Parents' evening Yr 1 - what to expect?

[MollieO]

We have parents evening tomorrow night and I'm wondering what I can expect to find out. Will I be told what ds's reading age is, where he is in the class - top/middle/bottom etc. Or will it be the same in as in reception - rather wishy-washy and hard to pin down?

I have a few issues to discuss with his teacher but it would be useful to hear from others what would be reasonable to expect.

hopeful bump.

At my school, we get 10mins. At the beginning we are asked if we have any questions. If you do, the response I've had in every year for both children has been, "he/she is performing to national expectations". If you push, you might get "exceeding expectations for age" (if you're lucky"!). Nothing specific is ever said. Then in the remaining time, we are given a typed "Next objectives" which are usually very woolly standard objectives which look like they've come from a "select an objective" computer template. They are sometimes laughable as it's obvious the wrong one has been selected.

After years of experience, I now go in with very specific questions that cannot be fobbed off with generalisations.

Good luck!

Thx Peaceflower. I will draft my list today. I was rather hoping that it wouldn't be the usual battle. Last year at parents' evenings I felt like I was doing a cross examination!

We have parents evening tonight, although they call the autumn term one meet the teacher (I've actually known the teacher for 25 years , but still)We have 5 minute slots and its supposed to be pastoral.How they have settled in etc .

I agree, year one autumn term might be a bit early for targets. We were told what the class were working on this half term, and what they hoped each child would be able to do by Christmas (so number bonds, writing sentences, etc). Teacher also showed me DS's work books and we talked about how he was in class, but as madamearcati says it was more pastoral then academic.

No, you will not be told whether he is top/middle/bottom in the class. You will be told whether he has made progress, based on where he was last term/year. You may be told whether he is on target to meet national expectations at the end of yr 2.

I don't know many schools which do reading ages routinely at y1, so I wouldn't expect to get this information either.

I would expect to find out about attitudes to learning, co-operation when working in groups, friendship groups etc.

Didn't find out about friendship groups and forgot to ask (am very interested in that so annoyed at myself for forgetting). He is currently average but she thinks he is more capable than he is letting on. I'm delighted as his teacher is now starting to see his potential. At the beginning of term she said she had never had such a difficult child in all her years of teaching so he has come on hugely. He is progressing well and she no longer has any concerns about him at all. Very surprised and rather relieved.

Got given his workbooks to take home overnight and look at.

Yeay MollieO, that's great. Now go get a large glass of wine, you deserve it.