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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

Child messing around in year one - wrong school?

22 replies

Botofspother · 04/11/2016 21:05

Hi all, I wonder if I can offload a little and helpfully find the way forward for my dd.
She is in year one, still 5 until June. Since starting in year one she has started messing around in lessons and not listening to the teacher. She has been going to this school for reception and nursery and all we have heard prior to this is how well behaved she is.
Let me just point out, this school is the most pushy school in the local area, they are renowned for getting good results and pushing their students hard and this suits my eldest dd who is in year 3 but does not appear to suit my younger dd.
She doesn't want to go into school any more, often has to be taken in by the teacher. I don't know if they are expecting a lot from a 5 year old, she is expected to sit and write for 30 minutes, is this normal? How can they go from forest school and cookery to maths, english and science?
Academically she is in the upper sets and I have checked with the teacher she is able to keep up which I am told she is, when I ask her why she hasn't written anything she tells me that she couldn't think of anything to write down.
I am wondering if this is the best school for her (she is in a class of 30) or if she would be better off in a smaller class.
Has anyone had any experience where things have sorted themselves out? I am hoping as she matures and gets used to the workload it might get better but I really don't want her going to school every day and having a miserable time.

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TheTroubleWithAngels · 04/11/2016 21:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thatdearoctopus · 04/11/2016 21:26

Well, unless you're considering private schools, I can't imagine you're going to find a state school with many fewer than 30 in a class.

kilmuir · 04/11/2016 21:28

Too long for a 5 year old in my opinion

Original poster

Botofspother · 04/11/2016 21:29

I do worry that sitting her down and making her write when she doesn't want to and punishing her when she doesn't will completely kill any enthusiasm she has for learning.
We moved house recently to a village and didn't move school as it's only 10 mins in the car but there is a small village school a mile down the road which have 17 in a class, I'm wondering if this might suit her better.

OP posts:

LAmusic · 04/11/2016 21:29

My 16 year old can barely sit and write for 30 mins let alone a 5 year old!!

PunkrockerGirl · 04/11/2016 21:36

Tbf, a lot of adults would struggle to sit and write for 30 minutes. For a 5 year old, that's just crazy.
A class of 30 is not unusual though.
Yes if it was me, I'd be checking out the village school.

iknowimcoming · 04/11/2016 21:36

Maths, English, science and ability sets in year one after one half term? What sort of school is this?

eyebrowsonfleek · 04/11/2016 21:41

Are you sure about the 30 minutes? I have an older child who might spend 30 minutes on a writing assignment but half of that will be planning or the teacher talking about the writing topic beforehand and using whiteboards.

Emilee2010 · 04/11/2016 21:44

Sounds like the pressure is getting to your youngest...I have heard good things about school in Brenchley with small classes and good behaviour results...maybe worth having a lot around?!

Original poster

Botofspother · 04/11/2016 21:44

When it was parents evening the teacher showed me an example of her writing and I asked how long she had taken to sit and write the one sentence and she told me it was 30 minutes. She then make her come back in to write more during break for another 35 minutes during which she wrote another sentence.

OP posts:

mintyflamingo · 04/11/2016 21:56

That's not really the same as expecting her to sit and write for 30 minutes though is it. They expected her to write a sentence which is hardly a big ask in year one. Would you really want her to go to a school where they didn't expect that?

Original poster

Botofspother · 04/11/2016 21:59

No no, you misunderstand. They gave her a subject to write about and 30 minutes to do a piece of writing and she wrote one sentence which her teacher was incredibly pissed off about! They expected her to write a lot more than one sentence!

OP posts:

Couchpotato3 · 04/11/2016 22:00

Trust your instincts and have a look at the village school.

Witchend · 04/11/2016 22:29

Yes but Bot what minty's getting at is that they may have said "write two sentences about X" or "see what you can write about X" and all the other children had done it in 10 minutes, and she sat apparently messing about for the first 20...

She may struggle with getting started when writing. Dd1 did and we used to play a game when walking down and back from her piano lesson. One of us would say a subject and the other would have to fire off a sentence about it before the other one had counted to 5. As she got better we then would have to improve the sentence one word at a time.
So it would go:

Garden
I dig in the garden.
I dig hard in the garden.
I did hard in the beautiful garden.
I dig hard in the beautiful garden with flowers.
I did hard in the beautiful garden with pretty flowers...

She thought it was a game entirely, but it did help.

Original poster

Botofspother · 05/11/2016 00:31

I'll try this with her to see if it helps. I will go and have a little look round the other school though, it can't hurt!!!

OP posts:

Mumofaboy123 · 05/11/2016 11:31

That sounds a lot for a year 1 child but could you logistically get both children to and from different schools each day??

blackhairbrush · 05/11/2016 11:37

Do the school do "Big Writing" - this includes extended writing (30-45 mins, I think) once a week? I would expect most year 1 children to write more than one sentence. Is she able to tell you what she is finding difficult?

CroakingCrocus · 05/11/2016 11:51

Give it time. My summer born DD struggled with the transition to Y1. She absolutely adored reception but the shift to more formal learning was a shock to her system. There were regular complaints that year about how she wished she was back in reception.

She was and is quite bright but wasn't ready for that style or learning when she was 5. Her teacher felt she under-achieved that year and we got some feedback about her poor behaviour in class. She regularly did the bare minimum.

Y2 was much easier as she was a bit older. There were still some issues with behaviour and fooling about in class but her Y2 teacher put some of it down to her picking up things quicker than others and then getting bored and acting up. We had a lot of discussions with her about behaviour in class that year.

Y3 is going ok so far!

mumbanator · 05/11/2016 12:57

Hi yes I have a DS1 that I spent most of yr 1 worrying about, similar sounding school. He is also fine by yr 3.

golfbuggy · 05/11/2016 13:20

I think the jump from Reception where it's all about play to a more structured year 1 can be hard. Lots of DC don't understand why they have to sit and do stuff. like others have said, I would be trying to ascertain what the school actually expect of your DC.

smellyboot · 06/11/2016 22:59

Yr1 is the start of formal schooling and she's young for her year... Are you sure she is expected to write for 30mins?? Ours is till a gentle transition, but it's a definate change. My DD is old for the year and was ready but younger DC struggled for a few weeks

Ginmummy1 · 07/11/2016 09:45

I wouldn’t be so quick to criticise the school or panic and move schools. As others have said, the transition to Y1 can be difficult for some. I’m sure the teacher would explain the 30 mins writing thing if you asked. Is your DD actively worrying about anything at school? Struggling with anything? It appears from one of your posts that she’s doing well academically. Maybe talk to the teacher about why she might be ‘messing about’ – is she genuinely worried/struggling/unhappy or do you need to have a few tough words with her, explaining that there’s plenty of playtime at breaks and at home, and she needs to be a big girl and try to concentrate during what my Y1 DD’s teacher calls ‘valuable learning time’ at school.

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