Significantly behind in every area

[Otter2108]

My 4yr old end of July born son has had his school report today which states he's significantly behind in every area and that the only engagement they have from him is when he's outside playing with construction. He cannot read, write, listen to teachers, lack of understanding of any subject and maths.

I'm sad, I feel like I've failed and that I haven't done enough with him. He hasn't got many friends in school and I do think he's struggling although he's the first to run to class each day.

His older sister who is in year 1 is above expectation in every area so I haven't experienced this before.

Anyone have this experience and what success did you have when your child went to year 1?

TIA :-(

It’s a much harder process to hold someone back a year though. At least in my LA.

Since I know kids I causing boys born in the last week of August who are or were meeting expectations this isn't true.

I just wanted to point out that the assessments are adjusted for age , so being born in the summer makes no difference when it comes to assessments.
OP the problem has been levied up early so lots of interventions can be put in place. My advice to you is just to read with your son every chance you get. Read, read and read some more. It will be so beneficial.

The issue is that the items he is being assessed on are not appropriate elements of the development of a 4-5 year old, @ThursdayTomorrow

https://choc.org/primary-care/ages-stages/4-to-5-years/

This is what is expected of 4-5 year olds in terms of development.

Academic elements should never be included in an assessment for children this age.

Reading, writing, maths, and subject segmentation should not be part of a classroom for 4 year old children. The expectation that a child would have a grasp of any of this is completely inappropriate.

I dont think its completely inappropriate but yes expecting say 80% of 4y9 to be reading at say blue band and writing sentences does seem unfair when if sept born they are possibly already 5y+ on day 1 so 3m older already. So why not compare their starting to summer borns ending achievement. Then the summer borns would mostly look very good.

The assessments at end of yr have no adjustment by age and nor do any other tests or assessments except 11+.
Sats and gcses literally compare kids 12 m apart a scale them best to worst.

Dropping kids back a year etc doesnt make kids cleverer but for those who it was they werent ready it can make a difference.

I would be asking what steps the school proposes taking - they should already have had a conversation about that if he is struggling in all areas.

I don't think this is just about being young in year. Teachers see hundreds of children within the age range of each year, and they can see when a child is not able to do the usual things. If anything they tend to be overgenerous in their assessment.

Whilst I do agree that the expectations on children in this country are high, I am a reception teacher and I would absolutely choose to do things differently if I were able. However - in my experience more children than not do reach the end of reception reading and writing - including a lot of summer borns! My highest attainer this year is a July birthday!

DD is one of eldest in class and was significantly behind end of reception, she wasn't ready for school. By Yr 2 had caught up and is now excelling, reception is so young just give encouragement and time.

I would be asking now how school are planning to adapt the curriculum in Y1 for your child.

Provision to learn through play including access to outdoor, support for phonics etc.

He may just need more time.

My DS was one of the youngest in his year and struggled the first few years academically but was always ahead with physical milestones. It didn’t help that most of the boys were the oldest in the year! He did catch up and has turned into a funny, kind, thoughtful lad.

Get him to repeat reception in another school as a summer born. It’s legally possible, you just have to find a school that agree.

He will already have been allocated his DFE number , so might not be as easy as all that to enrol him as a reception child in another school.

It can be done though, if you go to the summer born groups on FB there are several cases of parents who made it

It's not clear he's reception, if he's just turned 4 he's nursery age

It is clear he’s reception. He’s currently 4 and he’s born at the end of July so will be turning 5 soon.

Doesn’t matter if he is Nursery class or Reception, the UPN will have been allocated on entry to Nursery if it is a state school.