Is this just a result of the pandemic or do we need to take action?

[Pandemicschoolpanic]

Hello,
DS2 finished infant school exceeding expectations in reading and meeting them in writing and maths. He moved to the attached junior school last September and has just brought home his year 3 report with working towards in everything.

I had a few concerns during the year about things that I thought were too minor to bother the teacher with. He did not like his reading group and the book selection seemed a bit rubbish. I have always read with him every day, so I just continued to do that, and let him choose books that he liked.

We live very close to the school, he seems fairly happy and he has friends. I feel like my only options are to keep him at his current school or phone around all of the local schools in search of somewhere with a place. I would move him if I thought it was in his best interests, but moving schools would be disruptive, and he would at least temporarily be set back socially and academically. However, I do not want to bury my head in the sand and leave him at a school that his not helping him to meet his potential.

I realise that the pandemic will have had a huge impact on schools and the attainment of pupils. However, he was exceeding in reading, has practised every day and has still fallen to working towards. How can so much damage be done in so little time?

OP, gently, it's interesting that your immediate leap here is to the school not helping him achieve his potential rather than concerns that he is struggling and how you can help him.

I think the first thing to do is ask his teacher why your DS has fallen behind this year when he was doing so well up to now. Are there things you can do over the summer to give him a leg up for Sept? What are the teacher's specific concerns?

But honestly I wouldn't be moving him based on one poor report at the end of a period of extremely disrupted learning. Many DC of all ages have suffered educational setbacks as a result of the pandemic. What's important is making sure they catch up and unless you have other reasons to be unhappy with the school I would at least try and get to the bottom of this poor report before you make a drastic decision.

Why not speak to his teacher about your concerns before you rush into changing schools?

What does it say on the report are the areas he is weaker in? Do they sound accurate?

I should add, it is also very common for children who are advanced readers at the beginning of primary to not remain as advanced throughout schooling - generally it balances out. If you're still reading with him at the end of Year 3, it seems unlikely he's an advanced reader (unless he's also reluctant and it's the only way you can get him to read regularly). Both of mine had passed that stage by the end of year 3 and would have found me insisting that the read aloud really frustrating.

What I would be very annoyed about is that the report has come as a shock. I wouldn't be moving schools but I would expect an explanation of why you weren't aware.

There is often a bit of a dip with a transition like this, particularly changing school, not just year group. Children can have ups and downs in any subject and there could be all manner of reasons, not just that the school is "not helping him to meet his potential".

Have you actually asked the teacher what you can do to help your son? Or have you just started looking for new schools?

Hopefully you will get some teachers to respond but I would say having a chunk of home learning could have an impact. I also would think the expectations in year 3 are very different so perhaps there are bits he still doesnt quite have around comprehension. I also cant remember if he would be 'working towards' because the level they are looking at is the end of year 4 as year 3/4 was a phase when mine went through so they wouldnt really meet the expected level til the end of year 4.
The other thing i hear is that as there has been less class time the teachers havent been able to collect all the evidence they need of skills as sometimes they need to see a skill more than once to say its embedded..

Is the school still open for you to ask what you can do to support his reading over ghe summer and what they will do too?

So hes a free reader?

It shouldnt really be possible to go from exceeding reading to not met so one teacher has a very different opinion to the other.
It is possible that the teacher has put everyone not met due to the time out of school?
I think tbh the whole report system needed a look at because ours just has a grade and no reasons (apparently other schools have kpi whulich ours never have) and it allows the teacher to just tick anything.
Also i know of dc given met who i know didnt do the home learning for a particular subject and that is going to an issue next year but the teacher hasnt noticed

Infant schools are renowned for inflating grades so that their results look good. Year 3 teachers are constantly dealing with the fall-out (in my experience anyway - been teaching for 15 years, never taught Y2 or Y3 but it's a well-known phenomenon in schools)

@desperate4spring

Infant schools are renowned for inflating grades so that their results look good. Year 3 teachers are constantly dealing with the fall-out (in my experience anyway - been teaching for 15 years, never taught Y2 or Y3 but it's a well-known phenomenon in schools)

Disagree with this. Infant schools are heavily moderated to avoid exactly this. I have taught both and very rarely has it been so. Year 2 teachers are not crooked and are checked to ensure it.

Even if there was some inflation, which I doubt, there has been a year since and for a child to go from exceeding to working towards is not usual.

I think the reports are lots of conflicts of interest. New vs old teacher and vs the child.
Dc1 got met for reading in reception despite reading and comprehending several years ahead.
Then at start of y1 they even moved down on the book bands( again despite not needing to be on them). But actually allowed exceeding by end of yr. yr2 the teachers was clearly not into games and straight off the scheme.

Have you got a parents' evening or a chance to discuss his report with his teacher? I'd be really concerned about this as well, but you need to speak to them to find out exactly why they have only put him as working towards and what he needs to work on.

Has he read some of the recommended books for y3. ?
Dc1 getting exceeded has read 20-30% of the recommeneded ones for the year above.

It ciuld be covid as missing over a 6th of the year and i wouldnt be keen to sit 1-2-1 with kids to listen to them.
However doing y3 homelearning last year it was clear the comprehension questions are pretty hard much harder than the ks2 sats ones and more like i would have done in secondary

If you look at the OFSTED reports for out local Infant school it states that children are leaving with good grades (clearly not a quote but you catch my drift).

The OFSTED report for the Junior school they feed into states that children come in working below expectations.

I find it staggering that nobody seems to have made a connection here...

However, as a PP said, Infant schools are renowned for inflating the grades and year 3 teachers end up dealing with that!

I would do what @zafferana said in the first instance. I might even say "look, do the infants inflate the grades?" and watch for the instant reaction before they can arrange their face into "oh they are a very good school".

This happens at the end of Juniors as well so be prepared I talked to the head of our Secondary and she said "oh we are well aware of what goes on...we follow our own assessments."

Thank you very much for all of the replies. They have been very helpful.

I have not started looking at new schools. I was just acknowledging that realistically the only way to move schools at this stage would be to search around for schools with places. I know that we have it easy living close to school. I wanted to make sure that I am not putting my own convenience above DS's needs by keeping him in his current school.

I do want to support my son. In the past it has felt like a team effort between home and school. School do the actual specialist teaching that trained teachers are good at. At home we help the DC practise their reading and times tables as well as playing games like hang man and pontoon. We have continued trying to keep DC engaged with learning in the way that has worked in the past. If this is not longer enough then I am happy to put in extra support at home.

I read with my son because he loves to talk about what he has read and learnt. He often reads non fiction books about things I know nothing about. It is much easier to have a discussion and check understanding and pronunciation of words if I ask him to read aloud a little each day. He is only 7, so I do not expect him to know how to say every word, especially words or names that come directly from other languages without help.

He was on lime book band at the end of year 1. He moved up to year 3 on grey, but that might not mean much to parents from other schools as I think that after lime schools do not always use the same names for the bands. I am not concerned about him being advanced. I just want to make sure he has sufficient reading skills to be able to access the material he needs to learn. If he is only working towards this puts him in danger of struggling in all subjects since reading is key to many things.

School say that the drop in attainment is simply down to the pandemic. I realise that this will have had a huge impact .My worry is that he has dropped from exceeding to working towards in the space of a year. The support at home has remained the same, but the school has changed. I just wanted to ask other people's views to help me get a clearer view. If the problem lies with the support he is receiving at home then it is within my power to change that. If the problem is with school then my options are limited.

They should be able to be more specific than "its due to the pandemic". They need to advise on what would help him to catch up and should be able to say what "working towards" actually means. It sounds to me as if you are doing the right things at home. Reading, checking comprehension etc.

Did they move him down a book band or two? I can’t see how grey can be below expectations.

No, he has not been moved down any book bands. I will have another conversation with the teacher to try to get more clarity. Despite being very chatty and confident at home his teachers have always said that he is quiet at school. He may not be giving them the evidence they need to back up a meeting or exceeding.

Exactly the same pattern here - school are blaming the pandemic but the other child has not shown the same pattern of a complete slump in results - and we've suspected all along the Y3 teacher was coasting it along to retirement.

We've moved schools for various reasons (bullying has got out of control)

Talk to teacher first. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, school should keep you informed during the year. School sounds rubbish. See what next term is like, stay in touch with teacher, then try to move If no improvement. FYI my dd hasn’t fallen behind during COVID. Not all children do, appreciate some will find it harder than others to study at home.

By the way my DD’s school recommend reading aloud to your child, and them reading to you, as long as they let you, up to 16 if possible. It is a good way to handle new vocabulary and critical understanding of text.

I assume the grades are given against NC, so even though he was doing great, school may not have covered topics enough to give him expected or exceeding in stead of him actually fell behind? It must be quite hard for school to teach whole curriculum under the circumstances.
Only way to find out is to speak to the teacher.

Surely the expectations change so now he’s working towards the new higher expectations?

But exceeding at infant school could be teacher subjectivity. Working towards the same. These are not standardised assessments.

If your child is happy and reads at home and engages with you and generally is learning that s enough.
Convenient is a big plus when no reason to move other than a subjective assessment .

Focus on your choices for secondary. Follow his interests.

Usually y2 would have sats to back up their opinion.
Is he off scheme now?
Grey is really no different.
If he is on scheme still i would remove him from.the scheme and read proper books.
Dd1 has exceeded since y1 and was able to read grey b end of yr r. We read lots of real books in y1 and school let her off scheme in yr 2 finally suposedly at lime.
As i say weve read lots of the recommended reads plus almost all dahl, series of unfortunate events, david walliams, horrible history. I
Also non scheme books means you can change within waiting

He has not brought any books home from school all year. I think access to books from the school library has been quite restricted. He has mainly read books from home, or our local library since he was in year 1. I love books so we have several book cases stuffed with them. This has not seemed to cause any problems. Neither of the schools have ever said anything. I have let him read whatever he is interested in. He has read Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Matt Haig, anything he can find about football and a lot of non-fiction, usually about marine life. I try to keep it fun while making sure he keeps reading. I will definitely follow the advice on here, and speak with the teachers again.

Thank you for all of your help.