Still Angry

[PuckeredAhole]

I'm still angry that there are 33 students in both reception classes at my dd's new school. I thought it was almost impossible to win an appeal, yet 6 children have been let in. It's the highest they've ever had looking at the school's admission stats. Last year they had 63, so class of 31 and 32. The year before that it was 60 and before that 59.

I am worried that the school doesn't have the resources or are not experienced with high number classes.

I read that they will have to get another qualified teacher in year 1 if the class sizes are still over 30. What are the alternatives?

"if my daughter can write her name, recognise numbers etc already, then a child who cannot will be worked with to get to my daughter's level."

"time wasted by challenging students"

Those statements tells me what kind of teacher you are. Not very nice, imo.

My son is in reception they had a boom year and so Intake was 60 instead of the normal 45 only for that year they both have teacher and 2 TA's it's been fine.

Are you seriously saying the children who NEED the help should be deprived of that? You're being a bit hysterical since they haven't even started yet. Have you spoken to the school about how they intend to mange the additional pupil count I'm sure they have planned for it.

I am actually getting angry reading OP's comment. So if you are a teacher yourself, you know hardship school/teachers are facing these days. But you get angry because your dd may not get enough teacher time to progress her more than children who isn't your dd's level, or more teachers's time may be spent on someone with sen who nees more than your dd?

Reception should be mostly play based anyway so the teacher doesn't need to spend 1-1 with children every day
They learn through interacting with each other and with the resources in the environment with the teacher there to supper and extend their learning
If she can write her name, then great but there are lots of areas of learning that she can be taught
The EYFS isn't about direct teaching in the same way as secondary school
I

Reception is mainly about learning through play. The teacher will be setting up activities that ALL the children can learn from. In the hope that they will all reach the early learning goals by the end of year 1. Yes they start learning about letters and writing alongside but there is no need for a lot of formal learning at this stage. Sounds like you are thinking about this far too in depth. She will still learn through play at her own rate and the teacher will be overseeing the whole class not giving each child 109 seconds or whatever.

I was going to say that a parents perceptions of how well behaved / how able a child is often vastly different to what is demonstrated in the classroom. But then as a teacher you will already know that?
Also as a teacher you will know that (on the whole) teachers are professional, capable people who have the interest of all their class at heart.

OP,

EYFS is so very different from secondary teaching that I think that, in your case, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and you are worrying about slightly the wrong things.

33 is indeed large for a Reception class. How many adults will be in the class altogether (teachers and TAs)? Is the classroom / outdoor area spacious enough to allow purposeful play-based learning for a class of this size? (Free flow play-based learning needs more space than children sitting in fixed tables listening to the teacher - so if overcrowded, you can end up with too much 'sitting and listening' within an EYFS class, which isn't ideal.

As for 'being held back' - in many ways, because learning in EYFS is significantly more self-directed, it is much less of an issue than it is in KS1 [so keep some of your anger for if this size of class progresses into KS1!]. A whiteboard in a role-play area can be used by a child to play 'schools' by writing squiggles on the board ... or like my DS, to work out large calculations involving negative numbers. He - as a fluent reader - could read simple chapter books and learn phonics for spelling, alongside his classmates reading early banded books and learning phonics for decoding. Plenty of undirected time and access to equipment meant he could explore football league tables, obscure fact books, wild marble runs etc etc while also learning important social skills (like how to deal with the class bully, and how to get himself involved into the year4 football games at break)..

Year 1, with 'sit down and listen' lessons and fixed worksheets, was when the trouble started.

1. I'm not saying students who need help should be deprived, how ludicrous.

1. Why should my dd's education suffer because of other students?

A lot of you are getting tetchy but as teachers we have to consider a child's starting point and then show how much progress an individual child has made during the year. Children will still not be at the same level at the end of the year. So the question is has each child made enough individual progress? If you're not a teacher then perhaps you're not aware and that's fine. I'm thinking as both a parent and a teacher.

We are encouraged to think of all students, not just the 'most worthy' ones. There is such a thing as the invisible child who causes no fuss, gets on with their work but aren't pushed to reach their highest standard. This isn't right.

Thanks for that cantkeepawayforever. I think that the numbers will still be an issue for year 1 because they can't obviously boot students out. For reception there's the class teacher and a HLTA.

You seem to think your dd is the most worthy one.

I understand what you mean OP. I worry about it too.

I think being a parent and a teacher gives you a different viewpoint. I have felt really dejected this term/year because I feel I am so stretched in class (no TA at all for me). With the best will in the world, you just can't get round them all and give them all the attention they deserve. This is why so many people are chucking it.

I can understand some of your questioning Op. Dd was in a Reception class of 32 with a NQT and just half a TA both of whom were fantastic BTW.

There are very few children entering reception secure in all 7 areas of the early learning goals
Most children are within the 30-50 with some entering 40-60
Each child is assessed on entry and can move from emerging to developing to secure
So if they are emerging 30-50 pm entry they can possibly move through 8 subsets to get to secure in the ELG

Even if they enter secure in 40-60 they can still make 3 steps of progress before the end of the year
And that's without even considering the characteristics of effective learning that they need to be achieving
It's not all reading and writing and is definitely more of an holistic approach

It's completely reasonable to be worried. Funding cuts in education are of course going to impact on the progress of individual children. But if you're a teacher then you have the opportunity and knowledge to do loads of things at home that will more than make up for it.

or consider moving to teach in a private school and sending your daughter there taking advantage of what is usually a significant reduction in fees for the children of staff.

If DD currently attends nursery/child minder/Pre school she will already being achieving against the early learning goals you could ask the current provider for details.
These goals aren't just for numeracy and literacy they include emotional, creativity, knowledge of the world. There are also characteristics of learning I.e.can they solve small problems they face, do they persevere etc.
Early years look at the whole child not just one element, a child who comes to school writing may have limited emotional skills and need additional support and guidance with those skills.
I imagine teaching MFL you come across students with excellent language skills and poor writing and others with fantastic writing but poor language skills, I'm sure you make sure no one gets left behind.

Holly, absolutely.

DS arrived in reception already exceeding end of year expectations in reading and maths - it was a long time ago, when things were perhaps a little more flexible, so they simply reported his end of Year R achievement against the KS1 / 2 levels instead.

However, although his gross motor skills were excellent, his fine motor skills were woeful, and his social skills needed extra work for many years (he had many traits that are characteristic of those with ASD, to the extent that I and his teachers used approaches usually used for those with ASD, even though he was never formally diagnosed and much of it turned out to be due to anxiety).

Reception is excellent for looking at the whole child.

At say £4,500 per child then 6 extra children means £27, 000 of funding for the two classes. Plenty to pay for some additional TA hours and additional resources. I don't think they are going to have to be breaking the pencils in half just yet.

Usually the directed teaching and input from class teachers and TAs in the classroom is done in groups or directed at the whole class during carpet sessions. The teacher will not be racing around trying to give individual input to each child, obviously there will be additional record keeping to be maintained for each pupil but unlike in secondary schools, or indeed in Upper KS2 ,there is not a huge amount of marking to be done in Reception.

I think you are suffering from PFB nerves OP, chill out, your daughter will have a lovely time and learn loads,more children means a greater number of friends to make in a wider potential pool.

Please make sure you don't pass on your anxieties to her, don't interrogate her about how much teacher time she gets each day , and most importantly enjoy watching her blossom. honestly, if you re read your post in a year's time you will blush!