Do teachers ever describes children as "bright" or "clever" these days?

[daisy243]

I'm pretty sure my dd (5) in reception is bright. I think her reading ability is probably around the top 1/4 of the class. Her writing (ie trying to spell words) is really good and her drawing is very good. However, after parents evening apart from knowing all is well I feel no clearer as to whether her abilities are below, middle or top end. I know it doesn't "matter" but it would just be nice to know.
It's as if it's wrong to want to know or you get labelled as pushy or competitive....which I'm not.
What are other people's experiences?

Ask them. Ask them about her ability and the progress she is making and whether that is above average or not.
Otherwise you are blinded by all this stuff

If you think she is bright, then she probably is

But as to her academic ability and development, you'll only know by asking her teacher

I agree with the others-go in and ask the question.

Their abilities are colour-coded, it seems. The top colour is grey (?) which seems to be what the average child should be on so seems confusing to me. Anyway, your child's teacher will tell you if you ask

The teacher would probably tell you what a) you already know (top 25%) and b) what she thinks you want to hear...doing very well etc etc. All meaningless IMO as mother of 4 between 7 and 19. She could be 'brighter than average' now, and average later or vice versa as children develop in fits and starts and her classmates may drop behind or overtake and then the reverse. Instead of looking for the teacher's input why not think about what you are putting into her as that will make the biggest difference over all: i.e does she have access to lots of books/do you or DP read to her regularly/does she take part in activities rather than sit around too much/do you talk talk talk to her? If the answer to all that is yes, and given that you have already said she is probably top 25% aged 5 I would say you have nothing to gain by asking her teacher for a snapshot guess at this stage.

She's obviously doing okay if she's reading and writing. So I'd say leave it and ask next time. All that really matters is that she's happy and motivated.

I don't colour code my children - grey was the colour in the old foundation stage curriculum for ELGs EYFS has pictures of -scary- children instead.
Personally I would not compare a child with other children in my class (at age 5). I would probably say she/he is doing what we expect at this age or more than we expect type comment.

To be able to usefully interpret information like "top 25% of the class", you would need to know something about the rest of the class. So it's not helpful, and teachers instead give you information about what your child can do herself.

Very soon she will be able to place herself with an uncanny degree of accuracy, so you can always ask her then...

I think it varies wildly from teacher to teacher. My DD1 had a nursery report (in the nursery attached to her current school), where the nursery teacher, who is actually Head of Foundation for the school, referred to her as "very bright" on at least 3 paragraphs. At reception she had 1 teacher until christmas, at which time she retired; she said that she was "very aware of DD1's natural abilities". Then they changed teacher and this teacher said nothing of the sort, in fact I left the meeting at parents' evening feeling very confused. Although I noticed from the sheets she takes home that it says "Reception extension sheets" - so I guess she must be on some sort of extension programme. I think it would be nice for a parent, esp if they have no experience of education to know their child is doing well, not well, etc not because of some silly pride but just to know how much to support them at home, whether to be worried, whether to push more certain things or encourage others or let go or whatever at home. For me it's more a reassurance thing, if a teacher tells me that my DD is top of the class and very bright then I don't have to worry about her etc...

Teachers can't tell you your child's 'position' in the class as this would involve discussing other children. Or this is the case at my DC's school. In Year 1 they tend to put them on ability tables and you can work out from those where your child stands in the class. They do IME quite frequently describe a child (to the parents) as "bright" or "clever".

I disagree I think. I heard at parents' evening that my DD was working at a particular reading level, which is at the top end of what is expected in year 1. So I know she is doing just fine. I don't need to know how many other children can read better or worse than she can. That's not relevant to me, is it?

I know a teacher who tells every parent their child is in the top 10%

From Year One at our school, they start putting 'below average, average, or above average' on the reports for a variety of items under literacy, numeracy, science etc.

We asked what 'above average' meant and the teacher said it was the top 20% of the class. So we do now have some idea of how he's doing.

Often you just need to ask direct questions at parents' evenings. Our school will tell you if your child is on the G&T register (top 10%) if you ask, but won't tell you if you don't ask.

I'm trying to remember whether either DS or DD were described as bright or clever at their psrents' evening last week (I obviously just have no memory).

I know they are both performing at a higher level than some children in their classes and I am happy with how they are doing.

I don't think they do. For years we were told that DS1 was 'able' and 'very capable' etc. We felt he was 'bright' - good at reading/ seemed to pick stuff up quickly - that sort of thing - but as he was our first we didn't have any real benchmarks.

He's now in Year 5 and at his last Parent's evenign his class teacher was using language like 'gifted', 'highly academic', 'top 5%' and talking to us about scholarships. It was the first time we've ever had any of his teachers talk in such blunt terms...

Meanwhile DS2 generally gets comments like 'meeting the required targets' 'completes the necessary tasks' and 'friendly', all of which I take to be veiled teacher-speak for 'pretty average'

At parents night DD's teacher (year 1) said that she was "working above the level of the class" for both maths and english, and that her reading was pretty much were they'd hope it to be by the end of year 2.

But not sure why you'd need to ask - they didn't say that in reception, just that they were very happy with her progress, and that she was happy and motivated which was enough for me.

DS's teachers opening comment in his first ever parents evening was "he's a very very bright little boy, isn't he?" so they are not afraid to say it - but will only answer questions about how he is doing vs. rest of class when asked directly - and FWIW I think it is a useful thing to know - on emotional/social stuff as well as academic.

I think at up to about Year 3 it's probably appropriate to just discuss in terms of 'meeting/exceeding/struggling to meet targets' for a number of reasons:

• children are young and developing all the time
• it's a bit meaningless to say 'in the top 25%' etc as in my experience the quartiles are mostly related to age in the early years anyway
• parents get too hung up on it!

By Year 4/5 it becomes more important to know 'where your child is' relative to peers - particularly if you're entering them for a selection-based school at 11+, because it gives you a guide as to what it might be reasonable to expect e.g.

• top 10% - no problems getting in etc
• borderline - decide to coach or look at other schools
• below standard require - adjust yours/child's expectations

I have to say, I find all this stuff about the school 'knowing' but only telling you if you push/ask a bit to be honest!
or perhaps some parents really don't want to know in case it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy IYSWIM?

In local schools here its all very serious.
quarterly tables are pinned onto the school noticeboard for all to see with every childs grade for tests in each subject listed.
The actual position in class and the overall position in the year is sent home on a list.

This creates anxious children terrified of their parents.
Parents obssessed with saving face so that the children are bribed into studying in order to improve their ranking.
6-7 year olds studying till 9-10pm
Passing tests becomes the sole objectve - not the learning process, children can rote learn to pass and on paper look bright but have no idea what they have learnt and would struggle to explain.
UK system sounds too PC but the other extreme is far worse IMO.

At DS's school they give a run-down of your child's ability against expected 'milestones', and later SATS scores, but definitely not in comparison with other children - which in any case is meaningless.
Reports have a grade for effort and a separate grade for achievement in each subject.

THK - seriously? They put test results on a noticeboard? At 6/7 yars old?!? In which country are you?

I would move my child from a school where test marks were publicly displayed. I assume that people are paying for this?!!

DD's support teacher (has weekly support for some dyslexic tendancies) told me just this evening that DD is very bright. However this does not mean anything in relation to the rest of the class. Just that she does well and is quick to pick things up, etc.

Why the need to compare little children against one another? So long as your own child is happy and enjoying school, is making progress and is learning, is being challenged but not pushed too much, and is not coasting - is that not sufficient?

It will make no difference to your child if they are 1st in class, 5th, 12th, 25th or bottom. So long as they personally are making progress and achieving their own individual potential.

Don't worry about the rest of the class.

The first time I remember being told my DD was 'bright' was when we were seeing the support teacher. In recep/yr1/yr2 DD had one-on-one sessions because she was struggling with reading and writing. Which of course worried me enormously - DH (usually the worrier) was less concerned because he'd been a late developer. Anyway, this very experienced teacher assured us that DD was a bright little girl and she was sure she'd do well. And sure enough, by yr5 she won the form prize.

So in this case it was definitely nice to know!