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!?

Err, no .. Year 2 still follow the old programmes of study in Year2 and Year 6 for English and Maths as those are the criteria they will be assessed against.
Quote from Government Website
"•in the 2014 to 2015 academic year, pupils in years 2 and 6 should be taught the pre-2014 programmes of study in English, mathematics and science"

Most small primaries have tedious assemblies everyday.

Although I believe not all larger ones do. I know the middle school didn't because it took so long to squash everyone into the hall it ran into lesson time.

In all the schools I have worked in we have kept some children out of assembly each day in order to work with them. It is more than likely that interventions are already happening during this time.

There really is not a spare minute in the day when you work in a school.

DD did do some stuff in assembly. Not much help, but no one had any sLD training or much of a clue what would be of value as far as I can see.

And that, perhaps, more than anything, is why I'd be nervous of losing sleep for extra lessons.

Bright dyslexics are very very difficult to help.

No ipadquietly they will be taught the old curriculum and assessed against the criteria for the old curriculum & using the 2007 or 2009 tests.

What an odd attitude. I'm amazed that you wouldn't grab the offered support (which you accept he needs) & be very grateful for it. An extra 30 mins at the start if the day is not a big deal, he will be fine if you don't make it into an issue.

If getting up early is a problem then perhaps earlier bedtimes are needed.

I'm not sure I'm reading the right thread here. Do you realise what some patents go through to get targeted intervention for their child? Statement applications, evidence gathering, tribunals....

You're being handed 1.5 hrs of targeted intervention without any effort on your part and you're not going to take it because he'll have to get up 30 minutes early????

Send him to bed 30 minutes early to compensate. Take things a bit easier at the weekend. Do anything, but don't turn this down.

Why would you want him withdrawn in class? Children who are behind have to make more progress than their peers just to catch up.

Get a grip of yourself. Seriously.

Curious - why do you think bright children but who have dyslexia are hard to help?

I agree with lougie. Every word. Excellent post.

I think at 6yo yanbu actually.

Surely though you can just say no and that you will do a bit of extra reading and writing with him at home?

Mind you I am quite relaxed about my dd reaching government set targets and am happy for her to do things in her own time. In my mind its like the tortoise and the hare - what is the problem as long as they get there in the end? He is 6yo - a normal week of school is enough.

Hulababy some children who are young can slip through the net and seem to be coping when in fact they are struggling hugely.

DD2 is now HE. She was struggling at school but they thought she was achieving what she was capable of.

Today she said 'I really wouldn't want to go to space because you'd have to wait until you are in zero gravity and until then you have to keep going faster and faster and you know I don't like fast things.....'

She is not a child of low ability. She just couldn't keep up with the pace in the classroom and when she got things wrong they'd just move on to the next topic.

I only worked out this week, observing her in a French class with a tutor (6 children), that she can't copy from a board. I realised that she can't remember what she saw on the board once she looks down at the paper. That's why she's so slow, because she's having to check and recheck every single letter as she writes it. So now I know that she needs the writing in front of her.

Girliefriend, if a child can't read in year 2 it means they can't access the resources in every single subject that's covered. It holds them back hugely!

Did the OP child fail the phonics reading check? I am surprised that she is shocked that her son needs intervention. A good school should make it clear in a school report if a child is struggling.

If a child enters juniors unable to read then there is a strong risk that they will never learn to read. The key stage 2 curriculum needs the child to be able to read inorder to access it. The school are throwing intervention at the OP child so that he will cope in life. Many schools do not push key stage 1 SATs as they want to show progress between year 2 and year 6. Often there is a tendency to under mark key stage 1 children rather than inflate keystage 1 SATs.

" 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."

Some children have to work hard to master the skills of reading. It is well worth getting up 30 minutes earlier to avoid your son being totally unemployable when he is older. I feel it is great that he is getting help early rather than being in a position where he cannot access the curriculum in juniors. Surely getting to school half an hour earlier is not that much of a hardship.

I would have thought the phonics check the most obvious reason but whatever it is the school have noticed the OPs child is having difficulty and want to support ...

Lougle - I agree with you that some bright children with dyslexia do slip through the net as they can mask difficulties etc.
But I do also think that once they are identified it isn't particularly difficult to help - with the right support they can be given techniques etc to overcome difficulties.

I can sympathise with the OP's concern. Her child should be receiving teaching that is differentiated to his needs, during the school day, learning, at a pace which suits his needs. Not having to go to 'crammer' style classes. He is not the only child either attending, so it sounds like there is a whole group at a similar stage in their reading and writing. So the teacher should definitely be differentiating the day to day class lessons to cater for them.

If he has been slower to grasp some of the key concepts, once he has fully grasped them, learning will probably then seem to suddenly accelerate.

OP I would voice your concerns. Keep dialogue open. However you will probably have to try the classes with your son, as this type of 'initiative' seems to be a trend, going on what other posters have said...

Differentiation is a measure to cater for differing levels children may be working at. A child who is otherwise able but hampered by their reading ability is not being suitably differentiated for if they are given lower level work because it requires less reading.

What many people don't realise is that children who are 'differentiated for' without targeted interventions may never catch up.

Take a simple example. We'll use old fashioned spellings:

Children are grouped by ability. Gp. 1 learns 10 spellings; Gp. 2, 8; Gp. 3, 6; Gp. 4, 2. Good differentiation.

By the end of just one half-term, group 1 have learned 60 spellings; group 2, 48; group 3, 36; group 4, 24.

By the end of a school year, an otherwise able child who was in group 3 because of their reading but hadimproved overthe year is a massive 144 spellings behind their group 1 peer, which means that the following year, to rise up with group 1 they have to learn 14 spellings each week -the 10 group 1 are learning plus 4 of the 144 the child missed the previous year. That means they'd have to be able to learn at 140% of the rate of the most able children.

That would be mirrored across all areas where grouping by ability is done in the name of differentiation.

Apologies for missing spaces. Mobile phone.

I don't think it is too early. My 6yo reads with me for 20mins before before school club starts at 7.15.
Maybe give it a try for a few weeks

Capsicum the OPs child will have been receiving differentiated teaching but obviously needs more help which the school has recognised. Of course they could continue the way they have or send strugglers off with a TA but instead they are offering additional help outside normal teaching time... The key word being additional

lougle but, with the example of spellings, I would expect the attainment to be in line with reading, somewhat. If they have not yet grasped some of the phonics elements of reading spelling new words (that they have not seen) would be problematic. If they can memorise words new easily, by sight, giving them spellings to learn would not hinder them anyway. Even if a grasp of phonics was not fully attained. In this case 'learning' spellings would be irrelevant.

Learning is not always neat and linear. The concept of being 'behind' is not always relevant. In any case I was talking about 'grouping' by previous attainment and not 'streaming'. I think it would be completely normal if some children had attained more in some subjects than others.

I'd take this opportunity with both hands. Trial it til half term and see if he is adapting. Don't give up before then as it will take a few weeks to get used to a new get up time.
I would also get him up at a consistent time every school day morning, not later when he isn't doing it, otherwise his body clock won't adjust and he will feel rubbish.

mrz but the OP is concerned that additional work will not be good for her child's over all well being. Which I can appreciate. Also if there has been a need such as concentration issues, during whole class sessions, affecting his attainment, tiredness could have a real affect on this.

I am not saying the OP should not trial these sessions, I am saying I sympathise with her concern.