Year 2 progress

[MrPickles73]

How much progress should a child make in yr2? Ds2 is our 2nd child. He is young for his year but very bright. It's a very small rural state school with 3 years in one class and he is the 2nd youngest child. He is in the top group for reading, spelling and maths for his year.
The teacher listens to him read once half a term and he is on the same book band as september... and he is still doing timetables 2, 5 and 10 which he knew in september.
I went to ask the teacher if he could move on in both of these a month ago and nothing has happened.
I asked him if the teacher ever works with him and he said 'occasionally'.
I'm guessing he is already at ks1 sats level and is being left to his own devices? Does this sound 'normal'? Is he spinning his wheels?

Sounds like he might be coasting a bit but he's still young so if he's not getting bored or frustrated I wouldn't be overly concerned.

Could you ask again for the teacher to assess him to see if he can move up a book band? You can also go to the library or buy him other books for home that interest him, the school ones can get a bit samey and mundane anyway (at my dd's school anyway). Is his comprehension as good as his reading?

With times tables you could download the times tables rockstars app, it's about £7 for a year and let him practise his x2, x5, x10 then move on to x3, x4 if you think he's really confident with them. Make sure he understands the inverse too before you move on. Also that he knows them at random not just in order.

The main thing at the moment is that he enjoys school and wants to learn.

Thanks. We do have loads of books at home so he reads a lot and we already have TTR. It's just a bit demoralizing for home to have read the same school book 4 times! And get homework on TT he can do.. he is happy but I don't think he's very engaged...

I should add he will have the same teacher for years 3 and 4...

The teacher sounds like they're not doing their job. Even if he's at "the standard" the teacher should still be challenging him and giving him harder work. I think this is all too common sadly - 30 kids in the class, a bright no trouble kid is often left to their own devices. However, a school near was heavily criticised for this on two successive OFSTEd reports and were moved to a requires improvement rating with that as one of the major criticisms.

My DD hit a stage in reception and in yr 1 where she wasn't being challenged. She is also very bright and frankly got bored. When I raised this with the teachers they did something about it immediately- the reception teacher gave her challenging stuff to improve her manual dexterity and the yr 1 teacher gave her harder maths and moved her several book bands ahead to match her reading ability. The Yr2 teacher was fab at making sure the kids were all doing work that stretched them, no matter what their ability.

The trouble with that you have at the moment is that he isn't learning how to learn, and how to deal with NOT being able to do something and overcoming that. It's an essential skill for the next stage of education when things ramp up. There will come a point where he can't coast, and without the learning skills he will quickly fall behind his peers who are used to having to work to learn.

I would address it with the teacher again, give it a week and then if there's no change address it with the HT.

I think Isleepinahedgefund is right - if its all too easy - you a) aren't learning anything and b) aren't learning about how to learn... its just daycare?

The fact there are yr 3 and 3 kids in the same class makes it even worse - all the teacher needs to do is give him the same work as them!

I missed the part that there are 3 years in one class. It should be really easy to challenge him in that case! It's also very unfortunate that he will have the same teacher again.

Arrange to talk to the teacher to express your concerns that he is coasting. If it continues he will learn that school isn't engaging and interesting and may become discouraged. Try to get a firm plan from the teacher of next steps. If nothing changes you can address with the head as it may be the case that all children are not being fully supported/extended. The teacher may need support with his/her planning.

Our chill recently had ofsted and one of the thing shall they picked up on was not enough differentiation for more able and less able students, so it’s an ofsted requirement that the teacher knows each child’s needs and is giving appropriate work.

The thing is I've already been to see the teacher about the maths and the reading and nothing has happened... he's on book band 12 so last year he went from book band 6 to 12 and now apparently in half a school year he hasn't improved at all? It can't be right?

They will be working on greater depth. It isn't about moving upwards at a consistent rate. It is about using the information and skills you are acquiring as you go through the system for deeper skills.

They will learn a range of skills and although he may be using the same times table the depth and way those skills are used will change.

His needs to use the tables out of order both up and downwards, know the numbers in a written format and be able to use them in a mixture of maths skills. He will need to use reasoning to work out what the question is asking and this takes English skills.

Speak to the Teacher but there would tend to be a variety of levels that children can attempt to boost confidence. Does he know what his targets are and what he needs to move on?

The book bands are a measure of nothing and he may be doing group reading or even peer reading. The teacher can assess his reading skills in other lessons like geography and history. They may use IT skills to support other subjects. His extended writing and use of language in all subjects can be checked on a day to day basis without picking up his reading book.