DD2 struggling in noisy classroom (yr3)

[lexie01]

I know it is still very early in the term but I am struggling to know how to deal with the situation. Dd2 has always absolutely loved school. She is quite academic, loves to read etc and has always bounced out of school telling me everything she had done during the day. Since the start of term however everything has changed. She is sullen & quiet and tells me absolutely nothing about what she has done. She says the class is too noisy for her to work. It is now affecting her home life as she is struggling to get to sleep and refusing to do any of her out of school activities.

She still plays with her usual friends and I am fairly sure there is no bullying going on. I just think she is in a noisier class this year. I am unsure however how to deal with it. I don't want the teacher to think I am having a go at her behaviour management techniques. Have anyone else's children gone through similar problems? If so how did you and the school deal with them?

oh dear, it sounds familiar to me! I couldn't get the school to see it at all, they thought it was my daughter being too shy/quiet etc, so they put her in a social skills group to 'bring her out of her shell' (make her as loud as all the others).

In the end I had to take her out, and the difference in the new school is marked, the classroom is calm, and she has got chattier!

Sorry if that is not what you wanted to hear..

Thanks mrsTruper. Can I ask if the school you moved her to had smaller classes or the noise was just managed better. My daughter has 30 in a class

hi there...both are state schools with the class sizes the same. The school she is in now has better behaviour/noise management...ie a constant chatter is NOT acceptable now, whereas previously it seemed to be.

My DS has this problem last year. When he wanted to concentrate he asked if he could work on the tables outside the classroom. The teacher was quite happy with this, and quite a few went outside to work.
When I spoke to the teacher she admitted that the first few weeks were quiet hard to get a handle on the class.
He was in a mixed class of 25

...by the way my daughters problems started in year 3 too!...it changed from nice baby type children to more boisterous.....maybe its when some kids really start finding their voice/become more confident

Thanks both for your replies. In terms of the schools behaviour management techniques they have always been really good. It is a large primary but we have never had any problems before. My DD's teacher however is new to the school and the classes were moved around at the end of yr2. I don't know if my dd has just been lucky in the class she had in ks1 and with the teachers she had.
Double cuddles - does your child mind going out of the classroom to work on his own? I guess I wouldn't want my dd to feel isolated or 'different'. She already often has different work because of the level she is working at so I wouldn't want to isolate her further.

I'm getting worried mrsTruper!

I think it's quite common for things to change when they go into year 3, key stage 2 is a bit different because there's less play and more work, I know in our school the classrooms are smaller in key stage 2 as the kids don't need space to play, this means kids are squashed up in a small area and it can be noisy.

My dd is very sensitive to sound due to having ASD, she has a 'get out card' which she can hand to the teacher when things get too noisy, she can then have 5 minutes out of the room with a TA.

My DS didn't mind going out of the class, and after he started asking to go out, quite a few other children followed. This also made the teacher realised that she had a bit of a problem.
Is your daughter used to a lot of noise? Our house apart the noise the children make is generally a quiet house. I don't listen to the radio, and we sit down and watch television rather than it being a background noise. Homework is always done in quiet. I think this was one of the reasons my DS didn't like the noise in the class as he wasn't used to it.

DD also moans. She started moaning when she got to Y3 (I sense a pattern here ...). She is still moaning in Y4, despite a class shuffle.

I think there genuinely is a certain level of noise in the classroom, but also that DD is particularly sensitive to it!!

What you do about it I have no idea ... DD reckons everyone in her class is noisy apart from her and about 4 others!

Ds struggles with noise, but that's because he has glue ear. Have you checked her hearing-even in a child who normally is fine, then sometimes they can get bunged up. Worth checking.

I think it's probably a case your your daughter "feeling" it is louder rather than it actually being louder as in my experience KS1 is always a much more noisy environment.

I'd guess it could be down to the fact that in KS2 the majority of the time is spent sat down with a certain level of concertration required. All children (and adults) are different and require a different environment in which we concertrate the best.
Perhaps your daughter is now finding out she needs a bit more quiet in order to work effectively. That being said most all children learn how to cope with whatever the classroom throws at them.

If it were me I'd give it until half term and see how things are, like others have said the change up to KS2 is quite stark and it may just be that your daughter needs a bit of time to get used to things.

Thanks all for your supportive comments. It's strange how similar everyone's story's are. It is obviously something to do with that change from ks1 to 2. I had never thought of classroom size before marne2 but you are right. In yr2 dd2 had a huge classroom and the new one is much smaller. That must be a factor as all the tables are much closer together.

Doublethecuddles - our house is very similar. We have one tv and I do have the radio on but 5live mostly so really just quiet background noise so nothing too disruptive.

Hopefully things will settle down. I just want to make sure that she doesn't loose her love of learning or switches off completely. I really wouldn't want to move her to a different school (although that is what she is asking!) as generally it is excellent. Let's see what the next few weeks brings!

OMG MrsTruper. I have spoken to DDs teacher today and she said exactly the same as your daughters teacher about referring her to a social skills group. Aargh!

My daughter is very sociable, has a fantastic group of close friends and has absolutely no problems other than having problems working in a noisy environment. Even the teacher admitted she had some loud children in her class, some of whom had listening skill problems. She said my dd was very mature for her age and thus probably thought they were 'silly'. Not quite sure what to say to that! Feeling very annoyed

That's poo Lexie!
My dd likes silence in which to work and is a very sociable and friendly girl.

She found last year with a chatty teacher very hard as there were three (at least) "strong" personalities in the class- ie kids who made a lot of noise all day every day. Also 30 in the class.

In the end I asked that my dd sit somewhere up near the teacher, as the kids up that end of the classroom didn't make so much noise as the others at the back.

However, this year their teacher is a control freak it seems and she wants everyone absolutely silent, and stops them having any kind of self expression- making them say a certain greeting to the HT for eg, and not allowing them any fun. The teacher is rather plodding and process oriented.

My dd finds this restrictive teaching method worse than the chatty teacher she had last year, and is quite worn out with all the petty rules this teacher has them obey, and fearing getting into trouble.

My dd isn't enjoying school this year at all.

"stops them having any kind of self expression" - can you elaborate further what this means please?

I find a certain level of noise quite stressful, especially ambient noise in shopping centres!.
DD2 doesn't like high volume either.
We are quite sensitive to sounds, taste, touch etc. Is your daughter sensitive to anything else?

DD1 had similar issues last year. It transpired that like in your case there were some very strong personalities in the class but the main issue was that the teacher had very little order in the classroom. It was little things like being allowed to wander over to another table and chat to others while working, getting up and fetching a drink of water while the teacher was talking, calling out rather than putting hands up that lead to chaos in the class room. In a small classroom with 30 kids it doesn't take much for it to be chaotic and noisy. Just be sure that the teacher isn't the issue.

Shebird - I am starting to think the teacher might be part of the problem. She is new to the school so I don't know anything about her but I know another mum is arranging a meeting with her as her dd is struggling to concentrate in class and hear what the teacher is saying. Again she has never had a problem in previous years.

Can I ask what you did with your dd?

Thanks everyone for your feedback. It feels that we are now playing a waiting game until after half term to see if things improve (or not). I just thought I would ask any of you who have experienced similar problems (especially if the teacher wasn't willing to let the affected children work outside the classroom) what you ultimately did and how long you left it? Did you accept that it would be a difficult year and put it down to experience or did you move your child to a different school?

I really don't want to move my dd but I also want her to be in an environment where she can learn. I know to some degree this is unimportant (I am just adding to show that she does enjoy school and learning) but in her ks1 sats she got 3a in literacy, 3 b in reading & 3c in maths. I don't want her to fall out of love with school and am panicking that a bad year might do this. Am I thinking to much into this? Does one bad year ultimately make that much difference.

Any comments much appreciated - even to tell me to get a life and stop worrying!!

My daughter who is in Y3 had a similar problem last year. She was in a mixed Y2 Y3 Y4 class with 30+ in the class at one point. To cut a long story short we eventually decided the best thing to do was to move her. The same disruptive children and teacher for potentialy another 2 years was not an appealing prospect. She went from loving school to being very reluctant and unhappy to go.
Looking back I think i waited too long before doing something, hoping things would improve. To the schools credit things did get a bit better after seeing the head, but not enough.

Crumbs missymew, your situation seems to have been even worse. That is such a wide age range of children in one class. Can I ask how long you did leave it before removing your dd? And did she settle into new school without too many problems?

Yes they split y2 saying the ones who moved up would benefit more than than being left in the R Y1 Y2 class.

I think I spoke to head in the early spring, but moved at the end of the school year. But looking back I remember first mentioning issues with another child as early as the Autum parents eve.

We moved to an ind. school and she is loving it, has fitted right in. I know it was the right thing to do for her. Academically she did fine in y2 sats, above average, but we were more concerned about the pastoral care and her emotional well being.

Small schools have their own issues, they can be quite a stifling environment in my opinion. The mixed class was fine in the early years not so sure it suits as they get older.

Glad to hear your dd is enjoying her new school. We to are going to have a look at some independents over the next few weeks, just to keep our options open. Ultimately it's about finding the right school for your child. My elder dd loved being part of a large primary, the noise and hustle and bustle. I am not so sure about dd2 though. I think she may appreciate the (hopefully) quieter environment which a independent with smaller classes may bring. Thanks for getting back to me misseymew

IsiTFriday

Means just that- they are told how to greet each other, and saying 'hi' and 'bye' for example is unacceptable. They have to address teachers in a certain formula, thanking them and all of them saying it all together, like robots. They are given out to if they don't comply.

Also for their art work they have a choice of posters to paint. It's Victorian, frankly.

However, I've recently heard that this teachers dd is very ill, and I think she's been so controlling in the classroom as a way of handling that stress. She's eased up a bit this week as her dd is out of hospital, so here's hoping she relaxes a bit from now on in.