Comments on Reception report

[CADS]

Hi

Just got ds's first report which I found pretty meaningless. His achieved mainly 5 and 6s on the EYFS profile scores and a total score of 68. However, I have no idea what this means. There is no indication on whether these scores are poor, average, or above average or even what they mean for the future years. So, don't have any idea if we need to do anything to help prepare him for Y1.

Also, the only written comments made by the teacher were about his lack of confidence and self-esteem. However, I don't understand why he lacks these as we always try to focus on the positive with everything he does. I find it hard improve his confidence because when ever we say anything he doesn't take on board. For example, if we say he is a handsome boy, he will get annoyed and say that he is NOT. This is typical reply with most things we say. I have no idea how to increase his confidence and self-esteem so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

This is my first experience with the UK education system as I grew up aboard so I am just trying to get my head around it.

Thanks
CADS

CADS - this is what came with my DS1's reception report:
1 - below avg nursery
2-3 - average nursery
4 - good progress nursery
5-6 - avg reception
7-8 - good progress reception
9 - very good progress reception

Does that help? It's pretty meaningless anyway. I'm also new to the system.

As for self-esteem, the How-to-talk book is good. Praise/affirmation must be realistic and honest etc etc. There is a possibility he doesn't believe you because your assessment does not coincide with his own? Can't remember much and have lent book to someone else but lots of threads about it at the moment I think.

Message withdrawn

Agree with Pitchounette about 'valid' praise...

Your ds's report sounds exactly like mine last year in reception. 'DS is lacking in confidence and is afraid to try things for fear of getting things wrong.' Last week he jumped off a high diving board because he 'just wanted to see if he could do it.' Lacking confidence? I don't think so.

However, reception is all new and they are just babies. My ds really 'grew up' in Y1 and is just fine now. Work on his confidence over the summer.

If you want to build self-esteem, then generalised stuff like "you are a handsome boy" (or a "good boy") can be counter-productive. In fact, commenting on and showing you've really noticed and thought about what he's done in a descriptive manner is likely to be more helpful than overt praise.

So if he's drawn a picture, saying "You've used a lot of really bold lines there" or "Those are very bright colours" or something similar is likely to be more effective at building self-esteem than "Wow! What a great picture!". Similarly "You got dressed and brushed your hair by yourself" is better than "What a clever grown-up boy you are!"

There's nothing wrong with a little bit of the generalist praise every so often (after all, our children are unusually gifted, considerate, intelligent and good-looking ) but if you keep it to a minimum and try to notice and comment on what he does in a more descriptive way he'll probably respons better.

Hi All,

Very interested to read this thread as we too are new to the UK education system..we moved back to the UK from Australia in April so my 2 children were really thrown in the deep end as my youngest hadn't even started school in Australia and my eldest was finding the level of work MUCH higher here in the UK so struggled to start with. Today I have recieved both of their school reports and was somewhat baffled by them!
Really useful info!
Thanks.

this link takes you to a page where you can download the EYFS Profile assessment details. It's a one page sheet, with the 6 areas for assessment across and a description of what the child is expected to be doing to achieve each level.

Hope it makes things clearer.

Just saw dates of original OP - oops. But hopeing tanyac find my link useful.