Support for DD at school!

[SupportForDD]

My DD is currently in year 2, she’s summer born and as many other children have, has had disruption to her learning due to lockdown. At her most recent parents evening she was shown to be below in all subjects, although her reading is just below. She has regressed since the beginning of Year 1 and there seems to be no real support in place to fill in the gaps (teachers phrase) in order to help her get where she needs to be, her teacher is basically concerned she’ll be left behind (her phrase), however she’s offered no support, or even guidance to help me support her at home. Do I just hope she’ll catch up? Or am I able to request more 1-1 support to help her? As I’ve now read schools are going to be given access to tuition, to those falling behind. I do support her at home with reading and spellings and we complete her homework every weekend, it’s clears when we do this, she struggles and can’t complete it independently. She struggles with more basic numeracy and concepts and written work at school. I am happy to support her more at home but we already read everyday and do her spellings and homework every week, so I don’t want to push things too much, as she does get extremely tired.

she was shown to be below in all subjects, - below what? That is the important question you need to be asking. Arbitrary attainment targets are meaningless at this age. And she is a summer baby. I really would not worry about it; and certainly take every step not to worry her - as I am sure you will.

I think you should:

• if you feel concerned about it, go back to the school and ask them what strategies they have in place in school to help her. Every child should have a plan in place. If they cannot show you this, then go to the head.
• read to her at home - read, read, read read - and have fun with it.
• take opportunities to do things with her that involve basic maths - plant seeds and count how many to put in each row, cook together and measure ingredients, count how many lamposts on your street etc. etc.

But, to be honest, I would let this wash by you. She is a child and will develop at her own speed. My DD could not read at age 9 - she now has an MA!!

Mischance do you honestly think that every child has a plan in place for them! Of course they don’t, the poor teacher would never get anything done. There are individual children that might have a plan but that’s it.

They do in the school where I am governor - I have seen them!

You need to build in fun activities that are maths and literacy based but don’t need written work - word association games, shapes measures etc get a measuring tape and get her to help measure things
Show her how to weigh things to compare things

Look up the national curriculum and get ideas on what they learn in each year group

@Mischance I'm glad I don't work in that school, what an insane workload!!

Every child doesn't need their own plan and any school asking teachers to waste time writing them are wrong.

OP go back and ask how you can help. Reading and numeracy should be your focus.
School may or may not have access to tutoring. It depends on the availability of tutors and funding requirements. You can ask the question.

I wouldn't expect a Y2 to complete homework independently anyway. Ask her teacher how you can most effectively support her at home, or, if funds allow, look into after school coaching locally.

Primary teacher here...Check out the White Rose scheme for maths. There's a lot of stuff online that's free including ppts and learning to help support at home. Ask for some websites that the teachers recommend for support too. Some will be free so you can use those on a daily basis. Most children are performing below average due to covid. Generally a child cannot have a 1:1 adult unless they have an EHCP so that probably wouldn't happen. There's also lots on YouTube to support with phonics. If you find out what they're working on on a weekly basis that would help too.

You can’t expect 1 to 1 support if there’s no indication of any special needs. As above, ask the teacher what specifically they think you can do to support. ‘Below’ doesn’t mean much in itself. I work in a primary school and the majority of children are below what you would have expected 3 years below, there has not been enough time for children to catch up properly yet, especially with Covid still being fairly rife and causing a lot of absence. I think the teacher may have worded it badly. It’s not clear whether she means below due to Covid as may are or below on a greater scale.
I keep hearing about the ‘tuition’ unicorn that’s apparently frequenting the educational forest. I’ve yet to see any evidence of it actually taking place or coming soon. So don’t count on that.

@Mischance

They do in the school where I am governor - I have seen them!

For every single child in the school?