DD is lying about what she is reading - should I do anything?

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

I had to sign DD's reading log yesterday (she is year 7) and I noticed that she is understating by a vast amount what she is reading - claiming to have read only 30 pages a week when she actually reads four or five books a week. Apparently this is out of embarrassment in case people think she is a geek. I know it is trivial and as long as she appears to have done the minimum required the teacher doesn't need to know she has actually done much more, but is it the thin end of the wedge? She is very conscientous about her homework and seems to be doing really well, but is obviously worried about appearing too keen. I worry she is going to be sucked into this culture where it is uncool to do well at school.
Should I do anything or just let it go?

aw that is a shame

probably a good social skill though it would make me sad for her - see how it goes, she might gravitate towards more studious friends and become more comfortable with who she is. is this something you could facilitate for her?

It can be very difficult when they move up to senior school, and there's a lot of pressure to fit in. But there's no automatic reason to worry that she will drop her own standards - chances are, she'll just keep quiet about things like that till she gets a circle of friends who she can be herself with a bit more. Also, when they start putting them into ability sets she'll see the "norm" as being much closer to her real behaviour and stop feeling so self-conscious about it.

Just make sure she has good enough self-esteem to not be pushed into too much "conforming".

I spent the first couple of years of secondary "keeping my head down", as being seen to be too clever or too keen were things which got you negative attention from people who were struggling themselves or had already lost interest in trying. But it didn't stop me working hard or doing well, and I could be more "out" about it when we got further through school and I spent less time with people who had a problem with it.

I think the school is uncool trend is sadly very common.
I heard Malorie Blackman saying on the rasdio that when she does readings in school she is always disheartened about how little importance the students give study/literature.
I know my neice who is 9 told me she doesn't put her hand up in class because it's not 'cool'.
If it were me I'd see this as the thin end of the wedge and make sure your dd is never made to feel ashamed.

Do they start streaming at the school in the future? She might feel more comfortable once she is with a group of peers of similar ability - she won't stand out so much iyswim.

I think that one of the main things we can do as parents is to try to build confidence - when I was at school I didn't feel very confident and certainly wasn't viewed as cool - but there plenty of girls in my year who were just as able but were cool - I think because they were more confident.

Make sure your dd knows you think she is beautiful, has nice clothes to wear, etc. My parents were good at praising for academic achievement but not in other areas...

No GM, at this school they stream for Maths and Science but NOT English - something which parents have complained about for years. The fact that DD is not concerned about being seen to do well in Maths or Science is possibly not unconnected to this.
She has gone up to secondary with a good group of friends from her primary school, but I think her key friends are not in this particular subject with her - perhaps that is the problem. She is in the top set in Maths, but there are a couple of real whizz kids in that set as well who are looked up to. The thing is, when it comes to reading she IS the whizz-kid, and probably feels a bit exposed. But she has joined the netball club and the school band so hopefully will make a variety of friends.
And GM - I take your point and she IS beautiful.

Do they start setting in English later?

ds1 is also in yr7 and not set for anythingh yet. But I believe they set for all core subjects after Christmas. His particular strength is English - he's an avid reader and a keen author. So far he hasn't been especially inspired by English at secondary, in the way he has in Maths, Science, MFL, Humanities ... I'm not sure yet what that's down to.

Fortunately in the school there seems to be a real culture of it's cool to be clever and students want to achieve highly, so he doesn't feel the need to hide his abilities.

Roisin - in this school they never set in English at all - even in Year 11. People have complained and complained but the school won't change.

That's a real shame LGP - my dd is also Yr7 and she has recently been selected to join a stretch English group. They are getting to do really cool things within this group - got to interview an author when they had book week recently and are doing something linked with the BBC after Christmas. She was really chuffed to be chosen to take part (whereas I was quietly worrying that she might get some flack from her classmates!)

I'm am really proud of my dd - always totally amazed at how confident she is in comparison to me at that age!

She has a reading record in year 7??? Way to treat their pupils like morons!!! My DS would have refused to complete it and I'd have agreed. They're for infants, not secondary schoolers!

There is a pic of her on my profile GM - despite this hiccup, she is becoming really confident and enjoying secondary school immensely.

As an English teacher, I struggle to see how on earth they manage to address individual pupil needs if they refuse to set in English. I would be writing letters every other week to this effect! Or at least requesting that she be able to move English group, so that she is with at least a few like-minded people.

Re: the reading, this "anti-boffin" culture is so entrenched in so many schools: and teachers and the hard-working pupils spend so much time and energy fighting against it. I don't blame the schools at all; I blame the parents of the pupils that laugh at those who are deemd to be "try hards" - it makes my blood boil.

I think the fact that sh is still reading at home, even if she's not shouting about it at school, and that she's still doing all of her work so well, means you've got nothing to worry about on that score though.

Trafficcone - I think it's quite common but not used in the same way as at primary (I don't think anyone listens to them read iyswim)

No setting at all LadyGlencoraPalliser? Is it a selective school? At my school we have a few students who do an adult literacy course rather than English GCSE. Those that do GCSE range in abilities (results) from G to A*.

Surely no-one could teach such a wide ability! Even our top-sets have a challengingly wide range of ability to make teaching/planning difficult - students varying from 'unmotivated, not terribly bright, got to keep pushing them for them to scrape a C' to 'super-bright an A standing on their heads, A* with a bit of work'.

I've checked our school's website and it says that they too teach in mixed-ability groups until Yr 10 but with extra help for anyone struggling and the stretch classes I already mentioned

I don't think it is really something to worry about too much. Even at single sex selective independent schools girls are careful not to seem too geeky. The thing is she IS reading. And is savvy enough to play it down.

Reading is a subversive activity. I was (and am) a prolific reader at school and I never told the truth in my log. Not when I got told off for taking out "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" as my first school library book in Y7.

No setting in English is a bit Sounds like the Head of Dept has a bee in bonnet. Hope s/he is near retirement....? Probably is if s/he has that much power over school policy.

She will find a kindred spirit soon enough, and that is all she needs. She can "fit in" with all the other kids as much as she likes. I'd say too soon to worry.

Interesting, but not surprising, that this school is in a minority in not setting. It is a very average comprehensive, their last 5 A*-C including English and Maths result was 42% which is below average, but they don't seem at all bothered by this, or act like there is anything to improve.
Personally, I feel bad for my high-achieving daughter, but if I had a child who was struggling in English I would feel even worse as there is no chance of getting appropriately targeted teaching in those mixed ability groups.
MrsGBoring - You are spookily correct in your assumption. I tackled the headmaster directly about this and he completely abrogated responsibility and said he couldn't go against the HOD.
At GCSE, they get to choose between English Literature and English with Media Studies so there is an element of self-selection there I suppose.

What about that MNer who posted about her daughter's school that doesn't 'do' English for a whole year?
It's a disgrace.

DS's school set from the beginning, they did CAT's tests when they were still in yr6 but they are the only school that I know of that did.I don't get the impression being clever is not cool. DS (yr8) has actually started reading since he has gone there. He never read novels at all and since August he has become a little bookworm.

They had a reading record in YR7 and give out certificates for reading the most books and a a lovely award at prize giving for the child who "makes best use of the library"

They also have a book swap box in the form room.
DS's english teacher also gives out merits if they have a reading book with them and sets part of a lesson aside once a week for reading whatever they want to.

I went to a fairly good comprehensive which didn't set in English (of course this was years ago). I think I would have preferred it if they had but it never stopped me reading.

We never had a reading log and I'm not sure that what I was reading would have met with official approval on a reading log - some would have been ok but I remember in the last year of middle school (12/13 and I was at the young end of the year) one of my friends brought in her dad's Jackie Collins/Harold Robbins books which went round the class.

If this is the daughter who is looking for romantic fiction recommendations - more like Flambards - she's reading enthusiastically and that's the main thing. If school says to you that she should be reading more you can say, well actually... and discuss the issue with them, but it doesn't sound like she's gone off reading.

Thank you Elkiedee. She is indeed the Flambards girl. She hasn't gone off reading at all, and I'm not really worried that she will, just that she feels the need to conceal how much she does read.
I used to read my Dad's Harold Robbins when he wasn't around - The Pirate was a particular eyeopener. I don't think I would have put them on my reading log either.
But just in the past couple of weeks she has read the Emily of New Moon series as well as Flambards, Anne Frank's Diary and a few old favourites that she rereads a lot, Trebizon, Roman Mysteries etc - and not a single one was mentioned in her reading log, which she had doctored to make it look like she had been reading a single Eva Ibbotson book for the past six weeks. I think it just makes me worry that this is the culture of the school, it is a maths and science specialist school and the teaching in those subjects is excellent but English is clearly a poor relation. Oh well, as you say, the main thing is that she IS reading even if the teacher doesn't know it.

Sounds like the school is at fault. Not setting in English sounds a bad idea, and to me making 12-year-olds keep a reading record doesn't sound all that brilliant either.

My main concern would be that the teaching she is getting may well be substandard, if English is seen as less important.

But as for the miserable school/classmates ethos affecting her own reading- I doubt it. Sounds like she is well and truly addicted. My school was like this, and I still read and read and read. Once you are hooked, it's an incredibly difficult habit to kick

DS's school has science/technology status and it is very successful in english, with the best results of all the local schools. So science maths status is not an excuse for the school not to encourage english.