Progress in Y1 from Feb to July - what should I expect please teachers?

[Shattereddreams]

I know it's not linear!

But at parent eve in Feb they told me DD was 2b reading and 1a maths and writing.

I should expect an improvement shouldn't I ? No matter how slight? That's half a year and I think she has come on a bit since then.

Or is it more likely that these will be static at this point?

Thanks

Sometimes TES has good resources for checking children against various NC levels. It might be worth having a look around for things you can use yourself to see what she can do and what she can't.

Do you think she has made progress?

I was told in Dec that DD (reception) was a 2B in reading and found out today that she is now a 2A however I do not expect her to make massive progress (on paper) after this as I don't believe she is mature enough.

I would certainly expect my DC (if they were in yr1) to have moved from a 1A (unless the teacher had said otherwise).

Why do you think that she hasn't made any progress?

If its because you have just been given levels that are the same then bear in mind that a sub level is a fairly wide range and just because she hasn't made a sub level it doesn't mean that she hasn't made progress.

She may have been an early 1a, 2b etc in Feb and now be high/ borderline next level.

That's quite a big disparity, by the by, in writing and reading. Reading is often one sub level higher but two is quite unusual.

simpson a 2A in reception? That's already emotional maturity above and beyond not to mention the writing needed for comprehension of that level. Over 2 years ahead of expected levels! What are you going to do with her???!

simpson's daughter has the same Reception teacher that she had as a nursery school child. And her education has been a schoolwide effort including the head teacher. Next year seems to have been uncertain in the past. I'm not sure how it's looking now. There are some bright children who can read well who by policy are restricted to blue level books (my daughter isn't one of them.) So it is possible that the expected levels for Reception are wrong and that some children might be capable of achieving far more than their expected levels if they were supported rather than hindered by their teachers.

It is of course the reason why so many people choose to home educate. Children are often capable of achieving so much more than any system has in store for them. But it seems to come at the expense of socialisation.

Daisy - not sure!! I have a meeting booked with deputy head next wed to talk about what is going to happen next year for her in yr1.

I suspect that her writing NC level is v strong too although I don't know it. But she is pretty bog standard in numeracy (although slightly ahead).

But I have been told (by HT) that she does not have the mental maturity or life experience yet to cope with level 3 but tbh I am leaving that to the school to deal with!!

Yes she has had the same teacher for nursery and reception who has been truly fab and worth her weight in gold to be fair.

DS (yr3) on the other hand has finished yr3 on the same NC writing level as he finished yr2 on (I suspect he was over marked in yr2 tbh) so on paper it looks like he has made no progress but I know that he has iyswim.

The solution may be to co-educate.

Hi Shattereddreams:

Check your schools website - somewhere there should be a statement about what they see as expected progress over a year. Y1 is tricky because it is the first year on the NC Levels (Year R is on EYFS) - for breakdown of progress see Mumsnet link here: www.mumsnet.com/learning/assessment/introduction - specific section on progress through NC Levels here: www.mumsnet.com/learning/assessment/progress-through-national-curriculum-levels

One thing to bear in mind is there is always a bit of 'gaming' with these results. Teachers will have targets for each child's progress set by school management and can feel pressured to massage results to ensure they meet those targets.

HTH

Thanks all

Yes disparity between reading and writing but school have been hauled across hot coals by Ofsted on last three inspections for their poor writing targets. I'd love to do more at home, but she isn't keen so I don't push.

Past sell by - I think you hit nail precisely. Massaged indeed. My worry is that her reading actually has progressed substantially, that she is a 3 now. I'm really bothered she won't see any more progression next year, as she has what they want already.

Great links - thanks

Looking at the anecdotal evidence that a significant number of children are held by school policy on blue level in Reception it is possible to wonder what that means in terms of their (artificially managed) progress in Y1. Has anybody found their child held at a particular reading level at the end of Y1? (I have seen one posting with fixed reading bands filled in the the whole of primary school!)

Yes learnandsay it's happening to my dd. We've been told categorically they can't give her a level 3 in year 1 for her reading because she won't show 4 sub levels progress year on year otherwise. I'm not worried because she's doing fine but the whole thing does all seem a bit crazy - holding children back because of attainment tables

What the teachers put on the forms and write in the reports is one thing. But refusing to help a child progress because it might mess up future form filling is criminal.

As a parent I'd be happy to bring in books from home, have two reading diaries, buy my daughter reading books and have school teachers discuss them if it meant that my daughter was progressing with her school reading and school work in general. What I would not be happy with would be my daughter ready baby books because then progress could be demonstrated by her teachers.

In my view teachers have a straight choice. They can either figure out a way of coping with their statutory form filling, while at the same time stretching able children. Or parents can start to work their own way around teachers seeing them rightfully as a bureaucratic hurdle to their children's education.

my daughter ready == my daughter reading

But the reading level of the book and the NC level are not as closely correlated as you imply lands, once you get beyond level 1, decoding carries the least weight when assessing reading - in my y5 class it isn't even on our assessment sheet. To progress through levels above 1 your child's ability to answer straight retrieval questions, inferential questions, comment on the writer's word choices and text layout and the social and historical context are what we measure. That's why as simpson says it's hard for even an exceptional 5 year old to hit level 3. They just haven't been on the planet for long enough.
Having said that there are things i would as a teacher do to help, in the past i have given very able kids a recommended book list for the library to help build these skills without going beyond their maturity.

Indeed, the solution, or a big part of it is included in your reply. The teacher can help by helping to prepare the child for the next levels not by parking them on blue books until the end of the year. If the reading scheme doesn't contain books which are relevant to the child's ability then it makes more sense to depart (even temporarily) from the reading scheme than it does to park children.

I don't know yet if my daughter will be given a NC level for reading (she is reception) as we haven't had any reports or anything yet and so far in the year not been told any levels. She brings home book band 11 reading books but she hasn't been taught or tested (well I doubt it anyway) on lots of the stuff I know Simpson's daughter has so I would expect her NC level to be 2C ish. having said that looking at the list of requirements to get a 2B I personally think she demonstrates them but as I say I doubt they have looked at them with her yet in enough detail to be able to assess her on them.

well done Simpson's daughter by the way.

They're not obliged to give you nc levels in reception, just to tell you whether your child has not met, met or exceeded the early learning goals. Anything more depends on the school - my dts's teacher told me in oct to expect a nc level for his maths as he'd exceeded all maths goals on entry to reception and she could only show progress by doing this. Great that she's a 2c or 2b, i'm guessing that's by verbal assessment, in y2 it'll be a written test so it may mean writing skills need to develop (which they may have already but not necessarily).
lands i completely agree that departing from the scheme helps for however long, in fact until 2 years ago we had no scheme at ks2 as almost all the kids came across from y2 as free readers.

Some schools say children make 2 sub level progress in key stage 1 whereas others (like mine!) insist on a whole level!!
If a child was 1c in December, by July I expect them to be 1b (if it was 2 sub level progress the school aims to achieve) or a 1a (on a whole level progress).
My Year One's a couple of years ago who were achieving 1c at the end of December were usually a 1a or a 2c by the end of the summer term.

OP, I sort of would expect at least one sub level to increase but it wouldn't worry me unduly if they hadn't.

I would be asking what I can do to support her to progress. In the great scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if the school puts '3' in a box or nor if you think she I'd progressing.

Babies - what books would you recommend for an able 5 yr old reader then?

Peri - there is a very able child in DD's class who is a 2C who is reading stage 8 ORT. So I would think your DD is higher....

simpson
I'd love to be able to give you a long list but in the last ten years i've not taught below y4 so my experience is further up. With my dts in reception i've gone for some older fiction as the language is more advanced (plus my parents don't throw anything away) - they've really enjoyed enid blyton - especially the magic faraway tree/ enchanted wood and the adventures of mr pink-whistle, we're on a roald dahl box set the twits/ magic finger/ fantastic mr fox (i'm trying to save the other roald dahl books til later), if you can stand them the kids love rainbow fairy books and animal ark by lucy daniels (the advantage being there are lots of them), or better in quality the magic treehouse series. I also like quentin blake picture books as the language is tougher. We recently read 'the lion the witch and the wardrobe' abridged and illustrated by christian birmingham which is a beautiful book, illustrations on each page.

I often recommend older literature to parents of able ten year olds - content isn't an issue, no bad language and challenging sentence structure.

Only downside is the effect it may have on the kids - my 5yo ds (post enid blyton) told me my flat pack assembling skills were astonishing

oh she might well be higher then Simpson, doubt I will find out though. She is really comfortable with the school level 11 books but I think level 11 is such a LARGE range and the scheme books don't really go alongside real fiction at that level. She was fine with Dick King Smith too though so perhaps she is really at that level. Hard to tell with the dyslexia too because she tires very easily.
We are currently enjoying 'The Naughtiest Girl in the School'. Daddy and I are enjoying it too, he never read it as a child but I did and I loved it. They are finding it all so exciting with the governess and going to boarding school etc. Funny how the old stuff can still be enjoyed even though times have changed so much (and most of us didn't live in that kind of environment anyway I suppose). Did your daughter try the New Adventures of the Wishing Chair? shorter, bigger print etc than the original books. my daughter is finding them ok to read. not child free again for a few days and not much time this week with youngest having settling in sessions etc but I will try and get a load more early readers on my blog very soon so that might help. going to include some we haven't actually read yet too.

Peri - she has not tried those yet.

She is loving the Rainbow Fairy books and the Secret Mermaid ones.

She read The Twits and Fantastic Mr Fox recently.

She has got quite into poetry lately and Horrid Henry.

Oh and she also loves Dick King Smith and the easier Michael Morpurgo books (Snakes and Ladders, Conker).

Not looked at your blog yet but will when DS is finally asleep but if you haven't, you must put Frog and Toad on there!

yes I keep meaning to try and get hold of some frog and toad, we haven't tried any of those yet and I remember you saying your daughter loved them. Am just waiting on a copy of Iggy and Me from Amazon which I think she will like. www.amazon.co.uk/Iggy-Me-1/dp/0007283628

we are still majorly into poetry. She has (I think) now run out of poetry books from the ORT glowworms range at school which she is disappointed about. she refuses to read the last few boyish ones (pirates and ghosts I think) Not tried Michael Morpurgo - don't most of his animals die in the books?

Snakes and Ladders was ok (no death) but Conker wasn't. But DD seemed ok with it.

She has got a book from school "A very first poetry book" which is proving a big hit.