Warning this could be long!
We got DD1's report yesterday, she in in reception, she is the youngest in the year. She started the year able to read and was happily fluently reading yellow level books but I didn't have the phonic knowledge to help get her to the next level, so I left it for school to take up. She was pretty able in most other areas working happily at a 1c level according to her nursery, in all areas except handwriting which we knew as she is hypermobile and struggled with grip.
Fast forward to report day, DD is hitting expected in most areas (which were a happy with) except writing and literacy where she has been marked as emerging. She is STILL on yellow readers at school, they read at school once every 2 weeks, but at home is happily reading little chapter books and understanding them as she relates story,plot lines to me. She is having real trouble with her writing and is totally illegible despite her knowing what she is writing and being able to spell all a lot of tricky words (I found a list on the internet, school have given no keywords/tricky words to learn) and phonically write out others. She still has still not settled into school and cried for at least an hour a day once I leave and one TA mentioned she often sobs quietly during the day/playtime. She does have friends, plays well and seems to have good friendship group.
DH is very unhappy with the school as it seems to be a rudderless ship with a high staff turnover and a lack of discipline/rules which mean a number of children take advantage and run riot, they are unable to permanently replace some of the staff that are leaving (yr 1 is a temp teacher interspersed with supply) . There is a serious bullying issue further up the school, which is being addressed very slowly with no real success. They had poor ofsted (going from Outstanding to satisfactory with improvement needed in areas)
DD2 is due to start there in 2014 and is already ahead of where DD1 was at this age, happily adding 2 and 3 digit numbers, DD1's reading books, writing short sentences BUT the difference is when DD1 is not stimulated she heads into her own world and plays imaginary games, DD2 on the other hand needs constant challenges or she gets cheeky and can be naughty.
DH wants to find an alternative school for DD1 and DD2 (for next year) I am reluctant to move DD1 until we have seen what yr1 is like. DH says I am thinking with my heart but his instinct is she needs to be elsewhere more suited where she won't be left to float because she doesn't demand anything from them.