Last day of term we had an open after noon in school.
This means that parents can go into classs and see their children's books and work.
I have had my concerns this year that the teachers my son (in Y2)has have little individual contact with the children and don't appear to know what level they are at and if they are improving etc. The groups they enter the year in are those they live the year in.
They never read with the children themselves but teachers here have reassured me that they will be assessing as the year goes through etc.
Two things happened at the open afternoon:
- I looked at my son's books. All comments were written in the same pen, in the same handwriting. Unusual . On one page DS had tyo write a list of things he liked about himself. One point he had made was that he liked to kick his younger brother's butt. No, I wasn't pleased to see that. He doesn't talk like that at home. Worse still the work had been marked with some inane comment about capitals or some rubbish
- I asked about DS's reading grade for his report. He had been given a 2c but reads really well despite being on much lower level books. I was told he has trouble with inferences (perhaps because he has been undergoing ASD assessment). I was about to leave it at that when the teacher said how she was going to assess him in a particular way for SATS but this meant he wouldn't be able to get a 3 although he is capable of that.
Right, now I'm thinking, what are these teachers talking about? There appears to be little in the way of continuous assessment, abdicate responsibility to SATS. Lots of the work was unfinished and friends noticed similar things too - half coloured in writing, pieces where the child had just about managed to write down the WALT and done nothing else.
Oh and unlined books so writing is all over the place.
Tell me this isn't normal practice and that there are better schools out there??