Worrying year 1 parents evening feedback

[catsheepteacher]

We recently went to parents' evening for our eldest child, who is in year 1.

I'll probably sound a bit PFB here but I was expecting pretty positive feedback. Obviously I'm biased, but to me DD seems to be getting on really well:

• She loves reading and sails through the books she brings home with no issues.
• We go to the library regularly and she chooses "chapter books" (90+ pages) which she reads at home independently.
• She gets 12 spellings to learn every week (which seem pretty challenging to me - words like adorable, eighty and applause) and gets close to full marks in her tests.
• She does her maths homework in no time with very little support.

However, the feedback we got wasn't glowing at all. We were told that she is meeting the expected standard on reading (but not exceeding) but below expected standards in both maths and writing. Apparently she doesn't use finger spaces and full stops consistently in writing, and often needs help to come up with ideas for her stories. But more worryingly, in maths she's apparently on an "extra support table" as she needs help to understand the questions and work through them, and they are not sure if she is on track to meet the expected standard by the end of the year.

This was a total shock and I'm really disappointed that nobody has mentioned before that she needs extra support with maths. I'm also confused because it doesn't match up with what I see, which is a bright, able child (accepting that there's probably some PFB bias going on there).

I'm not sure what to do next. DH thinks I'm overreacting but I would like a second opinion to properly understand what the issue is so am considering getting a tutor who can assess her and give us more feedback on what exactly she is finding difficult. I'm also going to push for more regular catch ups with the school to keep track of her progress. The teacher mentioned several times that she lacks confidence and needs to build her resilience so I'm also wondering if I should sign her up for something which might help her develop her skills in this area e.g. a drama club.

Feeling that I've let my DD down by assuming she was sailing through with no issues. And really disappointed that her school don't seem to be seeing what I see

They all develop at different speeds. The school is already taking action, so I would wait to see if it has an impact. If she does struggle, you could initially look for maths games/apps. Also make sure to keep practicing over the summer so she doesn’t forget everything.

I wouldn’t be getting a tutor for a year 1.

Let school get on and do their job. They've put the extra support in for maths and have clearly identified areas to focus on. Keep doing the school reading books at home, spellings, etc. but definitely no tutoring for a Year 1 child.

Let school get on and do their job. They've put the extra support in for maths and have clearly identified areas to focus on.

Sorry don't understand your comment. They've put support in place for maths, but said that she still might not meet the expected standard. So why should I just let them get on with it. Also they haven't clearly identified areas that was my point.

@catsheepteacher

Let school get on and do their job. They've put the extra support in for maths and have clearly identified areas to focus on.

Sorry don't understand your comment. They've put support in place for maths, but said that she still might not meet the expected standard. So why should I just let them get on with it. Also they haven't clearly identified areas that was my point.

She's in Year One, it doesn't matter if she doesn't meet the "expected standard". My niece was much further behind than your daughter by the sounds of it and in year 2 has almost caught up. She is still a bit behind but as other posters have said, they all develop differently and it would be a shame to put pressure on the situation when your daughter is so young and you have so many more years of this to come 😬

I hear your frustration. Parents evening over half way through the year is not the time to be told for the first time your child isn’t meeting expectations.

I would expect to have been informed earlier in the year so that I could work with my child and help support them.

Can you ask school if there is any follow up work each week you can do with her?

Or could you know in advance what they will be covering each week so you can do some pre teaching at home?

I agree it’s very early days to worry about your child’s education. Just carry on reading with her, practise her handwriting and how she joins up her letters etc. Research curriculum for year 1 to see what they’re looking for. It may very well be she has a very ambitious new teacher who is keen to achieve fantastic things and has equal high expectations on herself as she does on the children. Just speak to her after school one day and ask how you can help your child along. I definitely wouldn’t get a tutor for this age, learning should be fun without pressure!

I was the Chair of Governors and the Head's rule was always nothing should be a "shock" at parents evening. So yes comments on things to improve etc, but something like her child being on a table for extra support in maths should be discussed with the parents beforehand - not in a 10 min slot at parent's evening.

I disagree with those saying just let school get on with it. Early intervention - whatever that may be can be incredibly helpful. Also you want to be working in partnership with school.

OP in your shoes, I would be contacting the school to ask for a longer meeting with the teacher to discuss these issues. I would be questioning if they are concerned about any SEN, in particular because you aren't seeing these issues at home (so I would question if she is having difficulty concentrating in the classroom etc).

Do the school provide access to something like Mathletics that you can do at home with her? I think that getting a tutor for Y1 is more likely to result is an overtired child who loses any enjoyment she has in schooling and she will end up further behind.

How was she when you homeschooled her for YR during the pandemic? And what is her comprehension like? It’s no good being able to read fluently if you don’t fully understand as that’s the important bit that many parents don’t realise, so they push ahead with harder books that don’t allow a child time to gain confidence in what they are reading and understanding.

She may be able to read (decode the words/letters) but does she actually understand what she's reading? These are two entirely different things. Just because a child whizzes through reading does not mean they have the comprehension needed to explain the story in their own words.

This may link to her not understanding the maths/number work.

I tutored maths and English for many years and often a child when came for help for maths, once I got under what was going on, it was actually English that was the problem.

Has she been offered intervention support? My GDs school offers this to every year( except reception)...,they invite certain children and they attend school 8 to 9 am for 6 week blocks ( Monday to Wednesday)....it’s like free tutoring....it’s with the TAs ....my eldest GD went in year 1 for support with phonics...it really brought her on.

A lot of very bright kids have difficulty with writing. DD's in Yr9 now and her handwriting's still pretty terrible. It was really bad throughout primary, not very good with consistent punctuation etc, but she was still a 'star pupil' pretty much.

My sons in year 1 and can’t even do half of what you’ve written he’s off for a dyslexia assessment in couple of weeks, spellings my son is just picking up blending sounds. So I’m basically saying don’t be too disheartened because she sounds like she’s still doing very well. Though I was told at my parents evening from the teacher that she was very thankful for my son as he always answers questions the others can’t he is great with general knowledge

Full disclosure that I am a private tutor but definitely consider a tutor!

Rather than making a child overtired and hating school a good tutor will play lots of games and activities that boost confidence and practise key skills. You can play these games without a tutor of course but don't discount one just because of her age.

Sitting at the table with the TA on it for maths really isn’t a big deal. It’s so normal that I can see why it wasn’t raised an an actual issue, because it isn’t one.

It’s good that she does her home reading and maths easily, that means they’re giving her the right level books and work.

It could be something simple, like although she’s a good reader with books and stories, and she is good mathematically, she’s not quite there yet on being able to read a maths problem and understand what she has to do independently. Something like that would fit in with her having a lack of confidence as well, because children that have only just learned to read often need reassurance that they’ve read something right before they act on it.

I think the 'new' assessment wording isn't great in circumstances like this as it needlessly worried parents. Levels had their problems but 'your child is working really well at level 3 and we are supporting them to do x, y and z to achieve level 4' is so much better than 'not meeting the expected standard'.
Those saying you should know if your child is receiving support in class - at this stage I would argue it's ordinary classroom differentiation. I teach yr6 and if I had to contact a parent everytime a child worked with support, with a TA, on the table where more scaffolding was provided for example I'd be on the phone all night! It changes regularly as children go through development leaps. They are telling you now what's going on now (that's the point of parents' evening) and have told you what they are doing to address it. It would have been hard earlier (especially in yr1) as she may have been borderline but perhaps they thought she would catch up and needed to give a bit more time before worrying you with it. There are loads of kids like that.
The age expected standards are available online - have a look at them and see what you think. You could always contact the teacher and say after absorbing all the info you'd like to know exactly what to do at home to help as well.
I would hold back on a tutor until the end of year report and go from there.

There's lots you can do at home to improve maths skills by incorporating it into daily life.

• games. Play board games as a family on weekends.
• money. Do you give her a little bit of pocket money? Doing this and getting her to help when shopping can help.
• cooking/working out quantities

Dont neglect time, shape, space and measure. It's easy to focus on simple arithmetic but there's a lot more than just number work.

It's Year 1. They've had to cope with lockdowns and missing their friends and that vitally important part of their development. State schools don't set the expected standards - they're set by the government, probably that complete and utter tosspot, Michael Gove. 5 year olds now know more about dipthongs and tripthongs than I do and I've got a Masters in an arts subject. I think it sucks the joy out of reading to teach it this way. Carry on with the library and encouraging her to foster a love of reading. And don't worry. She might pick up on your anxiety and that won't help. You're clearly supportive. That's all she needs.

Is she a younger one in the year?
Mine didnt meet expectations in y1 (with no warning!) But we did mathseeds in y2 and cgp maths books.

In contrast school seem to think dc2 maths in y1 is almost exceeding. I disagree -dc2 is good.with remembering say number bonds. But cant read questions etc. I think its because the focus in primary ks1 is mental.maths and memorization.

One of my kids works with the TA for English and she's incredibly bright - but very anxious in terms of her own ability and they're trying to work on fostering her own confidence to have a go - I'm just glad that, after a total train wreck last year, they're helping her.

It's one I'd keep an eye on though - it could be that, although she's whizzing through books and spellings, there's something going on in terms of understanding language of questions that's making Maths in terms of problem solving rather than straight sheets of sums difficult to access for her. That's the sort of issue in terms of language processing that's only likely to begin to come to light as the language demands increase when they get older.

I'd do lots of talking about what questions are asking her - is she expecting the numbers to be bigger or smaller at the end and lots and lots of practical tasks. I also found that DD2's mathematical abilities increased dramatically performing calculations with Haribo (little bugger that she is)!

As a headteacher...

You may or may not be right to be concerned. Some children are slow starters, and grow out of it. Some issues persist throughout a child's education.

Tutoring is very unlikely to help with Y1s. In essence, it's about counting forwards and backwards, and about pairs of numbers which match up to 10 and 20, simple addition and subtraction, and putting things in pairs. Someone turning up for an hour a week to present a set of worksheets to a 5 or 6 year old isn't going to help and might put her off maths for life. Constantly practising the above, and with visual models, simple games online, etc. as part of daily conversations (count the cars, how many more cars to 10, count ingredients when cooking, etc) is far more relevant to a child that age. It sounds like you can leave her to the reading and spend your time on that!

In the real world, it can be quality of teaching. I'm currently working with some high flying Y6s who were causing concern in Y3. We knew it was the teacher, and he left, but I'm sure his parents evenings were a bit worrying for parents. Wait until the Y2 teacher says the same before you panic!

OP it sounds like your child is at quite an intensive prep school - is that right? It sounds v advanced even for a prep school so please don’t worry, I don’t think this standard is normal.

My DS struggles with handwriting (punctuation / presentation not good) also Year 1 and I got him a tutor. It’s helping no end so definitely would consider that. Of course all school teachers are anti-tutoring but it is NOT pressured and gives the children confidence which they can apply in class. I’ve seen his overall marks go up in school as a nice bonus and he looks forward to his tuition sessions.

But please don’t worry - it’s just unfair of school to spring all this on you.