Help! Opinions please

[custardbear]

Hi - my DS has just started year 3, the school has a split infants and juniors, different heads and sites etc

My DS I know has always been a bit behind on reading and spelling, writing but generally is bright and knows lots of things, retains information and works things out well

Spoke to his teacher last night and She asked if I had any concerns so I asked about the reading, writing and spelling and she said yes it's not great, he's below standard and I'd estimate by the end of year 3 he'll be year 1 standard, perhaps low year 2 but he will not catch up this year

I'm really concerned about this after sleeping on it over night - is this common? She didn't mention anything about extra support or help - I asked about external professional tuition and she said it probably wouldn't hurt and she'd let me know if it was affecting his work badly

Can I ask your thoughts and experiences ... I'm Really concerned about him and concerned no help is available in school or nothing was flagged that it was SO bad!
Thank you
Ps we do read with him and do letter formations etc st home I just feel we're not competent enough to bring his skills up so much

Well how did he do in Year 2 SATS? That must have given you some idea about how well he's doing. He hasn't gone from "a bit behind" a the end of Year 2, to working 2 year below where he should be at the start of Year 3.

I suspect the school will be giving him extra help - they just haven't explicitly told you about it. I'd suggest going back to the teacher and asking what support he's getting in school and what support you can give him at home. Do they have any concerns about SEN? If you're reading regularly and making sure he does whatever homework he gets at home that's great. Remember he's still young enough to catch up - lots of boys particularly are slow to "get" reading/writing.

Thanks - last year was a
Disaster, his teacher was off half the year so they had a supply teacher who even said to him 'oh xxxx your writing just keeps getting worse and worse' which really hurt him
SATS he did badly at, but had no clue it was him working at such a low level - I assumed it was year 2 but low level, not year 1 ... or below that even ...
think perhaps I need to not trust the school will do what's best for him, so push them to help more

What were the SATs marks like for reading. Could he read the text?
I would focus on that so getting so he csn read to that level and quickly enough. And whether he could have verbally answered the Q. The old papers are online.
Is he still on book bands snd what level? As many kids will be off them in yr 3.
We found the project x alien books good they are bands 7+ and you can get a collection from the book people.
You can read alternate pages or lines which speeds it up and keeps interest.
Reading we were doing 20+ mins a day in yr 1 (then didnt really need to after as she reads to herself).
I think it's a pity they removed levels as it would be clearer.
My dd got a bit behind in maths in yr 1 but we did a lot of work at home in yr 2 and managed to bring it up.
A lot of these things just take a lot of 1-2-1 at home. But if you have been and he is still not getting it you may need to check with school (though ours almost does no 1-2-1 reading it is mainly groups.

Thank you, he's book colour green and looking st the scale it's year 1 primary 2 although I think he'll go up soon as he's starting to nail these books now

I think we will get some tutoring and do more st home - we usually do 20
Minutes reading probably 4 times a week sometimes a bit more and some other bits and bobs like writing and letter formation in a book we have where he can colour dinosaurs too and write out dinosaur names which he likes ... sort of lol 😆

Has he had eye sight test?
I'm asking as we noticed that our boy slowed suddenly. we've done test and he is short sighted. obviously needed glasses. He has never said to us or teacher that he can't see.

I think the fact she predicts he'll be 2 years behind at the end of the year is quite concerning and I'm surprised they haven't put in interventions at school. If he's generally bright I'd also be wondering what has caused him to fall so far behind it sounds like it could be SEN issue. Could you afford an Ed Psych? I would also do hearing and eye sight tests.

Have the books been decodable or ORT?
Kids can go from green to free reader in very little time (less than a year). But I suppose it depends on the issue.
is he getting quicker at decoding in his head?

I'm really surprised the Infant school have not discussed concerns with you beforehand, and put interventions in place to support him.

However, you are where you are now, so contact the school again, and say you were a bit taken aback at Parents' Evening, but now what was said has sunk in, you'd like to arrange another meeting with the class teacher and the SENCo, to find out more specifically what they think his difficulties are, and how they are going to address it, and support him at school.

Separately from that, it is always worth getting his sight and his hearing checked. (You have to go to GP to get referred for a hearing test, but can go to any optician for a sight test).