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?

Before I became a teacher I worked in acoustics, specifically the acoustics of classrooms, and have always been hyper-aware of what an impact they have on children.

For a few years I had a classroom with a school-hall-height ceiling (it was a Victorian building and my room was two rooms that had been poorly converted) so the acoustics were shocking. Consequently, so were the noise levels. A handful of my Y4 children found it particularly hard to cope with the noise - even whispers sounded loud. I encouraged children to bring in ear plugs to use during independent work/quiet reading/similar as a way of reducing some of the sound and gaining a bit more control over their concentration. Interestingly, as the year went on, the children used their ear plugs less and said it was because they didn't need them anymore.

It might be worth suggesting ear plugs to your DD's teacher - if nothing else, using them may help your DD to feel slightly more in control. That said, the jump in expectations from Y2 to Y3 can be a shock for lots of children as KS2 teachers tend to expect a greater level of independence, patience and self-organisation from the children than was expected in Y2. In the same way that lots of children will describe a strict/firm voice as a shout, there are some who will use the word 'noisy' to describe something other than the sound level that is stressful/problematic.