2 worksheets with lots of words on that come home and every so often they will tick some new words to learn. His reading diary hasn't been written in and no new words have been ticked since January but perhaps that's cos he is not ready to move on yet. I also haven't written in his reading diary because we haven't had any books so maybe they think I don't do the worksheets with him or read books to him at home?

The teacher is off sick at the moment so she is going to call me to arrange a meeting when she is back in.

[ipadquietly]

What about the phonics lessons? Is he getting daily reading practice there? What type of group is he in for phonics? What stage is he at?
Does he have a full time TA?
I find the fact that they don't send a reading book home very odd.

[teacherwith2kids]

Sorry, me again. I had 2 statemented children in my last class, both with very significant learning difficulties. Both were read with 1 to 1 daily and both took books home, which were changed every day. You describe your son as having 'some learning difficulties' - one of the two children in my class was mainly on the 18 months or so level of the Early Years profile, so there is certainly no excuse for not really pushing your DS's reading.

[teacherwith2kids]

(Guided reading is almost certainly a red herring here. I would be surprised if there were any other children at his reading level in Year 2 to form a guided reading group with, and so he should be being read with 1 to 1 by someone, preferably daily but at the very least several times a week.)

[teacherwith2kids]

Nappy, I am horrified, tbh. A child with a statement, who clearly has significant SEN and has a very low reading ability is not getting, from the sound of it, any 1 to 1 reading at school, nor getting any books sent home for 1 to 1 reading there?? Do you have other reading-related work sent home e.g. phonic sounds?

Where I have taught, all children on the SEN register who have any difficulty at all with reading (obviously some SENs do not have an impact on reading) are read with daily in 1 to 1 sessions, as well as having daily targeted interventions to address whatever the barriers are (e.g. targeted phonics), PLUS specific differentiated reading tasks in class (even if it is only reading the next sentence in the class book when I know it's fully decodeable or the child has support). And that is in a school with 35 - 50% on the SEN register per class.

Unless there are specific reasons why the reading is of loow priority because some other aspect of his SEN needs addressing much more urgently, I cannot think of any good reason why this might happen. Call the school, and ask for a meeting with class teacher + the SENCO, and devise an action plan going forward.

[nappyaddict]

Not really, it's more about what school will do and then I have to sign it to say if I agree with the targets set.

[stargirl1701]

Is your role detailed on the IEP? Are you given activities/ideas to support the set targets?

[nappyaddict]

He has a statement and we meet with the class teacher once a term. We set targets once a year, in May.

[stargirl1701]

Right. He has SN. So, does he have an IEP? Are you involved in setting targets? How often do you meet with the class teacher? The SN teacher? The SENCO? (I assume you are in England)

You should have support to work on his targets at home as well as school. That may or may not be books as such.

MaryZ would be helpful to you as age is a SENCO in the English system I think.

[KindleMum]

OK, so if he has learning difficulties, shouldn't that mean the school should be giving him extra help? Because it sounds like they've just abandoned him from what you've said. My DS has always found reading easy so I've no experience of what schools do with the strugglers but surely they should be helping him? His comprehension won't miraculously improve on its own unless they or you do something.

It seems a shame that he now can't read a book which he could read a year ago, he's losing ground and I'd use that as evidence to the school that they are failing your child.

I am a firm believer in education needing to be built on firm foundations of basic literacy and numeracy, I think you need to start a process of complaining to the school, escalating it to the Head if need be, and get them to start doing their job with your son.

Do look at thebookpeople.co.uk, their book sets are incredibly reasonable, usually £1 or less per book. They usually have reading schemes on there. If money's tight, you could ask someone to get it as a birthday present.

[nappyaddict]

DS does have some learning difficulties so I'm not expecting him to be on level 7 or anything like that. He brought home a book called Floppy Did This in year 1 which he could read at the time. I just found it as a free e-book on Oxford Owl and he couldn't read it. He sounded out all the letters but didn't seem to get the concept of reading the words.

[KindleMum]

This would bother me enormously. How can a school not be teaching reading to a Yr 2 child? It sounds like some sort of catch 22 situation which is likely to result in your child ending up further and further behind. If they're saying he can't understand the stories read in class, then surely he should be either scheduled for some sort of SEN assessment ( I don't know the terminology, sorry) or be given some extra time reading. A group session once a week is clearly not going to be enough.

FWIW, my DS is in Reception and is expected to do 2 Biff, Chip and Kipper books at home each week. He's on level 7. They have to be signed off in the reading diary by Mon and Thurs each week for changing but if you do them daily, then school changes them daily. They re-read the book to a TA to prove they really have done it, then the book is changed. They also do reading daily in class, 1 to 1 and group.

You can usually get Biff, Chip and Kipper, Songbirds, Project x and other reading schemes very cheaply from the book people online. If the school is taking so little interest, you might need to do this.

Are you reading to him at home? Do you think he has problems understanding stories?

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

You really need to speak to teachers and find out what is going on. That's reception level reading he should have either made far more progress or been put on some kind of plan to help him which you should be informed of. Do not waste any time speak ASAP!!

[takeaway2]

this is the link to the oxford reading chart. www.oxfordreadingtree.com/chart/

[takeaway2]

my DS is 5 and in reception. He's got a book home almost every day (of the songbird whatever sort), and a library book (like room on a broom type) every week.

They read in school everyday (or almost!) and they do that either with the teacher, the reading buddy (an older child), or a parent helper. Plus he reads at home before bed.

He's on Level 5.

[stargirl1701]

A child reading at Stage 1+ after 2 and half years of school is a major concern. You need to find out why he is on books that are written for 4/5 year olds.

[Doyouthinktheysaurus]

I would be concerned because from my experience the time children get for 1:1 reading in class can be very low due to the staff, child ratio.

At home, most of us can find the time each night to read with our children and I think that counts for a lot when learning to read. It also fosters good reading habits.

My dses are older now but they still read every night, just to themselves.

[Bakingtins]

We have been told the main thing they want us to do as homework is 10-15 mins reading a day. We get a book from school twice a week and since they usually only take a couple of sessions to read we choose something from the library or his own books to read on the other nights. We also have suggested homework for the term related to their topic - usually 10 suggestions, but they are very relaxed about how much of that gets done. We choose to do one piece at a weekend and it normally takes less than half an hour.
I'd be really concerned both by his lack of progress and by the lack of support at school.