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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Year one workload

62 replies

Efferlunt · 17/09/2015 22:58

I just wanted to gauge of this was normal in terms of workload for year one. I was told that things would ramp up but I wasn't expecting things to be this crazy. As well as reading every night there will be tests every fortnight for which we have to prep at home. This week we need to do number bonds for ten and learn six spellings including some three-syllable words. DS's behaviour has gone downhill dramatically and he seems to be really feeling the pressure and is reluctant to do any work at all. Just not sure I'm comfortable with this and worried he will basically end up hating learning. School say this is how it has to go with the new national curriculum.

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AalyaSecura · 18/09/2015 12:08

Here it's 4 reading books a week, 10 spellings a week which each need a sentence, plus fortnightly mental maths tests that we're meant to help them prepare for. And half termly projects that I've not even thought about yet. DS is finding the amount of writing needed hard going. I'm having to be more organised about it to pace it for him. My older child had exactly the same amount to do and seemed to whizz through it, I think it highlights the difference between autumn and summer borns at this stage.

Imperialleather2 · 18/09/2015 12:41

Yes my ds is a summer born and totally exhausted already. He does one after school activity and I'm thinking of Culling it

Tuiles · 18/09/2015 12:45

Thing is I helped out in Reception last year so I know for a fact that some of the kids now in y1 can not yet read, and some cannot even write all their letters yet, let alone a sentence. So how they would be expected to achieve these levels of homework without being irredemably crushed is beyond me.

DS having his 6th Birthday in a few days is fortunate to be ahead of the curve, could probably cope, but I count us lucky that we are not being put under this pressure yet. Maybe it will catch up on us.

The 'afraid' and 'away' spellings are probably exploring different graphemes for the 'ay' sound. I think it's too much for this stage of y1, even if they could read those words. Expecting when they can't is beyond depressing.

MazyCrummy · 18/09/2015 13:12

Yes, Tuiles I helped out too, so I know I'm maintaining the same terminology as the school teach and I hoped it would help him, but even with that, and doing little and often (10 mins/night ish), it seems as though the 'average' child is being set up to fail (or struggle) and that's so sad

Ellle · 18/09/2015 13:41

I would expect the homework, number bonds, spelling lists to be given by the teacher according to the level the child is at that moment, rather than where the average child should be in the new curriculum.

It doesn't make sense to think that the child needs to know how to spell words like "afraid" when he cannot even read it or is still on pink books for example.
I'm sure DS1 could read and spell that word when he was in Y1, but he was almost at the end of the colour band books when he started Y1 and very soon became what some schools refer to as "free reader".

Also, if the child cannot even write his name, how can he be given homework where he needs to write sententes using the words from a list?

If you think the homework is too difficult and is having the opposite effect on your DS (making him hate learning), then have a word with the teacher.

By the way, when my son was learning number bonds in reception, we only played games using cards and dice (e.g. I got a card with 6 and the first one to say the number bond to 10 would win the card), and he loved it. He loved being "quicker" than me and getting most of the cards to himself. We used to play with superhero cards that had nice pictures on them and he was eager to collect his favourite ones.

There are lots of ways to practise number bonds that don't necessarily need to be boring and put off your child. At least that part of the homework can be a bit fun.

For spelling, if you have a tablet, there is a really good app called Squeebles where you can write your own list of spellings (using the ones you get from school), then the child practices them and at the end they get points to play a game using the squeebles. It's really good, and that's another way to improve the homework and make it a bit fun.

RueDeWakening · 18/09/2015 14:08

DS1 is in year 1, so far we've had reading books twice a week, plus one "worksheet" a week relating to this term's topic - one was to write a sentence about the costume he wore to school on superhero day, the other was to add words to a comic type picture of 2 superheroes fighting - and optional extension work was to write who he thought would win the fight and why. Took about 10 mins tops per sheet.

Year 4, on the other hand, has gone crazy and DD is feeling a bit shellshocked!

backinschool · 18/09/2015 14:30

We have reading books that get changed whenever they are finished - that's daily for us at the moment but only because DD is still keen at this point. They get six spellings a week (this week it's words like in, and, he) and a maths fact to learn.

DD is in a mixed yr1/2 class and I love how relaxed it all feels. It's crazy that children are feeling under pressure in year 1 .

BikeRunSki · 18/09/2015 14:41

Sounds similar to DS Year 1 workload (last year)
8 spellings every week; given out on Fridays, tested the following Friday. A combination of simple and multi syllable words every week (eg: one week had "if" and "throughout").
Numeracy homework once a week, about 20-30 mins.
New reading book whenever ds finished the previous one; often 2 a night.

Oliversmumsarmy · 18/09/2015 15:59

If you think the homework is too difficult and is having the opposite effect on your DS (making him hate learning), then have a word with the teacher.

I did and got the blank look. It was pointed out that they had to adhere to the national curriculum and that was the homework set and had to be done. If he didn't do it then he had to stay in every break and lunchtime untill the work was finished. Which just made everything worse. Try telling a 5 year old boy that he couldn't run around with his friends. I was in the position that I could home ed him and when we made the decision to take him out of school the relief the whole family felt was like lifting a great weight off our shoulders.

MazyCrummy · 18/09/2015 16:44

oliversmumsarmy I'm waiting for the teacher to call me next week - she wasn't in today so didn't think it was worth speaking to the supply teacher . I was just trying to gauge if this was a new standard or something at school level

Ellle · 18/09/2015 17:08

Wow, that sounds harsh Oliversmumsarmy. The teacher wasn't very sympathetic. Was he in Y1 with the new curriculum? That seems to be the most common reason schools mention behind the sudden increase in the amount of homework and difficulty of it.

I don't think it's right to use this one size fits all approach on the homework or the teaching for that matter. But I don't think all schools and teachers are like that. DS was the opposite case, and his homework (especially maths) was tailor made for him (more difficult) because that was the level he was at. All without me ever having to ask the teacher for it. And I'm sure the homework for some of the other children was easier, from what I could sometimes hear at the door when other parents talked with the teacher.

NotCitrus · 18/09/2015 17:32

That all seems ridiculous. Ds was in Y1 last year, no spelling tests that I ever knew about, and homework was 'home learning' every fortnight, with a topic to discuss (eg ask someone like your parent/carer what their favourite book was as a child, and draw/write about what you find out) and produce something to bring in.

In Reception it was optional, in Y1 half of them were meant to be compulsory but nothing happened if they weren't done. Lots of incentives to read daily though, and advice on what to work on with your child, like adding numbers to make 10.

At start of Y2 every child has a piece of work on the wall and clearly most of them are getting the hang of writing, with a range of spelling from early phonetics to perfect. I'm very happy - they've taught ds to read and write and all.

Oliversmumsarmy · 18/09/2015 18:24

This was a few years ago. Ds is 13 now and although we have put him back into school, twice, he has fell behind and struggled both times

LikeASoulWithoutAMind · 18/09/2015 18:37

Homework should be differentiated. Afaik primary homework cannot be compulsory either?

uhoh1973 · 18/09/2015 20:14

New reading book everytime you read one (so depends how quickly you get through them) plus spellings every week. That's it.

Snossidge · 18/09/2015 20:18

So far just reading, and DS1 loves school still.

Shineyshoes10 · 18/09/2015 20:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Whisperingeye1 · 19/09/2015 00:50

The expectation has been raised with the new curriculum. The end of reception is more in line with old expectations of year 1 etc. Unfortunately in order to get children to where they need to be some schools are sending home more work to try and fit it all in.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 19/09/2015 08:06

I agree that the expectations have been raised, but if you are expecting spelling lists like he, she, on, can etc then there might be an even bigger mismatch between the curriculum and parental expectations. I'd expect most children to be able to spell those words already. 'Away' would seem about the right level, but I think was probably already on the curriculum. They shouldn't be sending home spellings that he can't even read yet though.

The amount of HW some children on this thread are getting is ridiculous though.

citymum3 · 19/09/2015 09:55

Blimey- reading book changed weekly and homework this week is to draw an Autumn picture. Not so much as a sniff of a spelling. This is what older children had in year 1 too. So new curriculum not causing changes here!

EmeraldKitten · 19/09/2015 23:23

Ds2 gets one reading book a week and homework on a Friday to be returned by Wednesday...usually takes about 30 minutes.

mumofthemonsters808 · 19/09/2015 23:37

Gosh, Ds Year 1 class seems very relaxed compared to what I have just read. He has a reading book that is changed once a week and his homework is only a paragraph of writing. Unless everything changes over the next few weeks, it seems a bit sparse to what others are doing.

Oliversmumsarmy · 21/09/2015 08:49

I went to primary school in the 60s. No homework was ever set, not even spellings and everyone in my year and every other year ahead and below me at age 11 could read, write and were competent with maths yet here we are 50 years later and apparently in order to get children to that stage we now have a system that says a mountain of homework has to be done and it has to be work, work , work to get to the same point.

Isn't this where we are going wrong. Oh and in my schooling I know of one actress, one writer and in my class at primary a guy I saw in the papers who was doing a 12 year secondment to I think it was Norway to head up a team to study something highbrow to do with Genetics. School worked in the 60s but it is not working now.

Oliversmumsarmy · 21/09/2015 08:50

And we could all spell without the need for spellcheck

Artandco · 21/09/2015 09:09

Reading book given for every day ( they get given 3 on Friday to account for fri, sat and Sunday)

10 spellings and sentences a week. Words similar to above like 'afraid' ' avoid' 'dirty'

'What I did this week' - a small paragraph written about what they did, due Monday mornings. Ds has gone in today with ' I ate a lemon drizzle cake. That's all as I forgot'. !! I didn't have the energy to encourage him to change it or write more as at least it was written correctly.

They also get a project each half term ( have had since reception)

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