Reading groups year 1

[Parkrunmum10]

So my daughter joined year 1 at the start of term
they did her read write inc assessment day 1 and it seems she has performed pretty poorly in it
she is now in a reading and phonics group which from what I can see is the bottom group in the year

they are now 8 weeks on STILL going back over all the sounds from reception which she definitely knows (my mum is a phonics teacher and has assessed at home and she 100% knows them!)

over the summer she was progressing lovely with reading and moved to pink RWI books that they don't use at school they have biff and kipper

she knows all her set 1 sounds (yet apparently got 3 of them wrong in her assessment) and even knows and can read about 80% of her set 2 sounds !

she is monumentally bored

school just say no need to worry she'll be reassessed in January but all the other groups are doing 2 sounds a week and hers 1 and starting from a lower point I can't see how they can move her up a group even then!

she was reading without sounding out all summer and since reading with kids who can't do it yet she has gone backwards- sounding out cat etc for example and making silly mistakes in her spellings test as she doubts her knowledge of words she got last year

school are hard to talk to and insisting they are right and she is in the correct group

they said oh maybe she knows the sounds in isolation but doesn't apply them but they just do a test with a word or two with each sound which as explained above my mums done with her and she was miles ahead of the school assessment

any words of wisdom?

Oh and she is still on red book band books which according to the internoodle is low for end of reception
but the school say she is right at the expected level for year 1 (but if bottom group is expected then are the other 45 kids working at greater depth!)

Is she saying she's monumentally bored?

It's tricky because every group will be a 'best fit' and so although she might be going over things she already knows, this group might still be a better overall fit than the next group up. Even if she recognises the sounds being shown on their own, she will still benefit from lots of practise in recognising and using them when reading and writing.

That being said, it's a long gap to go from September to January without any additional assessments and movement between groups. Whether they'd be willing to just reassess your child I don't know but perhaps you could gently suggest that she seems to be grasping everything taught and would she benefit from extra challenge?

Do be aware though that the way your child performs in front of you and her grandparent isn't necessarily how she performs in school. With phonics testing to get through the school will really want to push children on as much as possible and they wouldn't want to leave her in the 'bottom' group doing revision of previous sounds unless they thought it was necessary.

You said she joined year 1 - was she new to the school?

It might be worth checking for any accent issues, if you've moved areas. A colleague's son got put in the bottom spelling group at his new school, which seemed odd. It turned out the test he'd done had unfamiliar words in it, so he'd done his best to guess how to spell things like barth and glarse!

Im surprised they are not reassessing until January. I have had 2 children go through Read, Write, Inc and they were assessed each half term after the initial stage in Reception. They did move up after half a term (ie doing half the books in a colour band) on quite a few occasions but did a full term on some of the higher levels. There is an emphasis on fluency so if she is rushing and making errors they may not want to move her on.

I really wouldn’t worry so early in year 1.

As long as she’s reading with you at home, then she will be exposed to different words/sounds/texts.

Remember, in groups there always has to be someone who is at the top of the group, or at the bottom.

We're year 1 on read write inc. We've gone up usually 1 band per half term, and they assess every half term. I've not heard anything having just finished this half term though and still have a yellow book - which is good as it was a giant leap from the band before and there were many tears...

Is this a new scheme for her? My ds doesn't seem to be a natural reader, he much prefers numbers. Could you support her with fun activity books? Ds hates spelling but loves a word search, and we got some minecraft themed English and maths books that correlate to each school year. I'm looking at the 'early reader' books now which are like the reading scheme books but with stories and characters they might actually enjoy. And might help build confidence so she performs as well as she can at school.

she was reading without sounding out all summer and since reading with kids who can't do it yet she has gone backwards- sounding out cat etc for example and making silly mistakes in her spellings test as she doubts her knowledge of words she got last year

With all due respect OP, school can only base their assessment on what they observe directly and if as you say she's making silly mistakes and still sounding out simple CVC words then that's why she's in the group she's in. There's no reason for school to keep her in a group which is below her ability, it would be completely counterintuitive for them to do so. I also really doubt she's "gone backwards" due to the influence of other children in the group.

The issue is they did the initial assessment on the first day of term and they could hear the other kids (her class is mixed so half are brand new reception kids) doing their assessments as they did them in an open room - so she is coping what they do as they get loads of praise for sounding out (as that's their best - but not her best if you get me)

also her class has 1/2 reception 1/2 year 1 so first day back after 6 weeks off and you've got 14/15 kids you've never met, a teacher you've never met, ta etc and they test you it's a joke!

doing an assessment day one and using it to set them is appalling in my opinion (and the of literally every teacher I've spoken to about it who doesn't work at this particular school🫣)

the school have done a different assessment standardised test they called it with the Sen lead since then and admitted that the level they put her at was likely miles off her true knowledge

unfortunately now they can't move her group as the groups above hers have moved on to new sounds and they've hers have been recapping all term so they said they'd reconsider in January but they've said she likely was in the wrong group but will be stuck in it until they cover all the graphemes - so at least Easter

and the silly mistakes also come from thinking you knew something then being "told" you've forgotten (when you haven't) and thinking that you mustn't have known it afterall 🤷‍♀️as funnily this week with the first set of fresh spellings and a new sound she's crushed it 🤣

also it's nor just performance at home vs school it's performance last term vs now that they refused to acknowledge was a problem

they've also now spoken to her teacher from last year (after is insisting at parents evening) and she also remarked her performance had stumbled more than she's have expected after summer holidays

my mums phonics lead at her school came for tea and offered to do an assessment with her and they've never met and it was miles away from the results from the school one so a complete stranger - this lady said the first assessment was done in too noisy a room and too early in term to set based on and it's not how their school would ever do it

I feel vindicated but sad for my daughter as she's missed a term of progress basically

and before people say just do it at home it's not so easy they get reading spelling and maths daily from school and they get tired I think doing even more than that is too much for the average 5 year old and they deserve a nice weekend too and have free / play time and obviously any extra curriculum stuff like swimming or rainbows etc to fit in - not to mention full time jobs for parents

They've reassessed with a slightly different test but refuse to move her as the groups have moved on now to new stuff and her group haven't
she is less bored now that they've moved onto their first new sound

this other test has her at a standardized score of 118 age adjusted with comprehension score of right at the top which is good apparently as 100 is the average child so the sen lead who did it said that would mean she would be expected to be in one of the top 2 groups but is at the bottom so she said something hasn't added up

they also agreed she can take her tests in a room 1-2-1 not in a part of the classroom as she gets distracted by the class half of which are brand new to school

I have a very similar dd. She's very bright and able but it doesn't take much to totally bend her out of shape. With her it affects her Maths not so much English.

It sucks but just take control a bit. Go over what she's meant to have learned that week. If you're sure she's doing the school's work easily then there's plenty you can do to expand on this. Make a couple of flashcards with new sounds and words, set a couple of your own spellings with these sounds, buy some of the reading books from the next book bands up from vinted or just read a more advanced book together for fun. You shouldn't have to do this but if you're worried and bashing your head against a brick wall then take the bull by the horns.

I do find it a bit odd the way your school is teaching them though. In my Y2 dd's school they all cover the same material and phonics sounds. The more fluent kids might get more spellings to learn and be on higher book bands but they will all still learn the same phonics and spelling principles IYSWIM. If kids are behind they do extra nurture sessions to try and catch them up.

Thanks
this is exactly what I've been doing but it is hard as by the time you get home from
achool and work doing another hour of work for her age is challenging as they get tired
but we do at the weekend
I've managed over the weeks to slowly cover the next set of sounds
she is reading better but sometimes sounds out if she gets a different teacher doing her reading as she hears the others getting praised
We've challenged the setting with the school and they at first said they don't set them at all (never have never will was the words the head used 🫣)
then they said they set them - but the whole class do the sounds together so it's easy for people to transition between sets as they move sets when they get the next chunk of sounds in the RWI test
then the class teacher admitted at parents evening that they only do the sounds in their groups so she did acknowledge it was very hard for them to transition
she also said her previous school (she is brand new to this one) assessed every 1/2 term which i understand from my teacher friends is far more common than termly assessment
we've no idea what order the other groups do the sounds so can't match week on week with the other sets but have assumed blocks they'll look at over say a term or half term and have just done our best
we also don't do the next level books from school as we did start reading ahead and found she would be so bored of the book when she eventually got it from school that she'd daydream and make the story up / guess as she'd essentially memorized it
so instead we have a full set of RWI and songbird book at home and she is storming ahead with those and I find they are much better than her school ones
the school use biff and kipper but they often have sounds in them they haven't taught them like her current book has split digraphs in it which school hasn't done (she is still on level 1 biff and kipper and hasn't moved levels ever at school - been on this level for over a year!)
now on pink RWI and green songbirds but she only has a couple more of them to do
we've finally got her back to how she was reading in the summer as she understands she doesn't need to sound out even if others do
All I can hope is that her next assessment she jumps groups as she is one of those children who unfortunately thrives best as the weakest in a strong group than strongest in a weak group and tends to mimic others to mask her own abilities and fit in - I know this is immature of her but it is what it is and she is an August baby
I find the school tend to assume the summer babies will do worse academically as funnily all the bottom 2 sets are august and July babies even tho some are very bright/ able

I’d question if this is a good school for your child.

our children are continuously monitored and groups adjusted on a fortnightly basis.
kids are not expected to remain in the same group for whole terms.

if the phonics teaching isn’t great, how can the rest of the teaching be any good?
given that it’s such a priority subject.

I've questioned this myself to be honest and we can't stand the head she is awful in our opinion
it is however rated outstanding by estyn - and gets higher than average for our area outcomes etc
and it's honestly the most stunning facility!
and her reception teacher was honestly so fabulous

we do have 2 other schools nearby

1 is much smaller and has mixed classes throughout (like all infants and then 2 "junior " classes) so we didn't think it was ideal

the other has a fantastic head who we loved - but they have some issues of funding and may also need to mix classes as above soon plus it's not walkable and has limited wraparound care provision which is problematic for me

I feel much better about it all now having finally got to talk to the class teacher and explained

plus it's hard to compare to say my mums school or schools of friends children or teacher friends as in wales they do the phonics assessment at the end of year 2 not year 1 as in England so they don't seem to rush them as much here it's more foundational for longer

we were however close to putting in a formal complaint about the head tho but she has form
she was awful with our friends daughter when she had cancer and she wanted to put a memorial bench for her (she wasn't dead btw and ended up in remission!)

Update on the above
she was reassessed at the start of term and moved phonics groups
She struggled a bit with the weekly spelling test as she ran out of time
for the other kids in her group they were recap spellings but first time seeing them for her
the teacher left the snottiest note in her book clearly aimed at us - she may as-well said I told you so
she wrote " child's name, never mind it is tricky to keep up in this group I will try again later today" she did not try the spellings later with her
I can live with her being in the lower group if that's the right level but the comment on a 5 year olds book is out of order and clearly aimed at us not the child herself
just shown my teacher friend and she was appalled said that's out of order and petty

Gosh OP that is pretty out of order. It's so important to stay positive with kids and not give them even an inkling that something is too hard for them otherwise that is exactly the mentality the kid will adopt. I would stay positive with dd and just practice doing them quickly at home. What do you reckon to the school as a whole? IME there's always one or two teachers in every school that a kid/parent isn't going to gel with. If this is just your kid's 'bogey' teacher I'd just try and grit your teeth and it'll be summer before you know it. If it's a common theme in the school you might need to think about kicking up more of a fuss or moving. I hope you can sort something and keep your dd happy

Actually the teacher will be leaving in April when the regular teacher returns from maternity leave (a fact we didn't know at the start of the year and irks me to know she'll have more disruption in an already disrupted class)
to be honest the head teacher is the person I have the biggest issue with
her class teacher is crap in my opinion and has not done well with this mixed class and my child hasn't thrived but I know overall people say the school is good and it's definitely one of the better ones in the area and walkable
our only other option is
-1) complain now about the whole situation and kick up a fuss and insist she be in the single year group class each year (no guarantees)
2) grin and bear it - do our own reading and phonics at home (not so easy with full time jobs and kids who have wraparound care to do extra homework to keep her on track)

ill be frank it's put me right off school in general
I used to be mega anti homeschool and honestly if I didn't work full time I'd pull her out and do that in a heartbeat but it's just not practical with a full time job

I also wish the local private school was an option as it's incredible but again it's just not feasible unless one of us gets a huge pay rise

My nieces go to an bbc amazing state school (that used to be independent/ private) we don't live anywhere near them so not an option and I think wow what a dramatic difference a bit of extra funding can make!
they have truly thrived and my child who I think in not a mean way is actually brighter is flailing about and essentially colouring in or watching tv 99% of the day