7yr old failing at every subject

[Umbrio]

Just had our 7yr olds report home last night and they have a marking system of exceeding, meeting targets and then below expectation. He got below expectation in every category. The categories were reading, maths, writing and one I didn't understand and can't remember the initials of (son threw the report in the bin as it made him sad).

It also commented that his attendance is above average, his behaviour is fine and he is always prepared for lessons. Should I not have had an email or something before now if he's doing so badly?

He does all of his homework including times tables, a maths programme and instead of his reading book we read books of his choice with him. He read the entire Mog the cat book to me last night only hesitating over the odd word.

Our older son remarked that he was reading Diary of a Wimpy kid books at 7. Yes but he hadn't had much of Reception and Year one taken away from him!

We do his homework, we read with him, we take him on interesting days out to museums, castles, National Trust places and talk about history with him. He does Beavers and spends time with grandparents. What more could we be doing? I'm at a bit of a loss. To me he seems like a normal inquisitive 7yr old.

There was a question during covid as to whether he could be autistic but we have worked really, really hard with him to improve his social skills and he now has friends. We took him to a science fair in half term and they asked for a volunteer to get on stage and his hand was straight up, he got on stage and did really well. He was destroyed by the lack of school during covid and we are so proud to have got him back to how he is now. He used to hide behind the sofa if anyone came to the house, now it doesn't bother him.

Below expectations isn’t failing. I hope that you haven’t used those words or spoken negatively about the report in front of him. Why did he (and his brother!) even see it?

Have you asked the teacher for to discuss the report and what areas he is weak in / what support you can give at home? That should be your first action

For heaven’s sake he isn’t failing !
Can you just count it as a win that he is inquisitive and likes going into school?
Please don’t let this squash his curiosity

He'd already read it by the time he came home from school. His dad chucked it on the backseat as they were going straight out and he saw his name and opened it. We haven't discussed the report with his brother. He was just laughing at him reading Mog, as brothers do. As he said it was too young for him.

He does seem young for his age but I like that. I don't want him to grow up too fast.

I just assumed he is failing as there's a sad face next to his name in every category.

We have a meeting (5 mins!) with his teacher on Monday but not sure what else we could be doing at home. He has two severely disabled children in his class who I think take up a lot of the teachers time. Maybe he would just be better in a smaller class. I didn't do well at school until my parents moved me to a class where there were far fewer children.

It's sad that the report made him sad!
Please reassure him that he isn't failing and he's doing brilliantly considering the time he's had away from school.
Next years report could be totally different as he progresses.
Youre doing all the right things and shouldn't worry.

At parents evening for my 8 year old DS the teacher told us that most of the class were below expectations in numeracy due to Covid. His age group missed out on learning some of the basics due to the age they were when schools were closed. Plenty parents like me just didn't have the ability to teach while juggling full time jobs. But he's doing great and expected to catch up. That's not failing. Don't underestimate what school closures will have done to kids of a certain age.

A sad face next to each category? That is an appalling reporting system!
Basically the expectations on children are really high. Is he year 2 or 3?
His teacher will be able to give you a printout of the end of year expectations, so you know what you're working towards with him. The children I work with have them in the front of their exercise books so look out for that if you see his books.

There is nothing wrong with reading Mog! He should read anything snd everything he likes but I would make sure ge eeads his school reading book too as ut is set at the level he is working at. As he is reading it, ask him lots of questions; what does that word mean? How does this character feel? Why is she is doing thst? Etc
Build up his inference skills.

What colour books is he on?

I would be disgusted by a school using sad faces to indicate any standards other than perhaps behaviours. But even then I’d be annoyed.
This is a great opportunity to explain to your son that standards and testing are very very limited and only give you a teeny part of the picture. Ask him to think about his favourite sweetie, then get him to answer some limited questions on it such as favourite sweet chocolate buttons-

is it sweet? Yes
does it come in a wrapper? No
is or fizzy?

so he could see that if the chocolate button was tested by some standards (does it melt, is in a packet etc) it would score “well” or with happy faces. But if the question are difficult or wrong for the chocolate button it’s score would look bad or sad faces.

Now explain to him the school asked the wrong questions about him-

is he happy at school? Yes
has he made friends? Yes
is he working hard? Yes
Isbhe making progress? Yes
does he do his homework? Yes

Write him a whole new accurate report card and huge smiley faces all over it as he is doing brilliantly.
Then get your arse to the school and insist they apologise and adjust their expectations as they are clearly wrong… and perhaps ask for some indications of how the would like to progress from here instead of just giving a pointless scale answer.

So annoyed. Your poor wee boy. Mog is a fab book btw, he has great taste clearly.

Thank you, yes we can't underestimate how much of an impact it had on all children who missed out on learning. I didn't do very much home schooling with him during that time as it was pretty much a case of survival.

I'm sorry it made him sad to read it too. I wish they would email them home instead of sending a printed copy then he wouldn't have read it. He's fine now. He's completely forgotten about it and looking forward to going out today.

I don't think more homework would help as it's a struggle to get him to do the homework that he already gets.

Please tell him from me (ex TA) that he’s not failing. He’ll do loads of new subjects at secondary and might find “his thing” there. Also attainment in Maths and English at his age really don’t mean he’ll do badly later on

He's in year 3 and I've just checked and he's on white reading books. Good tip about getting him to actually read his reading book and not just books of his choice.

Thank you Snwanabee and highly flavoured, I'm so glad I posted.

Reading his school reading book every day for 5 minutes will help enormously.
And is a minimal effort.

Put subtitles on the tv when he's watching, it always helps the slower readers catch up

Poor little guy. Well done to him for having good behaviour and being prepared for lessons, he deserves lots of praise for that.

My child went from below expectations to exceeding in one year. What had we done? Absolutely nothing but affirm and love him. He just needed longer to catch up with his reading and then he flew. I have a real faith that my kids will get to where they need to go in life with a lot of laughter, lots of stories and a low pressure learning rich home life. I’m a teacher and no way I want my kids experiencing the mental health issues that 80% of teens seem to be having with anxiety and stress so high.

Creeking that's so lovely. What a nice way of looking at it. We will just continue to nurture him and he will get there. Will put subtitles on while he's watching films, great idea!

Speak to the teacher at pick up and request a longer meeting. 5 mins is not enough to cover all your concerns.
Ask the teacher at the meeting to explain exactly what he needs to improve to reach 'expected'. Sometimes it is only something small. One of my DCs was graded 'below' for maths on her latest report despite being solidly 'expected' for the last 4.5yrs. It is because she keeps forgetting to put in the unit of measurement (it is otherwise correct) or will work out the answer but forget to pop it in the box. She has ADHD, so I presume this is a demonstration of that in action and her constant rush to be onto the next thing. But knowing the fundamental part of understanding how to do the calculations isn't an issue has stopped me worrying. Getting her to slow down, add in the units, and check her work will come with time and a bit more maturity and a tonne of nagging . She is also below in writing, partly due to the ADHD (again, rushing ahead so misses whole or part words out. Annoyingly, she can usually spell the words perfectly well when asked in isolation!), but also because she's hypermobile meaning her writing is messy and the experience is painful. The latter part is a huge issue that has needed to be tackled both in school and at home. That is the bit that needs the effort, but without discussing it all with her class teacher we wouldn't have known which bits were an issue.

Do bear in mind that schools are usually reporting against the end of year expectations as well. We’re only just over half way through the year - below expectations now doesn’t mean that he’ll be below expectations at the end of the year. I wish schools were clearer about this - I remember the parent WhatsApp group going crazy in reception when the very first reports came as no-one understood that they were assessing against the end of year standard and everyone thought their child was failing!

Has his eyes been checked recently? When I was in primary school, I was having lots of issues with basic spelling and maths, because my eyesight was so bad I couldn't see the white board so I had no idea what my teachers were writing/teaching! Once I had glasses I caught up within a couple of months to a top student.

Y3 as a cohort were so heavily impacted by covid in terms of their basic reading and basic numeracy (as well as basic social skills). It's fantastic that he's always well prepared for lessons. Make sure you read with him every day and lots of praise. You could try apps like NumBots and TTRS.

Also, 'below expected' is such a wide range. It could be a case of his test showed he was 1 mark off 'expected' and is essentially where he should be but had a rough test day, or is really struggling. Definitely speak with his teacher for more specific advice.

You've had lots of good advice and comments, but just to add I've taught Y3 for 8 years and wouldn't be at all concerned about being on White level for reading. That's very much within the range of children who will get expected at the end of the year.

At the parents evening, you need to ask:

1. Is he making progress?
2. Is he likely to be on track/ at expected levels by the end of the academic year?

If not, then:

1. What is the school putting in place to address this?

4.What can you do at home to support him? You have been given good suggestions, but his teacher, who knows him, may have more specific things. I'd add: get his hearing tested as well as his eyesight, even if you don’t think there is a problem at home (unless both have been done recently).

If you get to the end of your time slot and don’t have a plan of what will happen next then request a follow up appointment with the class teacher and Senco.

Lastly, if you feel inclined to feed back on the report format, speak to the headteacher, not the class teacher, about it.

Seriously, how could a 7 year old be "failing every subject"? He's 7! He's not old enough to fail anything, because he's in the process of learning.

If he can read Mog and do basic sums then it's just a matter of time, the ability is there. If the school think he's below their average then they will hopefully have booster groups which target specific skills. I wouldn't be worrying too much at this stage.

Yr3 had their education trashed by covid. Yr2 also. They are insisting on Yr2 sats with DC that can't read properly yet. He's still vv young.
Im a bit shocked re the sad face report

Oh bless him. How soul destroying for a 7 year old!

At this point, as long as you feel he's making steady progress and is enjoying school, I'd take that as a win.

As a primary school teacher myself, it is the current year 3s and 4s who had the most disruption from covid, having lost the bulk of their early foundations in school.

He really shouldn't have seen it. You need to sit down with him and just explain it to him and build back up his confidence. Explain he, like many children who missed lots of school, are still catching up but that he is smart and hard working and making lots of progress. I can't imagine the school put a sad face beside the information. That was almost certainly your son in the backseat.

You need to do the assigned reading and you should use the parent teacher conference to get feedback on how you support him more at home.