What is normal in a year one class? DS now hates school!

[JuliaL]

After looking forward to going back to school my DS has against his new classroom.
He says he doesn't like going to school anymore, that it is "too much work" and he is "scared". Certainly what I witnessed today shows a really sharp contrast to reception... the type of learning I remember from junior school. At registration they are sitting at desks with the task write "to the park" as many times as you can from memory. This strikes me as rather dull and turgid and I'm worried that he could be turned off learning. He is also now wetting the bed again. I'm pretty certain it is not separation anxiety but can anyone tell me what is normal for a year one class? Are they all so formal, or is it just this school. (if so, it looks like I've made a serious mistake in my choice of learning environment!).

PS He is not the only one now declaring he hates school. One child ran away on Friday and several others were screaming and had to be dragged in today. Other mums have told of crying children or tantrums.

Any advice gratefully received from one
very unhappy mum!

sounds a bit rigid to me - my DD1 has just started in Yr 1 and if it was like this we would never get her through the door
in our place they try to ease them in gently and do a lot of the learning through play etc
(although think there is the scope for them to end up repeating "to the park" ad infinitum if that strategy doesn't work, but they take them out of class for that in about yr 3 iirc)

poor him, poor you
can you talk to teacher to guage things?

OMG!Running away! My ds's both found the transition from reception to yr 1 difficult, even tho' their school is lovely. What is the general atmosphere of the school like? Do the older chn look happy when they are milling about?

My DS has just started year one. I know that they sit in desk groups and have a more formal day than Reception, with more work and less learning through play.
Ds's main complaint is there is no sandtable/watertable/workshop for them. They do seem a lot more focused on the learning side, but as far as I can make out although they do have writing they are not doing what you say you have witnessed. TBH I would be concerned about it.
He is getting his first spellings this week, test on friday, and also maths homework and 2 reading books as homework.
There are quite a few kids in the two YR1 classes having trouble making the transition from reception, quite a few tears although DS has been fine.
I would have a word with the teacher if you can and see exactly what the expectations are for YR1. Hope things improve soon.

julial - that sounds familiar. My DS#1 hated school from the moment he walked through the doors of the reception class. It got easier each term until he was happy enough in his class. Then he moved on to the next year, new teacher, new classroom, harder work.... and he went back to hating it. But Yr 1 was the worst. He cried at night, he fought against going in the mornings, he cried when I left him (but he usually did that anyway ) He took to a really odd habit of collecting things off the pavement - bits of wood, leaves, nails, sweet wrappers etc and stowing them in his shirt pockets. It seemed to make him more secure. Very odd indeed.

I think that Yr 1 is a real shock TBH to all the children, but even harder if the teacher doesn't let them down gently.

Blimey - I am stunned. My ds has only just turned 5 and is in year one, and I have to say if they sat him down and asked him to write "to the park" they would have to whistle for any results - he can only just form letters, let alone write words. Do all these children read? Because if they can't read, what the hell point is there in them writing endless "to the park"'s????

How bizarre. I really, really would talk to the teacher about this approach, and if you don't get a good response I would have a meeting with the Head. I wouldn't accept this.

To give you an idea of how different it can be, ds' class have kept exactly the same morning routine as they had in reception so that they are familiar with it, parents are still allowed to take children in, and the room is set up exactly the same as the reception class, a few big round tables with colouring/beads/blocks on around a big rug where they can sit and play. There is a sandtable and waterplay table just as in reception. We've been told that only in term 3 will those things disappear and more formal learning times be the norm; and I think even that is a bit soon; my ds will still be 5 then!

Good luck, that approach at your poor ds' school really needs dealing with!

JuliaL - sorry to hear this. I think you definately need to speak to his teacher. Our school issues a booklet to all parents detailing the work the class will be going through throughout the year. Our son enjoys school but he has been here 2 years already so that probably helps!! Sorry I can´t help further, hope you get things sorted.

Perhaps that was a topic they did last week, so not completely alien to them . Last year ours would do a set task after registration - handwriting practice perhaps - and yes it was more formal but they do get used to it pretty quickly.

They've just re-organised the way they teach year 1 at my DC's school because of all the difficulties children were having coping with the transition. They have now set up the classroom to be like the foundation stage. There is a writing table, creative table, water, sand play and a home corner. It's carrying on learning through play. They are going to be rolling it out across the whole school. Apparently all schools will be moving this way. Their school is part of a pilot programme.

DS1 was in Year 1 two years ago and he seemed to find it much harder than DS2 is finding it to settle.

Perhaps you could go and talk to his class teacher about your concerns, and then the head if you get nowhere.

Is it relevent or coincidence that most of the people posting on this topic have ds? Might it be a 'boy phase'?

My DS's definitely find it difficult making the transition back to school after holidays. They really enjoy freedom from formal structures and routines. That's not to say that they don't need structure though.

My DSs are also much less bothered about pleasing others than my DD. They get very annoyed by being 'bossed about' by their teachers. They usually take out this annoyance on me when they get home from school.

we havent had any running away but there is a sharp contrast between play based reception and year 1. It sometimes takes a while for the pupils to settle in.

When my elder DS and DD(5 years ago) started school they didnt have a play focused reception so they were already used to "working" in school so yr 1 wasnt such a big shock/jump to the them.

I have noticed a lot of the work my DS did in year 1 was they things my other DS did in recpetion.

Both my DSs (August-born) have found the transition to Y1 quite difficult. They did Y1 at different schools; although both schools tried to ease the transition in various ways, it was still a shock to them.

DS2 last year complained that his hand hurt because of the volume of writing. He still has very poor handwriting, but last September it was a real struggle for him to write much.

DS2 is now alarmed about Y2, so perhaps it happens every year. (Having said that, DS1, 9, has just gone into Y5 and seems very blase about it.)

We've only been back a week but so far so good. They are reading to teachers/TA's everyday now but that seems to going OK. They still get to play after registration and have golden time on a Friday afternoon when they can do as they wish.

I know they will do more learning this year, particularly reading & writing but they are easing them into it.

None of her classmates have been unsettled as far as I can see. They all behaving in the playground before & after school exactly as they were in Reception last year.

I hope your DS settles back into the routine quickly. But do make an appointment with his teacher to discuss the effects it is having on him and how things could be improved.

Just to prove it is not all boys, my daughter is finding the move into year 1 a bit of a shock too.

She is really into reading and writing, so I didn't think she'd mind the change of pace too much. But she is definitely complaining about the lack of toys and the fact they have to sit at tables and get on with reading their books. She says she doesn't know how to ask for help if she got stuck on a word, which makes me think the teacher has not been very clear about what is expected of them. Especially when I discovered that the word in question was "gymnastics", which I wouldn't expect many five year olds to be able to read (It is in one of the ORT books, which do seem to have a habit of chucking in incomprehensible words every so often.)

Their classroom is a lot smaller than the Reception one and more formally laid out, although they do have an art area and a role play area. She says there are times in the day when they can choose what to do, but it sounds as if they are straight into formal learning when they arrive first thing in the morning, whereas in Reception they had a good period of free play before doing literacy/numeracy stuff together.

Your son's school does sound rather extreme, though. As well as the complaints about too much work, DD has also sung me a silly song that the teacher taught them today, and they have had some games sessions out in the playground. So it's not all been work.

Thanks for all your help and advice. Very interested to know that wall-to-wall literacy and numeracy is not the universal story.. gives me hope. Have booked into see the class teacher (there's a queue!) Went in OK -ish this morning, but with his head hanging in sadness. Hopefully will pick up!

I think one problem is that they are v carefully managed into Reception. By the time they start Year One they're expected to know the ropes. However, the change is just as great as it was last year and they're still only 5! My dd1 who is very confident and even wanted to go to school in the summer hols has found the start of Year One this year really hard. It's been lunch time that's got to her because they're now sitting in a different part of the dinner centre and the noise is deafening. Her lovely teacher has sorted it out by taking in a tambourine to rattle when the little ones come in to quieten everyone down, so now dd1 is happier but last week we had howls for the first time ever. Poor little mites.

When DS was in Y1 they would have "morning tables" to sit at and they would have a photocopied sheet of paper to work on - something like "draw what you did at the weekend", or "draw 5 things you saw on the way to school" or "draw 5 things beginning with the letter b" or something like that. Gradually as the year went on it would be "draw and label 5 things beginning with s" or whatever.

I know a few of DS's friends struggled at the start of Y1 - DS was OK because he is academic and was just enjoying getting to grips with reading. In fact DS's best friend who is young (birthday end of July) comes to play quite a lot after school and he is silly and boisterous, but he also comes every other Saturday morning while his Mum takes our DDs to dancing and he is a totally different boy who loves doing lego and k'nex, sitting at the kitchen table drawing etc. It is obviously the effect of having to sit in lessons all day.

Interesting about your friend's little boy, Bozza. DD1 has been complaining about doing too much sitting down. We were chatting on the way to school today and I said that maybe we should make sure we do plenty of running-around playing, bike riding etc after school and at the weekend.

You should have seen her little face light up! And previously she has always wanted to spend lots of time at home sitting and colouring/making/painting. I think even she has realised that after a day at school, she just needs to moooooooooooove!

It might do my waistline good as well.

Year 1 was a huge shock for my son and myself. They no longer play but do get golden time on a Friday, where they can do what the want, depending onhow they have been. I woul dhave a word with the teacher as he has to go to school and learn but he has to be secure and happy too.

Oh god how awful. My boys are now in yrs 5 & 3. When they moved into year 1, it was easy for them. They had formal work in the morning and then if any of them needed a break, they could go down into reception in the afternoon. They were weaned off this after a few weeks. Their teacher said some of them just aren't ready for a full day of "strict" work. I have to say it was mainly boys that needed the reception break!

I'd try and speak to the teacher about the fact your child is so unhappy.

That sounds extreme. DS1 was a bit unhappy in year 1 but that was mainly down to the teacher rather than the work. My dd has just gone into year 1 this year and it is a stark contrast to reception because there is little or no play element in her day, although the teacher hasn't made them do all that much yet AFAIK.

DD (just 5) has told me she doesn't like yr1 so far and the only thing she likes is PE! I too am a little worried esp as she is the youngest girl in the class and academically bright but a bit lazy and she likes playing!

Errr doesn't sound like my dd's Year 1 class. It's early days but there does seem to be more concentrated emphasis on literacy, but still plenty of time for more informal fun / learning activities as far as I can gather

I am a bit happier today, I have found out that they do get golden time on a Friday, and that yesterday and the day before they spent some time in the afternoon in the "club" room playing, so I think DS might be overplaying the "nothing but work" card. I do think the basic structure is a lot more formal and work based though.

my ds was so shocked by year 1-the first two weeks were very difficult because the whole format is different-lots more work. He settled quite quickly into it though.