Am I right to be unhappy with child education. Year 1

[Jenny1231990]

Hi all, my son is nearly 6 and in year 1. When they first went back to school it took 3weeks before he starting reading during school hours, this wasn't bothered with until I bought it up and they said they were waiting to asses all children., yet he read all throughout reception, would they not just carry on as he was and asses as they go on?

My son does struggle sometimes to concentrate, but when leaving reception he loved maths and was said it was one of his strengths. Now though when I go in of a morning, it says for his table to practice writing their names while everyone else is to go the sums on the board. He has been able to do this again since before even starting reception.

I just don't understand why they don't all at least have the chance to try.

This morning I said to him to have a little go at doing them. As in the evenings we have been having fun practising sums. He was sad because he doesn't get to do them at the same time as others. But his teacher came over and told him to get his name sheet and practise his name, even though he had done 3 sums getting them all right.

Back last year they had to practise works off the word cards. He's been given the same words, such as 'eat,help,want,will' he knows all of these, I wrote this in his record book to be told that he doesn't know them.

I'm not saying I want my son to have more attention or anything but just to be given the chance to try. As I feel he isn't being pushed to be the best he can. If anything he's going backwards.

Do I express my concerns? Many mums are unhappy with this new teacher. Not just me and she isn't really approachable. My other half wants to have a word just so maybe we can understand, do you think this is a good idea or am I just being silly. Sorry but any help would be appreciated

I feel you need to make an appointment with your child's teacher to clear up any misunderstandings. If your son is having different teaching to the rest of the class then you should be informed.

My daughter is in year 1 as well and the expectation of most schools is that they practice their reading at home. Children tend to work in ablity groups and have a carasol of activites. It may well be that one group is doing maths while another group is doing handwriting. There is a huge developmental range in a typical year 1 class because some children have just turned five and other children are six years old.

I am surprised that your son is being given words to learn. He should be using phonics to work out words like "eat, help, will" although "want" is a tricky word. If you don't mind me asking, did your son meet expected levels on areas of the foundation profile last year? I am surprised that they are getting year 1s to practice their names. (Unless its their surname or does your chidl have an impossibly long name?)

It's hard to know whether you have genuine concerns from what you have written. Obviously you have more of a gut feel that explains why you are unhappy.

Re the reading - 3 weeks to get into the swing of things is really not that long. Did he do no reading at all at school? Not even an adult reading to him? Was there no phonics teaching? TBH I am never that bothered about individual reading at school, as this is one thing that you can easily do at home!

Re the sums - if it's just a "first thing" activity, it probably lasts for 5 minutes while everyone gets settled. Maybe the reason your son is writing his name is because he needs particular practise with that and the other children don't? I'd be more interested in what maths he does during the day than a gathering activity.

Word cards - some consolidation will happen. It's fine to flag that your child can read them (as you have). What was the teachers' response to this?

Are you aware there is a new curriculum? It may be that some things have changed around since last year.

I'd definitely suggest raising specific concerns with the teacher - hopefully they can put your mind at rest.

Oh boy Jenny - have I been there.

Having the scars to show for years of battling our primary - can I advise that unless it's critical - just treat school as day care, don't bother going to battle with them - just quietly get on with doing more yourself at home.

I know teachers will be aghast - etc.... but there are some schools that quite simply set children on bottom table and leave them to rot - only showering them with help/ attention before critical assessments: end KS1 SATs/ Y1 Phonetics test/ end KS2 SATs.

So what can you do:

Well you can go your own way.

If your child likes maths consider signing up to an on-line tutorial or using the school's maths tutorial website more. We went with mathsfactor but also heavily used school's subscriptions to Education City & My Maths while they lasted (never more than 1 year - but there's no law that says you can't do more with these things & do your own lessons). Others here have recommended Komodo Maths/ Mathletics/ Maths Whizz/ Khan Academy. Khan Academy is free - but Mathsfactor/ Mathletics/ Maths Whizz/ Komodo Maths are by subscription. All have trials and you should have an explore and see which works best for you.

So that's maths taken care of - and suddenly it doesn't really matter whether the teacher is giving your child maths work or not - because they're doing more at home and you can see they're progressing.

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Writing: We opted with DD2 who had real issues with coordination both of print and then cursive writing - to buy little workbooks that helped practice handwriting.

We also found the Jolly Phonics workbooks - teaching phoneme sounds & helping with reading - also included a lot of writing practice.

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Reading

Well encourage sounding out - maybe work on key words (e.g. common words resources on Primary resources www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/englishA3c.htm - just go for items with 1 next to them - intended for year 1.

Spelling: If you go to St. Ambrose - they have spelling resources by year under classes - here: www.saintambrosebarlow.co.uk/for-children/year-1 - just click spell - at the moment it's just the one game - but they do update/ refresh this - so keep checking on it.

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USE FREE WEBSITES:

Woodlands Junior School Resources has brilliant links to games/ worksheets related to pretty well any subject - but I particularly find their Maths Zone really helpful: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/

Their CVC words games may be helpful with reading/ spelling: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html#3

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BBC Bitesize KS1: This is intended for Year 2 preparation for end KS1 SATs - but you can set difficult level as medium/ hard/ very hard - so just start off with easier levels and work up: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/

Lots of practice/ ideas there and I found this useful to identify what my child knew about/ didn't know about - what they could or couldn't do - so could work out where to help.

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In general we put in about an extra hour a week on maths/ had a routine of nightly reading (again probably added up to 1-2 hours a week) before bed/ and did the odd worksheet (handwriting/ spelling/ maths/ grammar (more KS2)) or educational video games in between times (whilst I was cleaning/ cooking/ whilst waiting for a sibling to finish a lesson/ car journeys). I doubt we did more than 30 minutes/ maybe 45 mins if it was a good book a day - and cumulatively this made a huge difference.

HTH

Surely the fact he was told maths is one of his strengths makes it more likely that this is differentated learning. He doesn't need practice at the maths because he can do it. However maybe he needs more practice at the writing, so it is that that he needs to practice.
My ds would have been the same, writing is his hatred, he would have been furious to find he was expected to do writing when he could be doing fun maths. However it would have been much better for him.

Thank you for the replies.
Yes they are expected to read at home too. He does this every night, And reads well. He had the same book all through the summer holidays. So to still have it 3 weeks after returning I thought was odd, that wasn't just my son though a number of other parents brought it to attention also.
I'm not sure if it's his whole name to be honest. As I haven't seen the name sheet she tells him to get as they can't find it while in there.
His name is fairly easy and was able to write it through reception and at home.
Yes this is more of a gut feeling which is why I'm wondering whether to bring up my concerns, due to not knowing what they do throughout the day.
I understand they normally sit in groups of abilities and do different tasks through the day, but it's only ever his table asked to write their names and all the rest to do sums, I just thought it would be good if everyone could give it a go, as I said the 3 he done this morning were correct, she didn't even look or praise him, just saw he was trying and told him to get the mane sheet to do his name.
I flagged up that he can I fact read all of these words easily, and has been able to since reception, he can tell me what the words are even before I get them from the packet, she replied that he could not read these.
So while other children now have 6 different sheets of words to learn also spellings he has something he's done for the last year with ease. That is what I don't understand.
Maybe I'm just silly I don't know as I said she is extremely hard to approach and I'm not sure how to go about it. Or wait until the end of term parents evening.

I will definitely look at the links given,thank you. he enjoys playing educational games so would like that. I don't want to battle just him have the same chance as everyone else.

I see what you are saying dewee, he is good at maths but not so good he would be better off practising his name. That he can do with ease. I do understand where your coming from though, I just feel he is going backwards rather than progressing. As I said it's a gut feeling, on what I've seen myself daily.

Is the problem that he's not showing what he can do at school? It seems odd that the teacher would say to you that he couldn't spell the words when you think he can ... Hard for the teacher to move him along if she can't see what he is capable of.

Possibly but on the word cards you have to tick if he gets them correct. He has about 10 on each from the teachers. I'm not sure how many times he has to read them right before they give him some more. I'm annoyed that she wrote that he couldn't read them. I didn't respond. I don't know how to, to be honest as I don't know if this is normal for year 1.

If she wrote that he couldn't read them, then it is likely that he couldn't read them in the context she gave them to him. I very much doubt she was lying to you, so you really need to go in and have a conversation with her. Don't wait for the end of term parents' evenings. Drop a note into the school office asking if you can see her after school one day for a brief meeting.

3 weeks without a reading book really isn't the end of the world; just let him read something else at home.

I think you need to go and speak to her too - approachable or otherwise. Don't wait until parents evening, it is too far off. Either everything is fine and you will sit and worry until then or there is a problem and by then a whole term will have passed.