Reception reading. Not happy with school

[Sallyssss]

Hi, my daughter (who is in reception) very rarely gets one to one reading sessions(just group), and only gets a different reading book one a week (if we are lucky). I am not very happy with this? But, is this the norm? What does your reception child get in terms of reading?

Would also be interested to hear if your child goes to state ort private? (as we are thinking of chaning schools)

I used to get a bit stroppy when dd was in reception and they wouldn't let her have new books more often. I got a note about government guidelines. 2 years later she is still mad about books and is always reading so I shouldn't have worried.

I get so fed up with these arguments that you should be practising reading at home - reading is a pretty basic tenet of education and I find it hard to accept that the onus is on the parents to crack it. That's what they go to school for. And, as many posters have pointed out, it isn't very fair on the children whose families can't help them because of poor literacy and/or poor English.

My daughter's school sounds very similar to yours, Sally. They slavishly follow government diktats without actually thinking through if they work/could be improved upon. We are in the process of trying to get her into another school where they seem to be interested in the individual children's progress rather than ticking DCSF boxes.

Well said lalalonglegs, I agree completely. It simply isn't acceptable to have the attitude that parents should be reading at home. Surely learning to read is the most important part of education, without it you can't do anything else.

The messages we get from schools are so mixed up. First it's - don't try and teach them the sounds as they need to be learnt perfectly (is it really that difficult), then you get 'oh we can't hear them read as we don't have time'. So you want to teach children phonics at school and then get parents, who have no phonics training, to teach them to read. Then surprise the suprise the parents who can be bothered end up teaching their children to read, the others (who I feel very sorry for) get left behind and then have extra resource provided to get them up to speed (probably for SATs). Its absolutely ridiculous.

Once they start on the Oxfor Reading Tree stage one. Books are changed onMondays and Thursdays if you have written in reading record that child has read them. Later on Yr 1 ish they get two books each Mon and Thurs. We have a job to get through them to be honest and often don't

My dd is in reception class. From her reading record it looks like she has read once with a TA since September.
I read with her most nights but she is starting to say she is bored of reading as I do not think the level she gets from school challenges her enough. I get books from the library and will buy her some ORT books occasionally.

The teacher and TA spend their time with children who do not get chance to read at home. I would hope that she does get chance to read with volunteers who go into the school when she is older.

I also wanted to add my voice to those who say that it is unacceptable to say "read with your children at home then".

I do read with my DD1 when I can - weekends, the odd evening - but with 4 children, work and my DD1 being absolutely shattered at night - and wanting to spend time PLAYING with her siblings - I don't see that leaves me such a lot of time.

I resent the fact that she goes to school all day at reception and I am supposed to be teaching her numbers, reading etc....what is school for?

In my days (and lots of my peers') we didn't get ANY homework until we were much much older and nobody listened to us read - yet we were all competent readers - what's going wrong and what is it that is failing our children so badly? No wonder there is such a huge gap between the have and have nots.

In my DD's class the children who are doing well are surprise surprise the children of teachers and professionals - and why is that? Because they are teaching them at home. I find that incredible really...

My DD1 started school counting numbers up to 100 and adding numbers up to 10. Fast forward all this time, where we haven't practised this at home as nothing came from school, and she is still at the same point. And why is that? Grrrrrrrr

The system does not work. Of course it doesn't. Teachers have been saying this for years. Children should be educated at school with back-up from home. Not the other way around. Hence why my DS will be HE.

However, teachers are not to blame. WE DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE ABOUT DCSF GUIDLINES/NC/NEW INITIATIVES. Yes they say recommended not compulsary on the front of the documents but that is a joke. There are schools that do not follow them but they are few and far between. It's a big risk come OFSTED and not many headteachers are prepared to put their jobs on the line for it.

Most of the comments here are perfectly reasonable complaints but direct your anger towards the government and take it up with your MP. Personally I want to see all education out of central government control.

Some of the problems come down to our expectations though.
Many of us are still thinking of the older style paradigm for reception, with children learning their 3Rs.

The curriculum for reception, the EYFS provides, has a different focus and is much broader.

I'm not defending it but I think perhaps this is at the heart of some of the issues here. I would have been more comfortable with a slightly older style of school for my ds - not worksheets all day and sitting in rows in desks facing a teacher, but a bit more reading, writing and maths.

It's what he enjoys and he likes structure.

The EYFS isn't about that anywhere near as much from what I can see.

DS's school do RML so some children didn't even get a reader during reception. But they did take home a book to share.

Let me explain... They start with learning sounds, then fred talking (blending), then ditties/sentences, the books. Alongside the books (and I guess Ditties because they have to write them), they work on writing/punctuation etc. They do an hr of RML time (by the time they are in yr1), this involves time practising speed sounds, working on words that will appear in the text, and then paired reading. The teacher gets a very good idea of where the children are, and movement through the streamed groups is very fluid (i.e happens as soon as deemed necessary). There is additional support for those that need it, but no parent helpers etc. All the children in the same group work on the same reader. They are very interesting, but they are deliberately written readers. he children also take home a library book, and in DS's case an additional reader to ensure that they are able to transfer their skills. By the time they take their class readers home (usually once a week, more sometimes), they should be able to read them EASILY and FLUIDLY, so no need for parents to teach their kids at all, the onus being on the school to teach the kids to read.
The teacher does not listen 1-1, but she hears every individual read. Apparently peer support is a very useful method because it helps them to learn more readily.

I have probably described it badly, but it certainly seems to work, and leaves the TA's to support those who REALLY need extra support, for a good amount of time (sometimes 30+mins of 1-1)... and as I said, any child seen to be struggling will be supported, and the teachers know what to look out for!

In my children's school they do group reading in class and have a reading book to bring home once a week (over the weekend) in reception. In Years 1&2 they have a reading book home twice a week (books are changed on Mondays and Fridays, which is when they read to a teacher/TA).

The levels/schemes that they are on in school have little bearing on what we read at home though, we have a trip to the library at least once a fortnight and they choose lots of different books which both stretch their reading skills and, most importantly, they enjoy! I mean lovely as Biff and bloody Chip are, there is only so much of it you can read without losing the will to live... My DC treat their school reading as "homework", and once that is out of the way they get on with reading the stuff that they want to!

well, ds' first reading book from school took 30 seconds to read - so much for 'we spend several weeks understanding what they know before giving books out to suit theikr level of ability'. So glad that he has loads of books/adores reading anyway - no credit to that "outstanding" dump

DC's school has guided reading in a group once a week. Books are supposed to be changed once a week, although DS went weeks without changing books in Reception and Year 1. I am not particularly bothered by this because I read with my DC every evening. If my DD (Reception) is confidently reading her book before the changeoevr day, I give her another one from our extensive collection of Bif and Chip. DC's school has a policy of not allowing parents to help in school with reading, so teachers don't have time to do more than one guided group session per week. IMO it is the children with parents who can't or won't read with them regularly who will struggle.

DS is also in reception and is heard read once a week. They also do guided reading once a week in a group as well. I was actually thinking this wasn't enough but after seeing some of the schools on this thread I actually think ours isn't too bad now!

I offered to go into school and help in the classroom with reading etc but they don't allow us to go into our childs year which is fair enough I suppose so I thought if I went into Y1 or Y2 (its an infant school) it would free up another parent helper in those years to go into Reception but apparently they can't do that either so y1/y2 have loads of helpers but reception don't which is daft imo.

i actually don't think it such a good use f classroom time for promtng literacy - 5 minutes of lesson per child, the other 55 mins spent playing/ drawing

You are supposed to hear your child read yourself every night, you know!

Group, or guided reading sessions are like a driving lesson. You have one of those once a week or so with the teacher, then you practice with your dad. Or, in the case or reading, with a TA or a parent volunteer. And at home in the evening.

It is not effective use of a teacher's time to hear 1 to 1 reading.

I hate to say it, but the facts are that schools are underfunded and can't afford the staff to give the children one-to-one reading time. It's nothing new.

My mum knew it in the 80s so she volunteered in each of me and my sisters classes, listening to children read, until we reached secondary school.

I know not everyone has the time to commit to this (work etc...) but do you put your kids to bed at night? Could you get some books from the library and let them read to you for 20 minutes each night?

I think it's much more effective than reading your child a bedtime story. When I read to DS he messes about and doesn't settle well. When he reads to me he sits still and concentrates and makes for a much easier bedtime as a bonus

DD used to get quite a lot of one-on-one reading sessions in recep/yr1 , nearly always with the TA, usually outside the classroom so it was quiet.

If there are 25 children in a class it would take over 6 hours to hear each child read individually. How many people would be happy if their child didn't have a teacher for the equivalent of a day a week because he or she was hearing reading. That's what volunteers and parenst are for!

Gracie, when I was at school there were no TA's just one teacher to 32 kids. Seems loads better now to me in terms of staff/ pupil ratios.

I'm also thinking about it more, I know most mums nowadays work, but classes are HUGE. I can't believe that out of 35 kids there are no SAHM who are willing to volunteer to hear reading now and then.

Maybe the parents could get together and start a rota?

Not much experience there I'm afraid as we work in a public school, but my sister teaches at a state school and I know her average class size is well over 30. There must be some SAHM's in there?

Smee - that's because back in the day we didn't recognise things like dyslexia/dyspraxia/asperges very often and didn't give those kids the extra help. We have more staff now (AFAIA) to help cover when those kids need one to one time. Unfortunately it means the kids who are doing well don't get so much.

If you or your partner read her stories and listen to her read every day then I'm sure she will be fine. For those with younger children, reading to them every day is also important - have a look at the research on the Sutton Trust website for impact of daily reading to a child at age 3 with attainment at foundation stage (in all areas of the curriculum, not just literacy).

I think it's one of the easiest and most enjoyable things you can do as a parent - my son was racing through Harry Potter at seven. That small effort early on means you don't have to play catch up later and frees up the teachers for those that need extra help - pupils of parents that don't speak English or children with learning difficulties. BTW my son was at an inner London state primary, 30 children from 4 - 6 in the class, he was one of the youngest (they mixed up reception and Y1) when he learnt to read.

I agree Gracie, lots were left behind. But from my very limited experience of DS's school they all get lots of help - we're only year 1 but it seems to be working well for us.

That's great Smee, but unfortunately schools are a bit of a lottery. There are some really good ones, and some really rubbish ones, and everything in between from what I can tell.

We have talked about HE, and about privately educating (we get a big discount because of DH job - still not sure we can afford it though!) but have decided ultimately it depends massively on where we live and what state schools are available in the area.

As you say, there are some really good ones (I went to a state school where there were only 5 children in my year and 12 in my combined with the year above class) and I would resent paying a couple of thousand pounds a year for something that is available for free down the road.

I think what the OP wanted was a bench mark to check her DCs school against. I think it's perfectly reasonable to be considering privately educating if you don't think the state school you live near is very good. I just don't think all private schools are much better, so definitely worth looking into critically before spending out your money.

(Don't get me wrong, obviously the school DH works in is worth every penny )