Need a bit of help re yr1 Daughter

[willowsthedog]

Hi all,

I am new to mumsnet so i hope this is ok to post, i am a little on the desperate side regarding my daughters education.

She is a late July baby so one of the youngest in her class but seems to be doing very well - and this is where my problem lies.

The school has a system that each child has a reading book and they are encouraged to change it daily. They are also given word walls with aprox 10 words on them and as parents we are encouraged to read their reading books and word walls daily with them. At the begining of this school year it became quite aparrent to me that the reading books she was bringing home were far to easy and i enquired whether she would be able to have a slightly harder set of books and this was provided.
In January DD came home from school and said that her teacher had told her that she had finished all the word walls for the year and so there were no more for her to do. I wasn't overly happy so i caught her teacher the following morning to say that i would like more work to do with her and i was told that as she is doing so well there is no more work prepared for her and if i wanted to i could do spellings with her at home using the word walls we have as the words for spellings, so this is what we have been doing since the end of January. what concerns me most now though is that since the end of January DD hasn't read with a teacher or member of staff and i feel being just ignored because she has reached the goal for that class. DD has told me that her table never has a teacher or teaching assistant with them during reading. If this is happening in literacy then i am worried it is happening in other subjects aswell

To top it all off she came home with a book yesterday called - Well I never- which is a childrens poetry book that has 2 poems that concern me the first being about a grandmother beating her grandson with a stick and the second about a goat sliting various animals throats with its horns! It has the school stamp in it so it is one of the designated reading books.

I have tried for the last 2 days to get an appointment with her teacher but i have been told by the office staff that she can't see me after school as she travels home a long distance and can't see me during school as she is teaching. I then asked to see the head mistress and was told i would need to see DD's teacher first - no win. I really don't want to have the discussion i need to have at the classroom door in the mornings and would obviously prefer not to have DD around when i have the discussion.

I am considering removing her from the school but obviously i have worries that will anywhere else be any better and worries for her settling in as she is quite sensitive.

Any help or advice would be very greatfully recieved

Zoe

Firstly I understand your concerns and believe me im not out to belittle them but your dd is doing v well with her reading and thats fab but she will have support with other subjects -the teacher nd TA have to teach and support a whole class so its obviously centred on groups that need it most.

At some point in most classes when the children hve hit their target they are then on 'free reading' all reading is beneficial and it doesnt need to be indicative of an ort reading stage - your dd will learn the 'pleasure' of reading during these free reading times and that will undoubtedly give her confidence to approach the next years books.

The topic of her new book does seem a bit 'odd' and its not a book I am familiar with but its good to have access to a wide variety of reading material and obviously school have accepted this book as part of their reading scheme.

The issue with not being able to speak with her teacher is rather difficult I rather tenuously suggest a short letter in place of a meeting if the teacher really is unavailable after school.

You have to remember that whilst to us our dc are absolutely our priority to a teacher they are one of mny so whilst im not suggesting you are being pfb about this approach this with care,imvho - i think blow the reading schemes and spelling walls roll up thev sleeves and get on with some hands on play at that age.

I would insist on seeing the HT if the teacher is making herself unavailable or an interim step would be to see the head of year.

So basically your dd finished the curriculum for this year in January and she is supposed to twiddle her thumbs for the rest of this school year? Completely unacceptable imo.

Have you explained to the HT that the class teacher isn't making herself available?

I would approach her teacher directly and ask for a meeting - leave the office out of it. She must be able to fit you in either before or after school - even at luch time. If this fails then demand a meeting with the head teacher. It sounds as if your DD is still enjoying school which is a good thing. If she is enjoying reading, just make sure she has access to as many books as possible - it really doesn't matter what. AAt our school, they do not use a reading scheme, the children do not have reading books - they are encouraged to take books home each day to read with a parent, but they choose these themselves.

Further to this her teacher has just phoned me to say she will see me briefly after school today.

I will let you know how things go

Zoe

I think you need to separate this out a bit (DD1 is in Yr 1 too):

1. Book with 'scary' poems in - this wouldn't bother me TBH, just skip those ones!

1. No more word walls - again, I'd heave a huge sigh of relief and just work on general reading/spelling at home.

1. Reading books too easy - I'd just ignore the reading books and free read at home. Reading books from school are only a very small part of learning to read.

1. No-one in school has heard her read since Jan, and the more able pupils are given little attention - this is a little more concerning, if it's true (and not all things that 6 yr olds tell you about what goes on in class are true!). This needs addressing with the school and you need to be reassured that whilst obviously they may need to work more intensively with those who are struggling, there are sufficient activities for those who are more able.

1. Not being able to see the teacher - this is unnacceptable. There must be a time you can see her, even if only for 10 minutes. Take this one up with the head.

Do they ask for parent helpers in your DD's school? I go in twice a week to do reading in DD1's class and it's a really useful way of finding out what really does go on in the classroom. Of course I can also use the opportunity to load her bookbag up with books so we always have lots to read at home (although I must confess to being a slovenly mother who doesn't read every day!)

My yr one child has a contact book where teacher writes in everything they have read each day eg book level 4:3 pages 6-12. Also written in it is homework ie Mon eve child is to read pages 13- 19.

This is good as I know for sure what DD has done in reading that day at school. DD reads with 'teacher' every day about 8 pages. I assumed this was standard but obviously not. I would not put up with your school. Madness that a child can achieve x level then stop learning. More DD school is non selective, each child goes at own pace, but I would expect even if she was genius level that they would continue to provide new books for her.

oh should add re spellings each Friday DD has 10 words to learn to spell then there is a test on Monday. I get to see the spelling book each week so i can see how DD is doing. I would expect there to be 10 new words every week of term until end of yr 1. When school was closed for 2 days because of snow there were no spellings but that I think is fine.

I am interested to hear what teacher says, please do post.

Hi all,
Sorry i didn't get a chance to post yesterday it was a busy afternoon!
The meeting with my daughters teacher went far better than i had anticipated and she has reaassured me that DD isn't being left to get on with things and is doing very well, and although she doesn't realise it (DD) she is actually doing bits of work that are different to other members of the class - this is being done with her little group she sits with of simillar ability. Her group are doing more free reading than the others but she has just this week set up guided reading that she is specifically doing with DD's group, and she anticipates starting spellings with them after Easter. she has also told that although DD is doing very well in class she isn't brilliant at all subjects (not that i would expect it!)and has given us some areas to concentrate on at home aswell.
Regarding the book she was not happy with the content of it at all but said alot of the older books had been in class since the time the school opened back in the early 80's and so what was ok then isn't obviously now. She offered to get rid of it but i have hung on to it as i want to now speak to the headmistress regarding a complete clear out of all the old not so pc books, which i have a meeting about next week. I know the school is desperately struggling for funds for books but i have also today at our PTA meeting had the ok from the other commitee members (I am chair person) to put the £200 pounds we have raised on mobile phone recycling straight back into the infants to provide a few new reading books.

So i feel really good that we have turned what yesterday seemed a huge headache into something positive for the school.
Phew!
Thanks to everyone who posted it did give me a moment to sit back and have another look at the whole situation and i was alot calmer when i did get to see her teacher.
Zoe