5 yr old not interesting in wanting to learn to read

[Hellobell]

Hi all,

so my son turned 5 in October, he has been struggling with his English lessons so he’s now being supported in a smaller group and school, he can read words and reads the sentences out like s-i-t but he’s not doing it in his head yet, he gets very easily distracted and can sometimes only read 2 very short sentences before running away or refusing more, I’m so worried as the amount of work I’m given to read through with him is a lot, we are told tomorrow go through 15 different sight words and he literally does not remember them, and also the special friends like sh ck qu, when he sees them she spells them out as s-h :( I’m at a loss it’s more the fact that he dosnt even want to try at home and I get him he’s tired but he really needs the extra help from us to do well.

This is alarming. The Early Years Foundation Stage is a vital part of every child's education and it is a right. It's where a love of learning is fostered through play.

At the very very least they should be running the class like a Reception/Year 1 class (which does happen in some small village schools) if they have children of both ages. Continuous provision (role play, sand, water, playdough, construction etc) should be available and the Year 1 children will benefit from this too. If they're simply teaching Reception age children the Year 1 curriculum in a Year 1 classroom they are doing them a massive disservice.

This for me is likely to be the crux of the problem. He's not going to enjoy learning if it's too formal, too soon. I can only assume this is a private school? This needs sorting immediately. Either demand he is moved to Reception immediately, to receive the education he is entitled to, or if it's not possible at this school, due to a lack of children to form a Reception class, I would move him to a new school. A state Reception class right now would be far preferable to paying for something which is detrimental to his future education. He needs to be in Reception.

Have his eyes been tested recently? My dd's friend was the youngest in the year and sounded very similar to your dc but it was because she needed glasses. She didn't know how to explain that she couldn't see the words clearly enough to read them, they jumped when she was reading. Her mum realised one day when out of frustration she said you need to try and her reply was if the words stay still it would be easier! She's flying now.

He doesn’t sound massively behind for a reception age child - he’s blending & reading phase 2 (single letter) sounds, that’s good. He is behind for a year 1 child (but he isn’t year 1 age!) If you’re in England the problem is he’s in the wrong class.

Baffled why he is not in a reception class. The reading part of the brain rapidly develops at about 6 on average. We preempt that in the U.K. by starting reading from 4, so done kids just aren’t ready. If he’s having small group support at school, that’s fine. No need to hothouse at home as well.

Honestly, he needs to go into reception. I would insist or change schools. All these strategies people are suggesting are helpful but the fact is, he’s in the wrong class and putting him in reception, where he should be, will be far more effective than battling against a child who has limited interest in literacy ( as is normal at his age).

Pressure from school to read caused so many issues with my daughter and just made her dig in her heals and refuse to even try, in the end she didn't learn to read until year 2! She had a 9 year old reading age by the end of the year but I really wish I'd just not taken her to school at all for those first 2 years, it was miserable.

Why has he been put into year 1 instead of reception? It’s going to be too advanced for him and he’s missing out on the basics taught in reception. It’s going to knock his confidence if he’s constantly given work that too hard.

I wouldn't worry. My two were so different, one was reading Heidegger at 3, and the other was still reading reception books in year 3. The school made such a song and dance about it. Children learn at their own pace not the one set by the government. They're both doing fine in High School.
The Oxford Reading Tree is a guide. I wouldn't be interested in Chip and Biff either.😂

Hi thank you all so much for all of your advice both me and my partner really appreciate it, and we will definitely be using a lot of the tips, it’s made me feel much more relaxed and to get my head in the right place and not to stress so much.

I do want to clarify that we are based in Malta and we moved here 2 years ago , he does not go to a private school or a government school he goes to a school in between that we basically pay a donation to. It follows the uk curriculum so if we were to return back he would be on track.

The issue is that if you turn 5 by the end of December here you must go into yr 1 so we have children turning 6 this month and children turning 6 in December, all the schools here operate like that, if he was born 10weeks later he would be in reception now (dosnt sound fair) I agree with a lot of what you are all saying. I have spoken to a parent of the school and she had mentioned to me that she heard that they do offer the parents of any children who really struggled in yr 1 to repeat it if they were born from October onwards so maybe that’s an option I just don’t know if that would upset things.

it’s a very hands on school that’s why we were happy with it, they do focus on a lot of learning through play but they also try to drum a lot of work and do have lessons where they are sit down writing and listening.

ahhh I’m a little lost but not much I can do about the class situation I think my aim will be to relax it all at home and once he gets home from school and has a snack we get out on our bikes, go to the park and just play with toys at home and I’ll read him bedtime stories and we will see how he gets on.

thank you

Thank you for coming back with clarification of the situation. One thing that you might want to consider is this, if the school is selling the curriculum as 'keeping up' if you return to UK then in reality they are misleading every parent with a child born between September and December.
If you did return to the UK and certainly if you applied for a state school place then your child would almost inevitably be placed in the 'correct' school year and be put down a year. In one of your early posts you expressed concern about how your child would react to going down now, just think how he would feel about coming back to UK, a place he won't know well and then being put back a year.

I hope that you are able to come to a good balance with your child. No child should be so worn out by school that they have no time or inclination to have fun and read books for pleasure.

Thanks for this just ordered. My daughter struggling the same.

I’m a Reception teacher and your son is where he should be if he was in a Reception class. The issue is the fact he is in Year 1 (which I appreciate is out of your control). I would spend 10 minutes a day reading with him and make sure you read to him too. If he’s struggling to remember the sight words, which is normal, choose a few to focus on, not all of them. If he needs a night off from reading, that’s fine. The most important thing at the moment is for him to see reading as something that he enjoys rather than something he has to do. Does he see you reading? If he sees you sat on the sofa with a book or magazine he may want to join you with his.

Thank you so much, since I posted this I started to relax and just got back into our own reading books and popped to the library and he chose his own that he wants me to read him, we played a game that when he sees the word “the” in the books this weekend he lets me know and he loved it. We also managed to go through the sight words to see what he knows for just a couple of minutes this morning and he was all jolly about it and knew ALOT more than we thought so now I’ll just be sticking with one new one for the week and not put any pressure on either of us.

thank you all I really appreciate all the tips and advice 💙

In England and in the school my DS attends, blending and learn sight words is expected in Y1, while in Reception they focus on spelling the words out at this time of the year.
But I also wanted to suggest Reading Eggs and Teach your Monster how to Read. The first one has made a huge difference for my son, who went from spelling the individual letters out to reading them 'whole' fluently in less than 2 months since he started doing 15-20 minutes (one lesson basically) per day. And it's like a game so he loves it!

@Hellobell

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7aa7b6e5274a34770e630c/LettersanddSounds--DFES-00281-2007.pdf

This is a good syllabus to follow at home, even if you use it as a guide for yourself. Although my R child follows a different school syllabus, this worked for preschool upwards in other schools and is a gov guide.

In our R the first term is phase 2 I believe and they do some sight and tricky words, building on them as they go eg started with 10, now there are more.

There seems to be a big range of where the kids are and at 4, it is really tricky to learn alongside age 6. At 4 schools in the UK are very play led and don't sit at the table like they do at Y1 a lot, it seems more mat and play led.