DD has just started Reception but want her moved up to YR 1!

[rinol]

She's the oldest in reception being 5 already and is sooooooo bored!Would the school move her up?!or is this asking too much!I know its early days but she's so disillusioned!what do i do?

[sarararararah]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[showmethewaytothenextwhiskybar]

don't be so rude and defensive sarararararah - we're all perfectly well aware that children learn through play and I'm sure the children in your class are stimulated until their eyes are popping out of their heads ....

however, there is a significant minority (and I'm quite prepared to believe that it isn't the majority) of 4 and 5 year olds who want to do things in a different way

there are even a few teachers (not very many, I'm sure) who aren't very good

[littleducks]

Why cant the teachers on this thread not understand the new reception is not great for all children? The old system wasnt for all children and the new system may cater for more kids but no one system is going to keep all kids happy.

Im sure kids do learn through play, thats not disputed but the may still be bored

More children than ever go to some kind of pre-school/nursery etc. So have been playing on bikes/sand whatever for two years already, normally at a far better ratio of staff to children then move to reception where activities are the same but less staff and less attention to each child.

I agree some teachers arent good too, and as in the past years the best teachers havve been put in charge of sats years it will take a while for that mentality to change

[mrz]

By morningpaper on Wed 23-Sep-09 21:08:55
Mrz you were muttering into your beard then but I think you are saying that some children might be bored but that's because they aren't interested in more creative things that are going on or that they could be doing?

no that isn't what I was saying at all. What I was saying is some children who are bored
are unable to use their emotional intelligence so need adults to constantly provide the worksheets and ideas rather than use the skills and knowledge they clearly possess independently.

[morningpaper]

mrz I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Would you like the children to go off and do their own coursework? What exactly do you think these children need to do? I'm confused.

I agree with the posts that say that some children will have been going to nurseries which will have provided very good educational environments. Reading Hulababy's post actually makes me realise WHY some children are bored - my DD spent two years in her nursery 'pre-school rooms' and that is SOOOO similar to Reception that I can understand why she wanted more from school.

Agree this is not an attack on teachers at all - I don't think they can be expected to sit down and attend to do the small number of children who are 'bored' any more than they can sit down all day and attend to the small number of children who are 'terrified'. That's the nature of the environment. I must say that my DD's teachers have been excellent whenever I've brought this up with them and have said "To be honest, some children will spend some of the time being bored - that's life" which I think is a very honest response.

[cory]

some people seem to think that reading and writing is the only way you can learn academically or be mentally stimulated

children who are good at listening and interacting can do a lot of even academic learning without it coming from a written page

it's not just playing and sharing: my dcs did scientific experiments, went out and studied their local environment, learnt about the world around them through doing things, etc

not that different from what people do at university really

but some parents were still being snotty-nosed about and failing to see how much learning was being done, because they had such a narrow attitude towards learning

and of course some of their children picked up on that attitude and assumed that they were being short-changed because only reading and writing counted and nothing else was learning

[cory]

of course, it is perfectly possible that some children just have bad unimaginative teaching- that may well be the problem with morningpaper's dd

but to me, drawing the conclusion that someone isn't learning anything because they are not reading or writing seems odd; there are so many different ways of learning if you have an open mind

and assuming that the child isn't learning because they say they are bored also goes contrary to all the experience I have had of children: they say they are bored for all sorts of reasons

[bellissima]

Please don't. Entirely agree with cloudhopper because it has happened to someone I know - she will be relatively immature compared to her peers at 15-16-17 and desperate to be in with the 'in-crowd'.

[smee]

I'm with Cory - just because reception's not structured or writing based doesn't mean it's not learning. Though I also agree that some children are more into reading/ writing at that level than others. Good teachers find ways to keep that interest sparked - but at ours it was things such as playing shopping and making lists rather than reading books. Can't see how that's a problem really. + dare I say it, but it doesn't do them any harm to be a bit bored - to realise that they're not the centre of attention - that they have to find a game to fit into, or make an activity work for them. Part of life isn't it? A vital life skill .

[LilyBolero]

In other countries (eg Canada) they don't START reading and writing till age 6 or 7. And guess what - by age 11, their results have overtaken UK children's results.

I simply can't believe that children are bored in reception. My dd is August born, but very very bright - could read and write before school. She LOVED reception - she loved the imaginative play, the playing on bikes, the playing outdoors, could read when she wanted to, and was in the top group for reading and maths, so was able to be stretched from where she was. She also made amazing junk models, painted beautiful pictures, put on puppet shows for the class (which included writing out programmes for them all). I don't think she wasted a single minute being bored.

If a child is only looking to read and write at school, and finds other activities 'boring' then surely that's something to be worked at - our motto in our house is 'if you say you're bored, you must be a boring person', because you can ALWAYS find something interesting to do. And in a well-equipped reception classroom it's not a hard task!

[EachPeachPearMum]

I see rinol returned....

FWIW I was put straight into Y1 instead of R (well- infant 2 and infant 1 as it was then) because I was a free reader when I started in September (age 4.8), had finished the reading scheme (Ladybird's Peter & Jane ), and could write.

It caused me immense problems later when they held me back a year (supposedly to prevent me having problems later ) as all my friends went off to Junior school, and I was heartbroken, and extremely bored repeating infant 3
There is slightly more scope nowadays for children to work outside their calendar NCY-group, but many schools are still resistant to it.

[singersgirl]

But what I don't understand in any of these threads, as other people have said, is how a normally developing child would be bored a great deal in Reception. They might be bored occasionally (easy maths work or phonics they'd already mastered) and disappointed with the academic stuff.

But most of Reception is about child-led learnin. If they want to use their independent time to read or write stories they can (DS2 spent lots of time in Reception in the book corner reading through all the ORT books he'd missed out on because he started Reception reading). If they want to estimate the size of the ceiling or calculate how many days they've been alive, they can. They can pretty much do anything they'd do at home, and have a much bigger sandpit and climbing frame.

[staroftheweek]

I'm really puzzled that a child, even an exceptionally bright one, could be 'bored' after a few weeks of school.

In the first few weeks of reception (and indeed the rest of the year) there is so much new information for them to take in. (Even if they have been at full time nursery previously, becaue the school is a differnt place/different people/differently structured.)

There are 29 other children in their class to get to know, 29 names to learn.
Break time.
Bigger children. Lots of them.
Playground games and rhymes.
What to do when you have school dinners/packed lunch in the dinner hall.
PE
Forming a relationship with their new teacher and TA
Assemblies

This is a lot for anyone to take in.

I know whenever I start a new job I feel a bit overwhelmed in the first days/weeks because of all the newness and desperately trying to remmeber everyone's name and what I'm supposed to be doing and when and where, and trying to get it all right and not say anything too daft.

So I really wonder whether a child complaining of 'boredom' in school after a few weeks, no matter how bright, is actually complaining of overstimulation rather than understimulation, of finding it all a bit much or a lot to get used to all at once. And so NO!, do not move her to year one. IMO. .

[stealthsquiggle]

"bored" = 5yo speak for "can't do it" / "I got told off" / "I don't get to do exactly what I like best at every moment of the day"

[Hulababy]

It is very very unlikely that your bright child is the first bright child the teachers/school will have come across. There are a number of chldren who go to school able to read and write, or do other types of things.

There is absolutely no reason why a reception class cannot accomodate the needs of a bright child. If the school is not doing this in a month or two, then go and speak to the teacher and discuss your child with them.

But I would be quite sceptical of any 4/5yo child is truely bored all the time they are in school at this age.

I think you are better asking them more specific questions about their day:

What was the best thing you did?
Who did you play with?
Did you play in the home corner; what did you play at?
Have you been playing at making things int he sand/water today?
When you went outside, did you use the balls, etc?

Then you can expand on it.

Yes, a bright child may well be able to read - but really, they still have so much more to learn even in this area. They will sit with the teacher for individual reading at least once or twice a week to read a book (often chosen by the child with teacher guidance). They talk about why the book was chosen, what they think will happen in it, etc. Then they read it. A good reader will show hpw good she is here and then the teaher can work on other areas - new phonemes she may not be aware of, infliction int he voice, punctuation, fluency and expression, different types of text (poetry, non fiction, etc).

They may be able to write too. Well, most writing tasks are in themselves open for expansion. A bright child can add detail to their work, use adjectives to make it interesting. Use their phonics knowledge to write trickier and trickier words. They can practise their handwriting skills to ensure letters are formed correctly, that their writing becomes smaller and neater, and possibly even more onto cursive and joined up writing.

Same for numbers work.

And for phonics too. Remember that a good reader does not always equal a good speller. This is why phonics is very important still.

[Hulababy]

It does make me wonder how come European children manage to go right through to 6/7y without formal learning, and yet still come out ok.

They must have bright children too. Yet they are still in a play centred environment for even longer.

[Sibella1]

My daughter learnt to read and write in Reception - not bored at all...

[Highlander]

she should have an individual learning plan (ILP) that allows her to work at her level, but in her peer group.

It's early days, the teacher has to do a baseline assessment then sort out the ILPs.

Sounds like you're being a bit pushY?

[bruffin]

Having had two very bright september babies I have found that they are not the only other bright swptember babies in the class.

DD b'day is the 18th and there were 7 children older than her and a few october babies.

DS's class there were again a third of the class born in september and october, a lot of them on the very bright side.

DD was fluently reading in reception and didn't manage to be bored, there is so much more to school that just learning letters and numbers.

[katiestar]

I would take what your DC say with a large pinch of salt !
I have spent 2 years in a reception clasroom and NEVER seen children bored by playing there.They are often bored by things like assembley and carpet time.
As to children not being allowed to read and write in reception !What ???they are taught academic skills alright but in an informal unstructured child centred way.They will have a writing area with different materials in.For example today the teacher brought in some gorgeous blank menus from a posh hotel and many of the children wrote their own menus on them and lingering nearby staff encourage their efforts and extended their ideas.
other children playing with coloured teasets were working out how many more cups and saucers they were short of (subtraction) and staff will certainly encourage children in counting large numbers of lego blocks or whatever.
I would certainly agree that easily bored children are perhaps lacking in the imagination to extend a game to the level where it is not boring.IYKWIM i would also be a little concerned what they are really seeking is the gold stars and adult praise that they have come to associate with formal work

[mrz]

By morningpaper on Thu 24-Sep-09 08:02:01
mrz I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Would you like the children to go off and do their own coursework? What exactly do you think these children need to do? I'm confused.

What I want the children in my class to do is be able to read and write without the structure of a worksheet or reading scheme for support and actually sit down at the writing table and produce 30 pieces of writing that are all individual not a fill in the missing letters/words exercise. I want them to read a book that isn't any level ORT but something they chose to read because it looked interesting and to work out how many more pieces of apple they will need so that every child in the class has two. If they can do all that they don't have time to be bored.

[Hulababy]

I would imagne that if a child were to be forced to sit at a table day after day doing worksheets and formal learning, then they would very quiickly fnd themselves bored - very bored!

[Coca]

I agree with you mrz

[atworknotworking]

Havn't read all the posts, but just to add that my DD (now 9) was moved into a year 2 class from reception as she was doing well, so she started in yr2 leaving her friends behind (different play times so didn't see at break)had to make new friends which she did, then at the end of that year they all moved on to the juniors, lost all her friends again and had to stay in year 2 for another year, with more children she didnt know, she is now 9 and is struggling with maths (average teacher says) but top for all other subjects, I agree that yr1 and foundation covers a lot of groundwork and basic principles that enable children to develop key skills, I firmly believe that my DD missed out on the crucial learning and that is why she isn't progressing as well in numeracy.

I would think long and hard before requesting that your DC should be moved up a year, at the end of the day they will have to stay in one year group for two years as they can't go onto Juniors, comprehensive until they are old enough anyway. I would perhaps look at hiring a tutor or doing activities at home to give more stimulation.

Would also like to agree with some of the reception teachers, I am a CM and cover EYFS with 7 little ones, sadly not a great deal of time for colouring in sheets

[mamusia]

I agree strongly with LilyBolero