Primary school curriculum asking too much of children

[Ipsos]

Hi,

I wondered if I might ask what others think of the pace of work in the primary school curriculum in England the Wales?

My son has been struggling at school and I went to talk to the senco. I said I felt that they were asking too much of ds.

The senco agrees and says that she doesn't know any teacher who thinks that the current fast paced learning is healthy or appropriate for little kids of their age. She says people are always talking about mental health problems in young children as if it was some kind of mystery where it comes from, when in fact it's obvious that it's caused by the school system.

She said there is little that the school can do to shield him from this as they have to meet targets or they will be marked down in their ofsted assessment.

I feel really sad for ds that he is being put through this in his early years, which should be a time of free play and freedom to think and develop naturally.

I wondered if anyone might have ideas on how to solve this problem? If people generally agree that the curriculum is too fast paced, could we perhaps start a petition or something?

Thanks!

Clarella that sounds like what is going on, yes. What would an OT do? I only recently found that ready brek works as a vit D supplement and so that's been good. I make it up as flapjack which are very sugary, which is not so good (causes thrush), but I am working on that. We weren't previously able to find a vit D supplement (or any vitamin supplement) that could be tolerated so the ready brek discovery was great for us.

Oh I just looked up OT and the kind of assessment that they would do has already been done by the school. The school found that feeding back information to us was enough to get ds brought up to speed so we are just working with him at home when there are things where he needs extra help to get specific skills.

your child's school employ qualified paediatric occupational therapists ? Or did they refer him to a paediatric OT for assessment?

No they have just been watching him for two years and gave me a list of things they felt wanted work. They said there's no need to go any further than that.

Does anybody understand what all this Academy status stuff is about? If we're allowed to ditch the national curriculum, but we still have to sit the tests, how does that work?

So, say we wanted to rebrand the school as a forest school, and allow the children to progress more slowly through the curriculum (perhaps a year behind), could we just explain on the website that the ethos of the school is to support the development of the children instead of racing through the curriculum and that that is reflected in slightly lower test scores?

Or would the school be penalised for that somehow?

The school would be penalised as the results would, probably, fall behind the government floor standard. and so trigger OFSTED. The "no need to follow the curriculum" plan might be OK for non-tested subjects but writing, reading, maths, grammar and spelling are all tested and children have to meet the "expected standard" by the end of year 2/6. It could mean that the academies teach nothing BUT the tested subjects!

Perhaps a physio could advise extra strengthening exercises? It sounds like stamina could be an issue?

It could also have longer term consequences for the children into ks3&4. In primary the whole year would be behind. Once they go up to secondary, they will be at least a year behind the rest of their school year. They will either have to try and catch up that year somewhere or will have lower targets set and finish their education a year behind everyone else, which may affect their ability to access further and higher education.

Yes I see what you mean. So the curriculum can only be ignored in areas outside the core subjects, and since the core takes up 110% of the time, there's effectively no wiggle room. Oh well.

We did have an assessment by a very experienced pediatric physio Clarelle and she says there's nothing wrong at all that can't be fixed by having a bit more time running in the park. Which is good obviously. :-)

Yes I see what you mean Rafa. It all makes a move to Scotland sounds rather attractive. I hear they still have a sensible education system and free higher education.

If there is a concern a paediatric OT assessment can be hugely helpful. If needed they will provide sessions and a programme that can be followed at home and school. They will also pick up sensory type problems if present and ways to support.

Ipsos no area of the curriculum can be ignored (there are murmurings that there will be assessments for all subjects)

I'm with mrz. Science will be next-we already have sample tests back and I think geography and history will follow.

Is an OT assessment the same as an educational psychologist assessment?

No it's nothing like an Educational Psychologists assessment.
An OT is a medical professional

Oh I see. :-) Is that something that we could have done privately or does it need to be done by the school?

Thanks!

Your GP can make a referral

Thanks, that's good to know. I think he needs his hearing checked as well but presumably the GP can refer for that too.

I would always recommend ruling out physical difficulties so a thorough hearing and sight check if only to rule out possible issues. Your GP or the school nurse can make a referral to an audiologist.

Thanks, I'll look into that. :-)

I agree. Hypermobility for example can cause stamina issues, co-ordination etc. It's quite common and some children aren't particularly affected but it's worth checking along with anything else.

Mild dyspraxia also. The think is there's lots that can be done to help out. I used to work in mainstream and I feel we knew very little tbh, though was 10 years ago.

I had him checked for dyspraxia and he's okay for that too.

Is there much in year 1 that is streamed other than spelling? We're wondering if we could just have him moved down a group in some things to take the pressure off. He's currently top of the class in reading and in the top spelling group, so there's definitely a bit of scope to ease off there. Writing is not a strength so if he could just keep pace in writing and rest on his laurels a bit elsewhere then it might be more manageable. Hopefully the conservative government will eventually explode and the curriculum will be reset again and he'd then find he's at the front of the pack again.

Thanks so much for all this discussion it's so helpful.

In the school we go to reading, writing and maths are all streamed by ability in year 1.

Oooo! That sounds promising then. :-)

Who assessed him for dyspraxia if he hasn't been seen by an OT?