Moved down already!

[Satonloo]

My dd has just started Year 1, she loved reception and was placed in red group, which was the more able learners. She was also part of their more able cohort and went up to Year 1 for her literacy. Her end of year report showed she was on hold levels for everything. Three weeks back and she told me today she has been move down a group, as you can imagine I quite surprised. Also she has started crying at drop off which she never did for reception, she told me her teacher ripped a page out of her book as she said it wasn't her best work. Any ideas of how to handle the conversation I will be having with the teacher tomorrow.

Hold levels not hold!

Last try Gold levels. I must preview my posts.

Handle it calmly. Listen to what the teacher has to say. The teacher will not have moved your daughter out of spite. There will be a good reason and it may not have anything to do with moving down as it seems unlikely your child would know that. As for ripping the work, that too is very unlikely to have been a malicious act by the teacher. Go in for a chat by all means, but be prepared to listen.

It probably wasn't malicious of the teacher but it is definitely worth discussing with her that your DD was upset by it and may have misunderstood why it happened. The groups do shift from time to time, again by all means ask but it's probably not a huge deal.

Thank you for your calm and considered reply. My husband will be accompanying me so he can rein me in if needs be . I just have a very uneasy feeling about the situation, it seems a little odd to go down so soon, especially after such a strong Reception year.

They shouldn't have fixed tables in infants (or juniors). There should be movement, flexibility. How awful to be told you are in the bottom grey group at 5. Look at the issue it has caused your DD. Moving around in different groupings for different things would be much better.

It may be that other children have caught up and overtaken her.

Good point Cach, but it is so early on in the year. I know my daughter is very bright, not a case of PFB I am struggling to understand how she has dropped a group so early. I will ask to see the teachers assessment and perhaps ask foundation leader to assess her again.

Oh final point do you think a teacher should rip a page out of a book because she didn't think it was neat enough. I just don't think that is acceptable. Ask her to redo by all means but not rip the page out.

How awful to be told you are in the bottom grey group at 5. My dd was in the bottom set all through school. She thought it was great especially in early primary because if you did something simple like write your name you got a smartie or chocolate button. She said all the other kids on the higher table would have to do really difficult work and get no reward and they would be jealous of the bottom table. Dd can always see the silver lining in anything.

I have had parents come in to yell at me for moving their darling ‘down’ a group when actually I have created 2 groups because there are lots of children that are at a similar level. I have also removed pages from a child's book because it was not their best work and I knew they could do better and a sharp shock of having to rewrite it ensures that they are not sctuffy again (though not sure I’d do it at yr 1 age). My school has just moved to no groups and the children choose their work (I do a star system) based on how confident they are rather than ability.

Olivers That's sweet. . . . . . . . . . . But for other children it can really knock their self esteem, plus it can become self fulfilling as less is expected so they achieve less.

Are you in an area where it is likely that other parents have got their children tuition over the summer to boost them up?

I will ask to see the teachers assessment and perhaps ask foundation leader to assess her again. Really, don’t. Apart from making you look daft if it’s about groupings, your DD’s Assessment is completely meaningless unless you know how every other child did.

Teachers are under pressure to have the books looking the very best. There could have been a very good reason why it was ripped out; something stuck in incorrectly, hole in page from rubbing etc. Have the names of the group's changed and not the children?

I think the word 'rip' makes it sound worse than it might be. What if the teacher had 'taken' or 'removed' a page from your childs book and said something encouraging like "lets try that again as I know you can do better". Until you talk to the teacher you arent going to know the context.

Odd Tuition would be quite extreme in summer before y1 wouldn't it? However I always did read and writing, and then later maths with my DDs in the summer to stop the 'summer slump' and hopefully improve/catch up. So if the OP's DD didn't do anything 'academic' over the summer it is quite possible they will have gone down relatively.

OP It doesn't matter what group your DD is in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It only matters that she is getting a suitable level of work. Only if your DD gets reading books that are too easy, or regularly says maths is too easy or whatever should you go in and enquire.

@Satonloo how would you propose the teacher deal with other children who need to move up a level?

I remember getting v stressed when my pfb dd was moved down a phonics group in year one and asking the teacher about it - she had also been in (what I had worked out was) the top group. Turned out at that point she just hadn't got the hang of things as well as the others (phonics didn't suit her and she still can't spell!) She's 9 now and one of only a couple of girls moved into the year above (small school, mixed classes) so evidently caught up fine - in retrospect it really was not worth worrying about. I think they seem to develop in spurts at that stage and sometimes overtake each other for a bit. I'd be more concerned about ripping out the page though!

It could be more to do with her ability to buckle down and work independently that her academic ability.

She's year 1 cool down. Nothing she does this year will have any bearing on her future.

OP, with respect, it's year one. I really wouldn't be getting bent out of shape about it, and, I'm pretty sure parents evenings will be starting up soon.
I would instead just hold back and make some more observations as they have been in school such a short period of time.

I think children move up and down quite a lot in ks1. I don't think the ability group really stabilize until ks2.

Olivers That's sweet. . . . . . . . . . . But for other children it can really knock their self esteem, plus it can become self fulfilling as less is expected so they achieve less. Dd is 18 now and is doing very well. Own business that is starting to take off. I think she knows what she wants and is determined to achieve it.