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Primary education

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Teachers, what is most important, attainment levels or levels of progress?

4 replies

Lindy2 · 14/07/2014 14:16

I was after a bit of advice from some of the teachers on here really. I haven't had my 6 year old's report yet but I am pretty certain we won't be looking at a string of 1As and 2+s that a huge number of children on here seem to achieve. My DD has however been making steady progress this year.
She is fairly bright but struggles with sitting still and concentration (mild ADHD is a possibility) but this is getting better and she is getting extra support for this. Her reception year was very difficult academically as she was extremely reluctant to read or write. ie. at times a complete refusal to pick up a pencil or read a single word. I stuck with reading with her every night even if sometimes she would only read one word on each page and I did the rest. I figured a handful of words read by her was better than none!
This year she has mostly enjoyed doing a little but of reading each night and is enjoying doing Reading Eggs on the laptop. She also loves having her own notebooks and pencils and writes lots of lists and sentences about things she has done. It is quite hard to read her writing though as although it's neat she misses out letters in words and gets letters back to front quite a lot. She started year 1 still on pink books but has this year progressed through red and is now managing yellow level well.
I know she is behind where she should be but compared to last year I am pleased with her progress. Reading about all these children with 40/40 on the phonics test, high levels and on gold with purple spots on for reading levels has made me more worried though. Is it possible for a child to struggle and have a slow start to catch up OK or is it likely she will carry on being behind? I personally feel she is about 1 year behind her peers in terms of most things ie. emotionally, behaviour etc as well as learning. I've always hoped this will even out and she will catch up as she gets older. Is that realistic though or am I wearing rose tinted glasses?

OP posts:
melody1771 · 14/07/2014 16:55

Hi, at 6 I would want your child happy and trying hard. (Year 1 teacher here!). Progress is what is most important. Not everyone can be a real high flier. Is the gap between her and her peers narrowing or getting bigger? The latter is more of a concern, but she still has plenty if time to catch up.

I always remember one little lad I taught in year one. I despaired of him ever learning to write his name and reading was just like teaching him another language! In year 3 we do optional sats tests and he scored the highest in the year for both reading and writing and scored 100percent for spelling! Great things can happen!

Try to do a bit over the summer so she doesn't forget what she has been learning and be positive with her and I am sure she will succeed at her own rate.

Mel

PastSellByDate · 14/07/2014 21:22

Lindy2:

This was pretty well where my DD1 was at at the end of Y2 - and I absolutely get that the additional issue of ADHD doesn't help matters. However, it does sound from what you've said here that your DD is improving and I believe (but teacher's will be along to confirm) that SEN is taken into consideration on standarised testing results.

Now I'm not by any means saying life is this simple - but I showed this video to a friend with a daughter who also has ADHD to just make her feel a bit better. Sometimes we get so caught up in the here and now of our worries (they're not walking yet, they're not potty trained, they aren't level dodah in reading yet,....) that we rather miss the woods for the trees.

So I am by no way saying relax it will all be fine - but I want to say to you that you shouldn't be so hard on yourself and you shouldn't feel you have to fight your DD's unique way of thinking/ behaving (including the ADHD label) - she's wonderful and you're her wonderful Mum and I know it's a platitude - but sometimes 'things happen for a reason'....

This is a talk by Ken Robinson on creativity in education www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity - scroll up to 15 minutes and listen to the story of Dame Gillian Lynne

OK it's one example and maybe too slick - but the point is that your DD will have talents and your job is to find & encourage those talents and to support those areas that are weak as best you can.

I hope that helps.

Lindy2 · 15/07/2014 12:54

Thanks for your replies.
PastSellByDate I enjoyed that clip. Definitely something to think about.

OP posts:
Sleepytea · 15/07/2014 21:27

This sounds a lot like my dd. we struggled to get her to do any reading the first 2 years of school, and maybe read 1 book a week. It was all done at her pace. She has just finished year 2 with level 2 and 3s (can't remember exactly what she got in each subject), although her report does comment on her lack of focus when made to do something she is not interested in. It's been the same story for many of her friends and I think some kids just don't mature as quickly as others.

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