Should I say something?

[Wheresthel1ght]

20 something years ago I did my eyfs teaching degree but for ideological reasons I never qualified. Throughout my degree teaching became less about inspiring and enabling children and more about statistics and results. I chose to leave my degree and follow a different path and am happy with that choice.

Skip to now and dd is now in year 1, she is in a mixed reception/year 1 class although majority are year 1. The teacher has always taught the nursery class up until this year.

We are half way through this half term and dd has gone from loving school and eager to do more to being withdrawn and bored.

She has always loved reading, we have always encouraged it at home. I was careful not to step on toes last year and spoke to her teacher about their teaching methods etc so we could support her learning. I have friends who finished their degrees and are still teaching. I am aware trends change and didn't want to teach her in an alien way to how she was learning at school. She excelled and exceeds her targets - mostly down to the incredible teachers she had last year. However this year she is reluctant, says she hates it and there is no point because the teacher doesn't care.

She is coming home frustrated that all they have done in English is practised how to hold their pen. I asked why and she said because the teacher only teaches the babies.

Now I am aware a 5 year olds perception of time is rubbish and she is mainly focusing on the bit that she was bored by. However, the homework coming back is ridiculously below what I would expect of year 1 and way below what the year 1's in the mixed year 1/2 class are getting. Her hfw are insanely simplistic and dd is able to read them easily.

The teacher is not keen on playground chats with parents and encourages email communication. I am uneasy about this as emails can often offend without intention as tone is lost etc. So I am toying with emailing to ask for a meeting with her to discuss my concerns. I am aware from conversations held in the playground that I am not the only parent who is u happy about the level of work.

I have asked questions via her diary book thing but they have been ignored so am getting mildly annoyed now.

Wibu to say something? Would it make me "that" parent?

My head says leave it til November and after half term and see if both dd and teacher are just trying to find the right balance.

What are your thoughts please?

Do you have a parent consultation evening soon? My DDs school arranges them in October so children and teachers have chance to settle in, but then it's early enough for parents to bring up concerns.

If not, I think I would email and ask for an appointment to talk to teacher after school, it only needs to be 5 minutes really. I think you both need chance to clear the air. Teacher can explain why they are covering basics still and you can advocate for your daughter who might be getting bored. I wouldn't dismiss the need for basic skills though. It maybe that the teacher has identified a gap in the class's learning and needs to consolidate this. However, she should be able to identify if your DD is capable of moving on.

I think I would be a bit concerned about the lack of communication or maybe I'm just lucky in that DDs school is quite open with parents.

I would want to speak to teacher ASAP about this. If there are no parents’ evenings approaching then yes, email and ask for a meeting. Be clear and factual, perhaps bring examples of the work that was sent home at the end of reception to illustrate the fact that you don’t feel she is currently working where you would expect her to be but start by asking questions rather than going in with a list of complaints. How has dd been assessed so far? What areas should you be focusing on at home. What is her current reading level? Things like this will give the teacher a chance to explain her strategies to you, you can then talk a bit more about your concerns re. Dd going off the boil and how you haven’t really seen a step up from reception. To give her the benefit of the doubt, perhaps it is a deliberate strategy to start slow and get them comfortable in the new classroom before moving onto a more intense learning environment.

No idea. The school as a whole is appalling for communication. Dd did not attend the nursery, so come day 1 of term we had no idea what time school started, what time it ended, what procedures were for packed lunches (food allergies that they won't cater for). If last year is anything to go by we will get told about them with maximum of 24 hours notice. My appointment was booked for 6, finally got seen at 715 and one of the teachers got up as I was called over and left the room. I figured she needed a wee. But she never returned. She was the one who taught most of the week so I was not impressed!

I might email the office and see if they have them pencilled in yet and if they are going to be in the next couple of weeks I will wait and talk to the teacher then.

I understand the need to consolidate on last year, especially with a 6 week break. But 5 weeks in I would have expected that she would have identified the ones who no longer needed it and were ready to be pushed a bit more.

Twenty something years ago EYFS didn't exist OP.

Twenty something years ago EYFS didn't exist OP.

You could do a specialist 3-7 QTS

Why is the existence or otherwise of EYFS of any relevance here? Op just included that info to indicate she has some understanding of what might be expected to happen with children of her Dd’s age.

It's relevant because the OP included it to indicate that she has an understanding of Key Stage 1

Mrz, I know what you mean, but it's really not a big deal in this context. It just mean she was educated to teach that age group back then, so she knows about early years education more than people who hasn't.
Really , no point of being pedantic about this.

Sorry Irvine but I don't have much confidence in the knowledge of a person who doesn't remember they trained ten years before the EYFS was created. If that's being pedantic then so be it.

Mrz, I really appreciate your devotion and help on primary. I couldn't do without you for many years. But it just feels so painful to watch you getting wrong accusation.
I don' think she never claimed to know everything about how it works these days. She just pointed out she has a bit more knowledge than average parent.
I can totally see the point of you correcting wrong info shared by other teachers. But OP is just asking for an opinion. It's either we can offer what she wants, or not. Nothing can be gained by correcting details, imo. And I know you can offer so much to a lot of us.

Mrz

I don't think it's at all relevant - OP indicated she has some knowledge of early years the current name for teaching that age group os hardly relevant. She didn't claim to be a world expert on KS1 she was just putting her concerns into some context (i.e. she has some understanding of the capabilities of children of around that age group and an appreciation of the strain a teacher might be under).

I've not suggested she's claimed to know how it works now Irvine and I'd be inclined to doubt that someone who doesn't know what course they studied does know more than the average parent ( although I'd agree that the inclusion makes that inference).. I happen to believe many parents are very well informed (in some instances better informed than teachers).

Mrz, I really love you, appreciate you, and adore you. You are my inspiration.
But at the same time, I can see that you will put off some people, by your straight talking. I know you don't mean it, but I can see some do get offended.
Please remember, people come here for help, not criticism.

Actually Mrz my degree was English with early years qts. Although I fail to see why it is relevant. Early years/key stage 1 has been around as a concept for donkeys years. Now do. You actually have anything constructive to say or are you just going to be rude for the sake of it?

Irvine I'm sorry if I offend but if we don't challenge misinformation it's accepted as fact.

Mrz, I don't get offended by you, I know you always mean well. And I am so grateful for the teachers to challenge misinformation.

But in this particular case, nothing is a misinformation. It's just a figure of speech, as I understand how op described her degrees are. And us parents won't get any disadvantage or get confused by it at all.

Op, this thread seems to have become massively derailed by a discussion about a contextualising comment (that I bet you wish you had never included in the first place!) As I said up thread, I think you should make sure you get a chance to talk to the teacher sooner rather than later and hopefully get to a point where you feel happy. Please let us know how things go

I am sorry for derailing, OP.

If parents consultation is coming up soon, I would wait. If not I would make an appointment to speak about your concern.
If there are rec/yr1 mix and yr1/yr2 mix classes, I would expect all yr1 children to be getting same level home work, at least.

Don't think you were the one who derailed it, Irvine.

Anyway OP, I actually think you should ask for a meeting/get in a quick chat before any parents evening. It's better imo to get issues ironed out before pt meetings. The meeting slot may not actually be all that long, teacher won't be able to devote it full attention and that then leaves the pt meeting free to concentrate on your child's development.

homework appears to have vanished completely, nothing since the first week. the other class are getting loads, spelling etc and ours are getting nothing.

I am going to drop an email to the teacher and see what she says