Am I being unreasonable or is this a lot of extra work for a 6 year old?

[lifebook14]

Not really sure what to make of this so thought I would ask the wise people on here.

Teacher asked for a word today and said DS had been selected as a small group of children who needed some extra support with phonics/writing. Yes I agree he does and am happy for him to have some extra support.

However this support will be 3 extra 30 min lessons on Mon, Tue and Wed morning. So instead of starting school at 8.50 he will now have to get there at 8.10.

It just feels like a lot of extra work. He gets tired easily from school and an extra 30 mins on the day for 3 days a week seems an awful lot. Even if he did kumon or had a tutor it would only be for 1hour once a week. Also it's going to be really hard getting up earlier in the morning as he is not a morning person and likes to sleep in as long as possible. I'm dreading the thought of getting him up early for phonics on a cold, dark winters morn.

Apparently the lessons will go on until they feel the child doesn't need them anymore so potentially could be a term or all year!!

Don't get me wrong I am grateful for the help (although it feels a bit cynical that this is in the run up to SATS) but it just seems like such an extra burden on a young child.

Or is this normal and I'm just being PFB!?

I would expect such extra help to be provided during the school day (and probably not for so long at one time). I agree that 3x30 minute session, especially when added on to a school day is too much.

But it is good that your teacher (or whoever) is prepared to give up her morning to provide extra support.

Unless you are an infants school that likes to boast about its SATS results, I doubt it is anything to do with that.

I think he is very lucky to be getting so much support, and you should be very grateful.

You already know he has a problem, so this is nothing to do with SATs. This is about teaching him to read.

That does seem like a long day. Normally extra stuff like that is done during the school day. Of course the problem with that is that you are taking a child who is already behind out of lessons.

Can't they do the extra sessions during the normal school day?? Surely this could be time-tabled in, unless they are short-staffed? You wouldn't get much out of MY 6 year-old at ten past eight in the morning...

My school offer a "wide awake club" 3 mornings a week at 8:10-8:40am for selected children who may need a little extra support with phonics and/or literacy. For past few years I ran it and organised it, though - for various reasons - have decided not to this year and hopefully someone else will.

For our pupils no one was forced to go. It was offered - almost everyone offered did come though. It was not done for my benefit. It was offered to those who could do with some support to help them in their learning - nothing to do with massaging SATs results.

FWIW the children enjoyed the sessions and liked the small group environment and the interactive sessions. They were fun but we did get through a fair bit of extra learning. Because it was first thing they were alert and ready to learn too.

Parents were invited to stay too if they wish, or they could just drop the child off. It was about 50/50 but I have to say that where parents stayed the feedback was really positive, and many parents felt they'd benefitted too. They much preferred it to their child missing class lessons, or missing any of their lunch break or after school.

We do other interventions during the day, in the afternoons, but these were additional and offered that bit more - a quieter time, more space, higher child/staff ratio and as 3 times a week then a good 1.5 hours of intervention. With the best will in the world, with only some much space and so much staffing, only a certain amount can be achieved in class.

Yes it did raise the results of those individuals, but that was not the main reason for running them - it was very much pupil driven and pupil focused.

It is simply an offer to your child. You have to decide if it is of benefit to your child or not, and if you think it will be the right choice for you and your child.

My own DD did two support sessions in a morning before school at her primary too. She was identified as having dyslexic like tendencies in y3 and had 2 x 30 minute sessions between 8am and 8:30am each week. She did this for most of the following 4 years until the end of y6. She benefitted immensely and, despite being very much a night owl, once she was awake and at school she was ready to learn. It did help - she passed her entrance exam to her chosen secondary with ease, and she no longer requires any form f support at all.

It would be 8:20 I think (if half an hour and ends at 8:50. Not huge point but that just feels a bit more manageable than 8:10!

If the intervention is run during the normal school day which lessons do you suggest the OPs child misses? IMHO it's much better to get support in addition to normal teaching than as a substitute which only widens the gap.

My dcs go to interventions before the school day ( starting at 8.15 instead of the normal start of 8.45) and they go every day , ds2 is 6 so the same age as your son OP.

They started doing them in the summer term. They have both been fine with the longer school day and have had no problems with tiredness or becoming fed up with work.

I assume it's also easier to staff this as staff aren't being taken from "main day" duties?

Actually it's harder as it's outside contracted hours and generally relies on teacher's willingness to work in their own time without pay.

Ah, i should have been clearer by inserting "given willing teaching staff" at the front of my post.

I would try it and see if he gets too tired. He might surprise you, as tacking something on before school (when kids are usually at their least tired) is somehow easier than the same activity after school ime.

Also, it's good that he's not being made to miss something like PE, as that would feel like a punishment.

One of the issues about interventions is that it is bad practice to remove a child from lessons for these support programmes, so how do we fit them all in. They can't really miss maths or science or PE for extra reading sessions to close the gap for those falling behind. Why should they miss subjects they enjoy and may be good at, as they get self-esteem from those areas. Playtimes are equally important for well-being. We squeeze 1:1 and small group interventions in to every spare second - registration, assemblies, etc. but we can't fit them all in.

I think it is wrong to expect a small child to do extra work than the usual school time.
Children develop at different ages and to think they need extra support already when their education is only starting is rubbish.
However, I don't believe that falling behind exists so perhaps better not listen to me.
Falling behind what? If its the norm, then so what, he could be top of the class next year without any intervention at all.

Dd used to do physio group three times per week before school. There were lots of groups happening before school tbh numeracy, literacy, phonics,reading programmes . I was very grateful to the TA who ran her group for starting early and so meaning dd didn't miss any lessons.
I would give it a go as it has been offered and see how you go on. FWIW dd soon adapted to the early starts.

It's better than them being taken out of class - which still happens to my DC.

I do get the early morning being an issue - I have one DC who is near impossible to get up but we have managed for sports stuff that they were desperate to try.

I do fine that once they are up in the morning it is a good time to fit in the on-line maths stuff we do or the phonics stuff we do at home - rather than than after school when they are shattered - it is just getting them up.

Some of the intervention my DC have had they have managed to fit into school day by missing registration/assembly time or having it taken of their break and lunchtimes - but it's very hard to do - prone to being cancelled or moved around.

I think your lucky and should at least try it and see how your DC gets on.

As a HLTA I was paid extra when I did the early intervention classes. So the intervention actually cost school more money, but it also relied on my good will - as the planning and prep still had to be done - which was done in my own time and obviously I did have to be there before the children - so an extra 10 minutes there too.

In my dc's school the extra support is done during the normal school day with teaching assistants as it should be. I would be asking why this isn't possible.

At our school extra support like this would be during during assembly time and in the School day.

We have a two mile walk or bike ride to school so would be having to leave at 7:30? To get there for that time. I also have other kids to take to school and pre school for the usual time, would we all just hang around at the school whilst one child has the support class? Fine in summer not so great in winter.

I guess you can only try it and see how it goes? And ask what the alternatives are if it doesn't work.

It certainly wouldn't have been practical for our family.

I think this is a great idea and would be really pleased if my child was struggling and school offered early morning sessions to help him catch up. It's better than leaving him to get further behind.
The reference to kumon is also inaccurate because children attend kumon centres once a week but spend some time each day at home doing kumon work.

I agree with missunreasonable - it's great that the school have spotted it at this early stage and are trying to do something to stop children falling further behind.

Also re the timing, it's also near the start of term, so nice and early to have identified concerns and be actively addressing them.

Perhaps they are early in the morning rather than at the end of the day, so that the DCs are still fresh, rather than exhausted after a day at school although I feel your pain about having to drag your DS out of bed.

Interesting that you think those children who struggling should get less teacher time and be excluded from lessons to work with a TA BlackWings.

My DC are at school from 0730 each morning, then usually after school club or sports. No, I don't think 0810 is too early to start, I think you should be pleased that targeted support is being put in place so early in the year.

I would assume children who are at school for 7:30 each morning are not having lessons though? They are at breakfast club or before school club/childcare for parents who work or need the childcare. There is a difference between going to school early for childcare and actually doing 'lessons'.

Some children would cope fine with this, my ds1 and ds3 would but ds2 and ds4 need their sleep more and like me are not good in the mornings.

Some parents who have other children or say use public transport may not be able to get to school at this time, so alternatives should be available if necessary.

Fwiw I think the op should give it a go and see how thru get on and reassess if it seems problematic.