Should I tell the reception teacher this?

[iamloading]

My daughter starts school this Sept, and will be one of the oldest in her year. Just to be clear she is in no way a genius, just a normal kid who loves running around with her little friends.

However she can read, really quite well. It started on a visit to her cousin who is currently in reception and was learning phonics and she loved it. So since then she's read one book a night, and has picked up loads from there and is now reading books that her cousin can't.

She can't write at all, and has no interest so it's not something I've pushed with her. In fact she can barely colour between the lines 😂😂 (hence not a genius!)

For her school we get a visit from her teacher and TA. Should I mention the reading? I've not told a soul in real life as I don't want to seem like a pushy parent. Or should I just leave them to find out for themselves?

@Newuser82 yes I find it odd. DC is using something called Phonic Friends - not sure what that scheme is?

I really haven’t worried too much about it because his reading is coming along leaps and bounds just by reading to me at bedtime every day and he’s so happy at school - lots of really lovely friendships and seems to have a lot of fun. I’m just trusting in the system I guess but perhaps that is the wrong approach? Certainly with the writing I’ve started to wonder.

We have v little contact with the class teacher and the kids are invited to parents evening which makes it quite hard to discuss things!

@SweetforOrchestra Just because they're invited doesn't mean you need to take them, esp if you feel you're not getting any benefit from the evening by them being there.

I'd mention it, but if she can't write then she does need to learn phonics with her peers because it will help with spelling and writing. How has she learnt to read? Has she been taught phonics at nursery or is it sight reading at home?

If she's 4.5 and in nursery its not surprising that she's starting to read. The youngest kids in reception are expected to be yellow band before they turn 5.

@BronteEm she's learnt through phonics. Lots of words she doesn't sound out any more but if it's a new or tricky one she goes back to sounding them out.
Looks like the consensus is to tell the teacher then, thanks for the advice.
I'm not certain what scheme they use at her school, but I think it's Oxford. I've seen the reception children with the songbird books

It's normal, especially EYFS&KS1 aged to have reading much ahead of writing. There's no rush.
I don't think a slightly early reader means SEN as some posters have suggested.
Yes, tell thr teacher. They'll work on letter formation with her.

It was read write inc that my son did and he was moved up for phonics. He has dyspraxia so did and does struggle with handwriting. I thought this would be a common occurrence to put kids with similarly matched ability kids but this obviously isn't the case.

@Newuser82 I mentioned in other posts on this thread that ultimately it's always up to the phonics leader/teacher. It's possible that due to your son's dyspraxia, they wanted him to just get on with what he is enjoying and is good at, rather than forcing something, in his case writing, that will take more specialist support.

My story from a few years ago...

DD was also an early reader, and her nursery keyworker contacted her primary school (without first checking with us) and spoke with her upcoming Reception teacher. She got fairly short shrift from the teacher (about it not being all that uncommon, etc.)

After that experience, we were very careful, and said nothing to the teacher about our DD, so the teacher could assess her in her own time. After three weeks, she called me to a meeting to discuss how they could meet her needs.

Obviously, this situation is a bit different, but I would be cautious. See how the home visit goes, and only mention it if you feel they will be receptive. They will notice very soon anyway once term starts (unless your DD is extremely shy) and it will be better for your relationship with the teacher if any adjustments are led by their own assessment of your DD's ability, rather than yours.

The sad thing about school is that all the differentiation in the world doesn't mean your child can learn at their pace. If you home educated her the sky's the limit in terms of progress. But perhaps being a bit bored isn't too high a price to pay as long as it doesn't lay down the foundations for an attitude of disengagement. Do challenge her at home.

I posted on here a few years ago when DS1 was preparing to start school. He is also old in the year and was reading fluently when he started. From my own experience:

• We did mention it up front and the teacher was politely sceptical but she tested his phonics knowledge and she stopped thinking we were just pushy
• She focused on his comprehension skills as these weren't as developed as the decoding (not through hyperlexia etc, just being five)
• This allowed him to hit the ground running in year 1 when they started working through the book bands in earnest

Thanks @Legomania that's really useful.
I'm trying to work on her expression at the moment as she's a bit staccato. I think there will still be loads for her to work on at school in her reception phonics, but I can also imagine her being a bit like "what's this" if she gets sent home with "the cat sits on the mat!"

Ime DS just accepts the books he gets at school. We look at the school book once, talk about the pictures (and there are usually questions in the back too) then put it back in his book bag for a week and get on with our own reading. Even on the most basic books you can point out punctuation or as you say practice reading with expression or changing voices.

I think a lot of the fear that kids will be bored by stuff that is too easy for them is a bit of a projection at this age (not the case later I’m sure).

Definitely mention it. DD was a fluent reader who couldn't hold a pencil properly. Within a week or so her teacher told me she'd listened to her read, and asked if she'd started reading chapter books - which pretty much exactly pinpointed the stage she'd reached. She got the hang of pencil grip and the writing came quickly - I think it's easier when they see everyone else learning to do it as well.
We were particularly lucky - there were three readers in her class, which meant the teacher could work with them as a group. We had a very good relationship with the teacher, who entirely understood that DD had learned to read because she wanted to, and had not learned to write because she wasn't as interested and her motor skills weren't quite there. I think she was relieved to know that we weren't going to be "pushy parents".

@lanthanum that's so helpful thank you and I hope that we have a similar experience!