Concerns about regression with rwi

[Parkrunmum10]

Hi my daughter has just gone back to school into year 1. She's august born so
shes been put in a composite class with some reception children yet we were informed that she'd be set year 1 level work and repeatedly informed there were zero concerns about her progress or ability.
For her phonics and spelling homework she was getting 5-6 words a week in reception last term since before Easter and the words were 4-5 letters long using lots of graphemes etc she was usually getting at least 5 correct in the test mostly 6 and sometimes I think the occasional mistake was miss hearing the teacher as she'd get it correct at home.
over summer we've kept on top of school work mainly due to deep concerns over this composite class system and done some reading some simple maths and some writing practice and a little spelling and some fun learning games to make it less dreary.

first week back they've been assessed for rwi and we got her first spelling homework for the year yesterday. Her friends in the other class got 8-10 words of 5ish letters to practice/ learn. She got 5 words all 3 letter words she was doing in January. Talking cat, pig etc not tricky words or anything.

asker the teacher if we should be worried or if her class were getting easier spelling because of the reception kids and apparently this is what her assessment last week indicated was her level for rwi.?!

were horrified and deeply concerned that she's gone back so far when over the summer she's kept up with her writing and done spelling. And the teacher said she's doing fine and not to worry?! Sorry but surely the huge regression / lack of progress is an indicator of some issue? I could appreciate a slight step back or marking pace after 8 weeks from formal learning (they basically did naff all for the last 2 weeks of term) but she's done something educational every day over summer and she seems to still know most of her old harder spellings still.

the school are very difficult to talk to about it generally and see parents as a massive inconvenience.

Before i make a fuss with the teacher I want to understand if I should be pushing her to be reassessed again based on gut feeling that she is way more capable than cat and pig etc and I suspect there was some issue last week possibly distracted due to the reception kids or being in a class with new kids or something

or if I should be pushing for extra help /sen as all the other year 1 kids seem to have had no difficulty whatsoever and have got harder or more numerous spellings sent home?

should I be concerned the teacher isn't concerned? It indicates to me in the future any large dip in progress will be brushed off so easily because it's still within the very wide assessment criteria for her composite year group

It seems strange to me that they would base all knowledge of your daughter's ability on the results of one test? The school doesn't sound like a good fit for you. Would you consider moving her?

thats a complex one
she's very happy at school
generally I think the provision is very good and the facilities are marvellous plus it's one of only 2 schools that are walkable from where we live and the other one had some challenges which put us off
private not an option financially
I'm hoping it's a small blip based on first week back jitters and I'd like to work with the teacher to sort it so she's adequately challenged
I still have issues with the composite class system and see honestly zero benefits so far of that for the actual children especially those mixed with younger kids but my bigger issue is the lack of concerns from the teacher about what I perceive as a huge regression so again I'm hoping someone will say it's normal and nothing to worry about

Oh and it's not apparently all based off one test this is just the phonics setting other learning is done in different groups anyway and even with the phonics they apparently can be shifted up or down levels whenever appropriate and are "assessed constantly" according to her teacher

As someone whose son really does have huge regressions (asd), this doesn't sound like a regression, this sounds like an off day. Kindly, don't overplay this, it'll ruin your child's confidence.

I’m sure if it is a blip it will be rectified, just keep an eye.

Composite classes are going to become more the norm with falling birth rates and education funding crisis

I've not even mentioned it to my child just showed excitement for her new homework but I think going back to where she was in January of reception in September of year one is a big jump back surely?
and it wasn't an off day they assessed over 3 days last week and have set work against that assessment so the teacher didn't think it was an "off day" either they think this is her current ability
if it is fine - it is but in my eyes that means she needs far more support with her phonics as essentially absolutely nothing has stuck and she's back to the very first spellings she brought home as homework

yes unfortunately so
harder for teachers
harder for kids
certainly not in anyone's best interest but financially
sad times unfortunately imo

Do you think she's regressed based on what you see at home?

It's a bit odd but try not to panic. Our school don't do spellings at all until Jan of year 1. I don't think it signifies a regression, likely a change in test format. Could it be something like she isn't applying the spellings in her writing, so needs to revise them? Spellings aren't that useful anyway when done as rote learning. If they are quite easy for her, then use the extra time for other learning e.g. writing a sentence with the words in.

Not with ability/ knowledge
she's slow and any homework/ learning at home is always a bit of a battle if it involves writing but she knows the words no issues

In that case I don't think you need to worry. It will probably rectify itself when she's settled in the new class. The teachers have a lot on their plate at this time of the year and it could be she's not confident to show what she knows in class yet and teacher hasn't had enough one to one time with her. Carry on with the more challenging reading at home. She is still very young for showing patience with writing especially if young in the year.

I really wouldn’t worry at the moment. It is very early days and if she needs more challenging work it will soon become obvious to the teacher. It is encouraging that they frequently check the accuracy of their phonics groups (as most schools do). The school will want her to progress as quickly as possible so she is ready for the national phonics reading assessment towards the end of Year 1.

Were you told why your daughter was one of the children chosen to be in the mixed class with Reception? Was the division done purely on age? Could it be that the school thought she would benefit from embedding some of the learning she did last year? (That would not necessarily mean that she has SEND or needs any extra help.)

Give it another couple of weeks and then if you’re still worried, talk to the teacher.

If she struggles with writing then that might explain the group she is in.

All the rural schools round here have composite classes, they wouldn’t survive otherwise. But teachers should be able to teach the various age groups (RWI group by ability not age). Even in single year group class you can have a similar range of ability that you would have in a mixed year class.

When we asked about that they kept dip flopping
at parents evening it was presented to be age, ability, maturity, readiness for school but that they'd consider friendships too
then when we asked for more details they said it was big based on age or ability at all never had been never would be -
only done to keep friendships together where possible and separate some more disruptive groups up and consider who would work best together

however all of the year 1 kids in her class were born in July and August and only 1 kid born in August is in the year 1 "main" class and that was deliberate to break up a group of 3 highly disruptive boys who would by age all have been in the R/1 class so essentially one of the other boys was swapped into the composite class

She has some attention issues but they said the send person was aware of but felt it was likely due to her age and the adjustment to school as the new girl when the class has all been in nursery and she went to a different less formal one and they'd make a full referral if she didn't improve during the year and or it looked to be impacting her academically- since then we've heard nothing and assumed therefore they'd seem improvement

turns out a fair few of the kids have ultra simple 3 letter spellings so more must have struggled with the assessments last week

I'll monitor for now - I do have time with the teacher Friday so will let her know I think she is working much lower than her ability and that I have concerns about her progress

if things don't improve I'll push for the send referral they promised last year since now it's shown she's had an academic impact

She doesn't struggle with it
she just doesn't like it
so she deliberately makes a meal of it if she doesn't want to do it
when she's in the mood to she writes honestly beautifully it's neat and she is efficient with good pen grip etc and I think her spelling is marvellous (I have always had awful spelling myself !) but that was when she was doing 4-5 letter words with confidence

What book band level can she read confidently?

What is her comprehension like?

Fantastic to be honest I have zero concerns about her comprehension

The school use so many different schemes it's hard to bloody know 😀
she can read the Oxford reading tree 1 + ones but is bored after a single try as she memorized them by then
at home we do the r w I ones and she has done green easily and we've moved into purple but we did inadvertently try pink in the summer as my mum got the wrong ones and we didn't realise and she was fine just needed some help

Update on this
we've had an introduction evening with the class teacher
she has explained she's set all the year 1 kids recap work so far
so she explained easier books and easier spellings
she didn't say why
the other year 1 class aren't recapping but she said it was planned to take into account any dips or set backs from the summer and isn't remotely connected to their individual levels
I suspect she's given them easy work so she can leave them to it and focus her time on the reception kids in the class
we've decided to see what next week holds and if there is still just recap we will have to ask for a meeting as it's not suiting our daughters needs she's bored stiff and wants to do something more interesting now

We are in the same boat, My ds was an advanced reader in reception, highest level books available. Starting year 1 the class has moved from SW to RWI and his Phonics assessment has dropped him into lower sets sets meaning he isn’t learning anything new.

He can read real words but struggles with Alien/Nonsense words.

I have no idea what to do- his learning type just doesn’t seem to fit the cookie cutter for this assessment… but if he was allowed to be in the higher set he would be learning new words and sounds and O think he’d be back on track. At first his teacher told me it was him not trying but now i’m not so sure.

Honestly this is still a huge and ongoing concern of ours
the teachers/ school are adamant she is in the correct group (lowest of the year ) but she so far this term is still painstakingly going over every single special friend sound and she is not only bored but now completely doubts her own knowledge and ability and often gets things wrong in her spelling test even after getting it all right no issues last year
school even went to the effort to do another different test and in that one she came out just above middle but they claimed it just showed her progress this half term
I was like what progress? She hasn't done any of these sounds and or words in class?
anyway for us it's suck it up and hope it balances out in a year or so
or move her school it's got that bad