Y1 pupil being timed what seems constantly

[rbmilliner]

Can anyone in education tell me if this is right. My Y1 DD's school seems to be constantly timing them.
Today for example DD was upset at bedtime tonight because she had missed out on forest school today as she had to resit a timed test for number bonds.
On picking this apart it turns out that she didn't complete a number bonds test in 3 minutes and had to redo it and was clearly upset at being singled out, along with another 3 children, saying she just needed to think about some of the answers.
She was put back a level in reading because she couldn't read at 60 words per minute and apparently wasn't reading fluently enough. All parents then received a blanket letter via see saw to time kids when listening to them read to try and improve on fluency. I tried this once but stopped as she wasn't reading but simply saying what she thought should be there is a rush to finish and stressing her out.
She's clearly upset and I really concerned about what this is doing to her self esteem. The school has a reputation for being very academic, wanting to get results but is constantly timing and putting children of this age under so much pressure the way it's done in all schools?

Is this a private school?

Sounds very unusual for yr1 and will not help with fluency or comprehension surely!

The school has a reputation for being very academic, wanting to get results

There is your answer.

I’ve never heard of this before. And I’ve been a primary teacher for 15 years. Mental.

No it's not private. It's an academy if that makes a difference.

That sounds like too much pressure to put on a 5/6 year old.
If they’re timing them it’s going to take the joy of reading away and make it feel like a chore.
I’s raise concerns with a teacher.

Eurgh, my son was coming along nicely in his reading until they brought in this 'must read x amount of words in a minute' nonsense when he was about 8. Then he stopped reading for meaning and started gabbling through saying any old rubbish! To be honest it was initiatives like that that influenced my decision to home educate my younger child.

RWI uses timed reading passages. 60+ words a minute to love to Blue books.

*move

@Pinkflipflop85 she's on the RWI scheme and was told that she had to read at 120 minutes yellow, orange 60. She spent more time turning the pages as they only have 10 words on them.

There is no timing of reading for orange and yellow books (just an ability to speed read previously taught words).

If the school is trying to time children on orange/yellow books and setting a certain time then they are not following the scheme properly.

Would make for an interesting ofsted deep dive in reading...!

There is a very specific assessment process for RWI which they clearly are not following.

@Pinkflipflop85 it would explain the lack of fan fair surrounding the 3rd of the class that went up a level when they virtually throw a party when they normally go up a level.

Urgh! I knew RWI would feature in there.

In a few years time we'll be wondering why on Earth anybody signed up for this awful scheme.

The rest of the timing too... yes your school are taking it too far by the sound of it but this is a symptom on the demands that external testing puts on Schools.

The times table test for example is computerised and timed.

I have raised several times, the question of how we are being inclusive of children with processing delays. There's no real answer to that though.

I teach Year 1 and lead KS1.

This doesn't sound like a good Year 1 set up. The school might want good academics but they're effectively hot housing by the age of 5. Missing forest school for this is awful!!

RWI might have timed assessments. It also used to be part of the end of Year 2 assessment criteria but it was removed as its ridiculous and a pretty arbitrary marker. It's absolutely ridiculous to ask parents to monitor this - that is something to be done by the school of they have to do it at all.

As a parent of a year 1 child, I would also be kicking up a fuss about this. Its absolutely not ok that your DD was punished for her number bond test!!

Whoever is making these decisions does not understand how young children learn. They should not be missing Forest School (= v important learning) to redo maths tests. If she didn't answer the questions quickly enough, she needs more help to learn the number bonds, not more chances to take the test. They do need to just know them without having to think, but this takes time and practice. And the timed fluency tests should be purely for the teacher to assess whether the child moves up a level (and only as specified in the assessment materials, as pps said), the child doesn't need to know anything about it. Definitely do not time her at home. That is a terrible idea. Fluency develops with time, practice and confidence, not time pressure.

I just despair hearing things like this... we are hot housing young children who in other countries aren't even in formal school.

Way to destroy a love of learning...

It just breaks my heart ( retired teacher)

I never experienced this with my dc early years. It sounds stressful. What is the point on making them rush through? My first experience of things being timed is now for my year 4 boy. They are being timed for their multiplication tables. But no pressure for my ds as he already knows them well. It seems odd to time dc before they are ready for it! My first experience with it with my dd was when she did the 11+ Some mocks were time sensitive so she learned to speed up.

DS is in year 2 and I'm not aware of him ever having been timed for anything other than the fundraising egg and spoon race.

My DDs school has timed number bonds tests from year 1. However there is no consequence like missing forest school. They just repeat the same one each week until they pass. Which still must be fairly frustrating for those who are stuck for weeks.

Did she actually miss forest school or go late? Surely repeating the test only took a few minutes. Did they get to join the class after that? In which case, was the issue that she felt embarrassed?

She couldn't join in later if the Forest School is off site.

I was a teacher for over 30 years and my school was bringing in this kind of crap when I retired/resigned.

@BendingSpoons apparently she had to do the test 4 times each time having 3 minutes to do it. From what I can tell there were quiet a few questions in each column (although it is sometimes a bit difficult to unpick exactly what happens with a 5 year old granted).
Yes she probably did feel embarrassed, she's already fully aware that she's not on the top two table who apparently know more than she does and doesn't feel good about it. Singling out children for not getting something right seems cruel and just compounds low self esteem in my eyes.

In general, timing certain things is not an issue and is actually helpful / necessary. But it applies to very specific things.

For number bonds, timed recall is needed to check whether the children have gained automaticity with those particular bonds or whether they are calculating them. This is very important as automaticity (or the lack of it) has a significant impact on a child's ability to access the rest of the Maths curriculum. Outside of this and in the general Maths curriculum, I'd not expect to see many timed exercises.

In reading, knowing whether a child has an underdeveloped fluency is essential. This shouldn't be for book bands and RWI are stupid about this but it absolutely should be something the teacher checks and knows so that he/she knows exactly what that child needs to work on. For example, if you have two children who are showing that they are unable to discuss the content of what they have read, it's easy to assume that it's a comprehension issue. It may be for one child but if the other has a lower fluency rate, particularly if it is low for his/her age, then it isn't comprehension that's the primary issue and any time spent on that would be wasted.

All that being said, no child should be missing out on the entirety of another lesson for intervention. Though, if I'm being completely honest, the way a number of schools approach Forest school is gimicky and a bit crap so she may not have missed much.

Is there any chance of moving schools? This sort of thing will be imposed from above so she will be doing this crap for all of her primary school life. It flies in the face of what I believe the primary school years are about and I would not want any child to be stressed by this. I still cannot do mental arithmetic because we were yelled at and put under pressure to solve them quickly. This will have life long implications for her.

Timed reading?!? What insanity!

Timed times table recall makes a little more sense as needing fast recall does make a difference - but not at her age with punishments for not achieving it 😩.

But timed reading is a sure fire way to destroy a love of books 😢.