Need advice....

[Aniee]

Hello everyone

I have just joined today, so i'm really sorry if this is not the sort of thing you discuss.

I have today in DD school found a list of all the children in Year 1 divided into 4 groups, groups 1 and 2 under the heading high ability and groups 3 and 4 under the heading low ability. My DD is in group 3.

Firstly i was shocked that DD is in group 3 as at every parents evening i have been told she is doing really well! Secondly i am concerned that this is now common knowledge!

What should i do? I spoke to DD who knows nothing about this list and how it got into her bag. Surely the school is breaking data protection laws?

Please advise..

Many thanks

Aniee

I would imagine that there will be a very embarrassed teacher who realises that this list has been circulated...

I was planning to go and see the Headteacher in a couple of weeks as i have been considering moving schools because she doesn't seem to be progressing, maybe i should mention this aswell?

they probubly think she is trying hard and working well for her abilitythe level that sheis at will be the level 3 i wouldnt worry too much she is obviosly trying hard incourage her alot and im sure with alot of hard work she will improve not all kids are acodemic maybe her talentslie in art?music ? practical things?

I know she doesn't enjoy phonics, is there anything that recommended to really help? I seem to be buying no end of workbooks but she's never that bothered after the first couple of pages?

The list of groups in DS's Year 1 class is openly displayed on the wall. They are all named after colours but it is blatantly obvious which is the highest and which is the lowest group.

If the children have been split by current attainment in the class then being in Group 3 is not necessarily a bad thing. For example in "top group" in DS's class the children are ALL free reading which is way above what would be "expected" for a Y1 child.

The teacher has probably said she is doing well because she is working at or above the level expected for Year 1 and is making good progress. Talk to the teacher is you are worried but if you had no concerns before then I wouldn't let her "position" in the class bother you too much.

All children re graded in school, teachers have to keep track on how they are doing.

I don't like the terms higher and lower ability but of course there are differences between every child.

The list should never have seen the light of day. Someones really mucked up there.

Hand is back to the teacher.

My dd is in blue group. Shes very upset as she wanted to be in pink [naturally]

are graded

[dodgy A emoticon]

this is a helpful thread re phonics.. ignore the title though!

As Redskyatnight has said, I wouldn't be too worried about her being in group 3. My DS has 4 groups in his class. The top two groups are all free readers and we've been told at the last parent's evening that he is beyond what would be expected at the end of next year for reading and maths.

Obviously we are happy with this but that doesn't mean that group 3 and 4 aren't achieving or would achieve better elsewhere. It just might mean that groups 3 and 4 are exactly on target for Year 1.

As for the workbooks I wouldn't bother. Home is for fun. DS gets homework each week in Reading, writing and maths but its not compulsory and some weeks we don't do all of it. Although strangely he has asked for the Letts Fun Farmyard Handwriting book this week.

How much reading homework does she get?

Otoh you are right to be shocked that such an obviously graded list was on public view.

Otoh you do need to learn not to be shocked if it turns out that your dd simply needs to work at a slightly lower level than some of the other children. It doesn't necessarily mean either she or the teachers are failing in anyway. It might simply mean either that the other children are earlier developers or that they are, quite frankly, brighter. My ds was put in the bottom set, which reflected his abilities at the time: he has now moved up to the second from the bottom (4 out of 5). I know perfectly well what the teacher means when she says he is doing really well: it means he is making good progress for him. The fact that it wouldn't be good progress for his mate is neither here not there.