Early learning goals for reception year-should I be worried

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DD1 came home with school report this week which said she had achieved none of the Early Learning Goals for the end of reception year. Sounds as if her friends (also July/August birthdays) had achieved one or 2. She is very shy at school (not at home) so I have found it difficult throughout her reception year to reconcile the child at home with the one the school describe.

What I cant understand is that she is on OLT series 4, can count up to 50 (these are just examples), does all homework, has read the whole list of high frequency words they set her for the end of reception year months back. I cannot see what more DD1 could have done yet has achieved none of the goals for end of reception year. Does anyone have any experience of how important these goals are and any tips for speaking to her teacher?

Sounds good for to me, my August born DS1 was on OLT 3 at the end of reception and knew most of the high frequency words.

Now at the end of year 1, it just all clicked about at the beginning of the summer term and he is now on ORT 9 (reading age 6 and a half/7) and is motoring now.

Hmm, my ds had similar with the Nursery. Practically had 0 on goals list for the year and half they had him.

However he had been to an education psychologist and was well ahead in subjects that even I didnt have a notion he was.

He like yours, didnt respond or play to the galleries on demand. Was very vocal at home and quiet at nursery.

I put it down to the teaching staff not getting the best from him.

Reception class was a totally different matter. Stage 9 ORT and way ahead in numeracy, loves to show and tell everything!

What changed I asked myself, only the teachers approach. BINGO and it all fell into place.

The summer born children make huge leaps in Yr 1 and 2. Don't worry too much at this stage.

Had same thing with ds in nursery (attached to state school so used early learning goals). When I talked to teacher about it, it turned out that it was all a fuss over nothing. She was very inexperienced and insisted on only checking off things that she had personally seen him do. So when he was asked to put the number 1-10 in order and he was bored doing them forward and did them backwards, (ie 10,9, 8...etc), she didn't put him down as being able to count to 10 since he hadn't done them forwards in front of her. She had him down as not being able to write his name, because he always wrote his sister's name instead of his own when asked to write his name. Poor thing just thought that any name would be good enough and his sister's name is only 4 letters and his is 8. I would just not worry about it. Except maybe to talk to the teacher and make it clear to her that you are not happy with the report as an accurate representation of your dd's abilities. Maybe tell her that you are worried about the level of supervision in the classroom since you know that your dd can easily do many of the things that she hasn't been marked for being able to do and you are worried as to why no one has observed her doing them.
Having said all of that, you will find that some years your children get good teachers who are perfect for them and some years they don't and you just kind of have to ride the waves.

The thing is the school know her reading capabilities and a lot of the report was positive, words such as capable, good progress, developing many skills-its these blardy goals. By the fact she hasnt achieved them it makes out she has failed in some way or am I being over sensitive. I do find the whole idea of government targets for 5 year olds a tad Orwellian which I suppose does get my back up from the start

We had some of this type of stuff with our two. The reception teacher summed it up very well as, " basically, if I, or the TA, don't see him doing it we cannot mark it as achieved, even if we KNOW that he's capable of it... "

Also there seem to be some goals which are really specific and in multiple parts, and if they don't see them doing all 3 parts, then again they can't sign them off as achieved.

FWIW I wouldn't worry too much...

If your daughter can read, this can't be right. The Early Learning Goals aren't that hard to achieve - in my nursery most of the kids have achieved half of them before they go into Reception.

For a start, counting to 20 is a goal as is reading a range of familiar words. She can read and count to 50. What's the problem?

Sounds to me like the teacher doesn't know what she's doing. Is she young? Inexperienced?

Look up the goals on the QTS website, print them off and assess your child yourself. Then show the teacher.

QTS website??

Sorry, I meant the DfES website - www.curriculumonline.co.uk

assess the child yourself and show it to the teacher
this smacks of confrontation and aggression, non of which I'm sure the op is or wants to be

I'd give the school a call and say you want to have a chat about your dd's end of year report. Kids can sometimes 'perform' much better at home than they do in school

I don't think all these ORT levels are very accurate tbh, and you shouldn't put too much stock into them. my own dd is on level 3 now at the end of receoption and we read much more difficult and challenging books at home, I know she's higher than a 3 ( I'm a teacher as well) but I don't see it as a big deal at all that the school hasn't recognised this.

They are scored in 6 areas, on 13 scales, and a full assessment of each is carried out periodically during the year to monitor progress. Reporting info You can certainly ask to see the breakdown fo these observations to see which areas are the "weaknesses" but she sounds ostensibly fine and try not to worry.

More info

It depends on what they mean by achieivng the goals - if they mean getting a 'score' or 9 (which means working at or above the 'goals') then bear in mind that the average expected is 6.

I would ask for more detail of what has been achieved and as pothers have said assess her yourself if you are worried. FWIW I would not worry - they are all Government speak for things some children can do - if you are happy with her progress then forget it and enjoy the holidays

Thanks to all for the info. Have looked at the criteria on the net for these goals and the ones that she has not got all appear to relate to confidence, speaking in large groups etc. Does make me feel she is being penalised in effect because of her personality but, note to self, must get this into perspective, she is 4 years old.

As you say she is only 4, and whilst she may be being 'penalised' becasue she is shy I bet she is more thoughtful and has got some of the more 'dificult' ones that others may not have got.

Reception is not a competition, just to ensure she develops as she should be doing - have a think about what she has actually achieved. For someone naturally shy (like my dd too) speaking out in class only once is a giant leap but will not register on these charts as they are only based on averages. Talk to her teacher about how she has progressed and i am sure you will feel much happier