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!?

Families

Your dc are at childcare from 7.30 not school, it is different and your own choice, nobody is expecting you to do this.
The OP has said that the early start would be difficult for them

Fair enough, no, my DC are not in lessons before school (though they do need to be a bit more switched on than if they were mooching around at home in their PJs).

If transport had been an issue I assumed it would have come up in the OP. Having a child who isn't a morning person and won't relish getting up 30 mins earlier would be a pretty poor reason not to take advantage of the extra help on offer (and I say this as a night owl with a night owl DS - we would both prefer to start school / work at 1000 by choice, but we have to suck it up and cope)

A typical day in local prep schools is 8-4.30

I think you're really lucky that a teacher is giving up their time to run extra classes outside school time!

Sure, it will make longer days for your dc but you may find that he really comes on with this extra support, and he doesn't need it for too long.

Agree with pp that it's much better to do extra lessons outside school time so he won't have to miss classes during school. I think you'd be mad to turn this down, personally - sounds like it would benefit your dc.

If they have identified he's a little behind now, after being at school for two years, then much better to act now than leave it another year when he may be further behind.

Thanks for your comments everyone.

I think we will try going but will start with 2 days per week as I honestly know that for my son getting up early 3 days a week will just be too much. It's not just about not wanting to get up it's that he tends to feel awful if he is woken before a certain time. I am much the same. If I am woken to early it really puts me out for the whole day and I am not firing on all cylinders. I don't really think a grumpy, tired, tantrumy child will be the best place to face a full day at school.

I know that prep schools have longer hours and that some children are in breakfast clubs by 7 which is fine for them as I guess their parents have chosen that lifestyle for them. However I did not choose to send my children to prep school or to put them in an early morning club precisely because I didn't think it was good for them. I made a choice to stay at home so my children had a lot of time resting at home and didn't need to be in school early.

I do feel disappointed in the school as we had not really been made aware of his problems until the very end of the summer term and had they advised us sooner them maybe it wouldn't have got to this stage so I feel let down by them. They are very concerned about their SATS results and I do feel that this is what it is all about (why else do they not do this in year 1 or year 3 but only in year 2?).

I am going to see if there is any way that it can be fitted in during the school day. They do a lot of "fluffy" stuff which I would rather my son missed and did his phonics then than before school. Surely they should be able to get a child to the required standard within school hours. If not are they not doing something wrong?

What I do find a bit ironic is that if I had posted a thread saying I was planning on getting a tutor 3 times a week for my 6 year old and they would be coming before school every morning the thread probably would have been flooded with people calling me pushy and feeling sorry for my child. I just think 3 times a week is really excessive!

If need be I think I would rather just pay for a private tutor on our own terms.

I'd check two days a week is OK with school; if it is a unit of work that has been put together for this specific small group and your child is missing 1/3rd of it there may be problems.

The fluffy stuff you want your child removed from may not be at a time when the teacher / TA is available as they are working with the whole class.

As a teacher I find it equally ironic that so many parents are demanding extra help that we struggle to find time to provide, yet this thread is about a school making the time and a parent not happy about it.

Surely identifying a child needs an extra boost at the end of a school year and then putting some support in place as they start the next is not "letting you down" - "Quality First Teaching" (i.e. good differentiation and in-class support) can meet the needs of children and is the first approach used (as has probably occurred in Y1), once that is identified as not enough further steps are taken.

I guess it's your choice lifebook14 at the end of the day. However the school is offering this for your sons benefit.

Yes it may be partly to get their overall results up, but surely you'd want your DS to do as well as he could and that's what this extra teaching is about.

The "fluffy " stuff as you call it is part of the general curriculum as teaching for young children is not just about phonics - and presumably the rest of the class are managing to do their phonics in the allotted time.

This tuition is free - why would you rush out and pay extra money for something that is being provided just because you don't feel your son can cope with getting up 3 mornings a week.

Personally I'd trial doing it all 3 mornings and see how that goes.

Did your child reach the "expected level" in the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check? Which is at least 32 out of 40.

Our Y2 teachers would be offering the place to another child if a parent didn't want 3 out of 3.

Your child really needs to learn to read this year. Nothing to do with SATs. For him.

You really don't want him starting Y3 a level 1.

It is worth putting everything you can into it now. And it sounds like your school is brilliant.

I think the teachers at your school are very generous to work for free. I'd try to make it work and hope to boost my DS. It is hard to have a long day and change the routine, but probably worth it. Changing your family routine is a nuisance, changing the school's routine is probably even harder.

At our state primary, the kids are all taught together, no streaming or setting. This means some Yr3s are sitting reading Chapter books to themselves while sitting next to classmates still plodding through Biff and Chip during reading time. Of course they just have to at their own pace, but knowing all the year 6 children now for 6 years, I know the slower readers feel frustrated and it is a kick to their self esteem. (All us mums have been chatting about our children, and our fears and worries for them, for years.).

Getting a boost in infants is a great opportunity.

What's this "fluffy stuff" you think he can miss?

Things like the Christmas play / art / assembly??

Our school has a load of whole school assemblies. At least 4 a week! I'd love to see them streamline it a bit. Looks like a bit of an indulgence on the part of the leadership team to me.
But, if people started pulling their kids out of the class assemblies it would cause problems. You can run any institution with too many exceptions.

Can= can't

Wow - I would love that to be offered for my DC. What a fantastic opportunity for your child and how great that the school have not only picked up on a need but also offered help. That's great.

If you are worried about the mornings, perhaps you could all go to bed a bit earlier?

Although I see that the timings are not good for you or your son, perhaps it is only now that a teacher has been free to do such an intervention, rather than just a push for SATS?

There are just so many things to fit into the school day that making someone available to do extra phonics later on just may not be possible.

No way. My night owl DD1 would have happily done it after school, but not before. She'd have seen getting up early as a punishment for being dyslexic. It would not work.

What are you expected to do with siblings. Is there a breakfast club?

Meanwhile DD2, who wouldn't need it might have been up, she was often bouncing about.

Fluffy stuff?
Assemblies = legal obligation to have a daily act of collective worship
Art = teacher and TAs actually teaching the class
Music = as above
PE = as above, plus an expectation that children get 2 hours high quality PE a week.
Playtime = teachers and TAs on duty / kids want and need a playtime
Lunch = teachers and TAs clearing up from morning session, preparing for afternoon session, going to the loo and maybe eating lunch.
Registration period = teacher has to actually do the registers, settle children. TAs already doing various interventions; phonics, reading, maths, speech therapy, physio/OT.

Not really sure where else there is a space.

Both DDs would have been delighted to miss "open the book" and the Vicar coming in to talk about this terms 'value'. Neither would have been heart broken not to sit through the interminable awards assemblies on Fridays either.

If I was giving up my early morning time, which I would normally spend getting the huge amount of stuff that is needed during the day ready, thus necessitating starting work an hour earlier than the start of the club and a parent started to complain about the timings I would feel very depressed. One of the reasons teaching can be a bit frustrating.

Perhaps this has something to do with the new literacy curriculum?

But not every school does that Elephants.

Not very likely ipadquietly Year 2 are still using old curriculum.

It's 8:10am, not a 4:30am milk round!

The teachers must be getting there even earlier. They are being really very generous.

I'd grab it with both hands.

Yes, isitfriday, for assessment purposes. They will still have to have attained the level dictated by the new curriculum at the end of KS1 to enter KS2.