Late Starter in Reception Causing Much Upset

[Ellewood]

My DD (4, turns 5 in August) has just started in Reception as we had been living abroad. She was in a Kindergarten where there was no focus on formal 'learning' such as phonics etc but lots of arts, cratfs, outdoor oplay. So she is behind and it seems quite a bit. The teachern said she is at the level the other reception kids were at when they first joined. She is able but just behind because she has not had any learning.

We had a very teary heart to heart this evening where she said she was sad about school, they do the learning very quickly, the teacher doesn't help her, tells her she has to do it on her own, it's very noisy and loud (30 pupils per class, two classes next to eachother in open plan layout). She was in a class of 12-14 with two carers in her Kindergarten so I know it's all going to be a big shock for her but I just wonder whether I have also picked the wrong school and whther a private school would be better...I did speak to one private school however who intimated that she might not be accepted if she was too far behind the others. Argh...can anybody offer any words of wisdom? My stomach is in knots for her.

Thanks

Give her time to get used to it all, it's the summer holidays soon.

It doesn't sound great....my DD is in reception and she took quite a long time to pick up Phonics...but the difference is that she was offered a lot of one to one and small focus group work....to help and encourage her. I was also given a lot of advice on how to help her and now she's caught up.

A good teacher would be helping her...but bear in mind that DD may be telling only her side of things...have you spoken to her teacher about it?

You need to make an appointment as soon as possible to find out what strategies they have in place to assist DD....they should have some.

The noisy/loud thing is a hard one as your DD isn't used to the setting yet....but she should adjust to that....go in, ask for an appointment to talk about DD and once you're in there, ask what they will be doing to help.

if its any consolation.

dident get easier even when they in reception whole year they find year 1 a leap so next year they all be adjusting and abilities seem to even out a bit.

30/dpuble intake does seem to be norm.

eldest in year group 20 but mixed rear 1/2class which thinks been bit less formal than the 2/3class.

I would think it would be a similar experience in any school to be honest. My daughter's isn't open plan but a full reception class is noisy as they normally have 1 group doing work at a table, some doing choosing time etc so lots of different stuff going on.

I think your best bet is to ask the teacher what you can do at home to help get her up to speed. If you can work through all 40whatever it is phonic sounds and practice blending with her and practice using numbers up to 20 so she is familiar with it all and can start reading then you stand a better chance of her going into year 1 more confident. You have the benefit of 5-6 weeks summer holiday to try and do this which will help.

It will be an enormous culture shock to her and she must be scared but it is only a few weeks until the end of term now. If she shows a particular interest in being friends with any other little girls then perhaps you could arrange a park play date one day after school and swap numbers with the mums to try and meet up over the summer. Then in September she will feel she has some friends at school.

I suppose the teachers are in a difficult position as they don't know quite where she is with things and won't have any one person dedicated to help her catch up.

I am sure that in time she will settle, she will catch up with the work once she knows what is going on and if you can spend time helping her and it all will be ok but it will take time. Children come from abroad not speaking a word of English older than her having never had formal schooling and can go on to achieve very well and be popular and happy so don't panic and start thinking that school is a disaster just yet. Private could be good but equally with smaller class sizes it can actually be a lot harder to join a smaller group and fit in. In a class of 30 there are bound to be some children who share the same likes and dislikes etc. Plus many schools mix the classes up in the summer holidays anyway so there will be children looking for new friends.

I honestly think they would put a lot of pressure on her at private, I would concentrate on helping her to develop friendships.

I think it is hard to know whether the lack of help from the teacher is indicative (is that the word I mean?) of what will happen in yr1. We are talking about a child joining a class 5 weeks before the end of the academic year. All groupings will have been arranged and organised, all extra help etc will have been ongoing for a while. It is an unusual situation. that is not to say they should just leave her to her own devices but I think it would also be very hard to expect the school to suddenly start offering extra help at this stage in the year without forward planning of the situation. I am sure they have got her in the most appropriate group in which case she is probably in a smaller group and therefore getting more help than if she was one of the best in the class if that makes sense. I don't think any school would suddenly have the ability to offer individual help a few weeks before the end of the academic year. HOWEVER I would expect them to be able to give a lot of guidance for things to do over the summer at home, be that providing worksheets or some other way of doing it in the hope of getting her a bit more up to speed by september.

Private would work only if she re-started Reception in September. Since her birthday is August, that might be a good thing. She's already one of the youngest, so that would make her one of the oldest, and the law says she needs to be in school the term after her 5th, which hasn't happened yet...

If you are staying long-term and not moving back to where you were, then private but starting a year back would probably accelerate her to a year in front by 11, in which case you could probably move back into the correct year in state easily!

The other solution is to get a tutor over the break to catch up some, or to haunt the local library. They will have lots and lots of banded reading books and if you are willing to sit and teach phonics and read with her every day, you should be able to catch up a lot. The one-to-one learning makes a huge difference to any child.

OP as I say, you need to make an appointment with her teacher...find out what strategies they have in place....make sure she has friends at playtime too. Also, ask on MN in another thread what you can do over the holidays to bring her up to speed in terms of phonics and number work.

You will be amazed how much you can teach her yourself over the break. I was at a loss with my daughter as the phonics just wouldn't go in....but half an hour or less every day of helping her to remember all the sounds did wonders.

Your DDs teacher should give you some print outs of the letters and the sounds if you ask...you may have to hassle her. In the UK, state schools vary so much but being a bit pushy at this juncture will help you.

Probably not much help, but most local libraries run a summer reading scheme, I think this years is called 'creepy house' and has a website. They can collect stickers for each book they 'read' (or you read with them).

Reception children will vary dramatically in terms of ability, in my dd's class the ones that are 'behind' get extra work to take home. Some have speech and language difficulties and others struggle with fine motor skills so they can't get to grips with handwriting.

Try some workbooks in the summer holiday, Collins do lots of different ones for this age group, and Kumon do interesting but fairly straightforward workbooks, look on amazon.

One thing that has helped my dd with her handwriting is lots and lots of drawing as it helps perfect those motor skills.

In terms of class size, I guess its pretty intimidating for your dd at the moment, but one positive way of looking at it is that theres a bigger pick of potential friends. And they might mix the classes up a bit when september comes so not everyone will 'know' each other.

Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions. The teacher is now going in early and giving her one to one time every morning for 25 minutes which is great. And we are about to hire a tutor for over the summer holidays. On top of that, my husband and I are spending 15 minutes daily on literacy and number work. The printouts/worksheets over summer was a really good idea - we are arranging a meeting with the teacher for just before summer break so I will make sure I ask for those!

I guess my big fear is that in Year 1 they forget her background and start to class her as a poor learner...

I don't know her background specifically, but I'd like to chime in with all 4 years of experience in a primary school--this is not the end of the world. She's about to enter Reception, not sit her PhD.

The most important thing you can do for her is relax and encourage friendships. Primary school is about the whole learning experience--many things can be done along the way, not just in the first year. Reception is about learning to adjust and enjoy oneself and becoming comfortable and enthusiastic about going to school.

A private school might well let an August-born child start at the beginning of Reception in September - within 2 years your child will have caught up with peers in state schools and could re-join their "normal" year group outside the private system, or if you stay with private you might have the option of skipping a year as and when appropriate, or just staying with the lower year group all-through (though you may have trouble at the transition to senior school)

Good resources here OP.

jollylearning.co.uk/overview-about-jolly-phonics/

I know children who weren't reading at the end of reception and ended up at Oxbridge.

Not saying your DD needs to aim there. Just - meh, Infants are LITTLE, unformed, evolving youngsters. Some learn in leaps and bounds, others progress steadily. A child focussing on friendships may have less energy for literacy. And vice versa. It evens out in the end.

You don't say where you were before, but if it includes a foreign language, please don't let DD forget it, that's a real plus.

Children tend to live up to expectations. A decent school ought not categorise any child as a poor learner. Realistically, you may need to keep an eye on that bit.

Welcome, and hope your DD meets and makes friends this summer!