Moving KS

[candyfloss89]

I finished my ECT last year, have I've moved to ks1 this year (was uks2 last year) and omg I am questioning my life choices. They are loud. Everything takes ages. They can't follow instructions. Everything feels completely chaotic and like I'm constantly playing catch up. There's so much marking, obviously not long passages of text like in uks2, but they can't live mark yet (we'd be there forever.) I've got a ta who is great but new to the phase as well and I can't even figure out what I need to do never mind delegate stuff to her. Obviously I now don't get my ECT time now which very much acted as a pressure valve for my challenging class last year. I keep telling myself it's only week 1 and they are only little so won't be able to follow multi step instructions like older kids can, but I'm just feeling so drained and like I'm really not cut out for it. I didn't ask to move and have felt apprehensive about it (I did a KS1 placement when training and wasn't too keen) but never thought I'd feel so overwhelmed. People who have done a similar move, does it get easier?! Please tell me it does because I am so stressed at the mo and don't know how I will cope with a whole year of this 😢

Are they Year 1 or 2?

If Year 2, they will have had some experience of KS1 expectations and it's hopefully just settling back into a new routine and getting use to a new teacher which is causing the teething problems.

If they're Year 1, you need to strip it right back and remember that this is a completely new way of learning for them. They've been used to choosing in the continuous provision while the teacher works with small groups. They're not use to everyone working on the same job at once, having to wait for you attention if they need help or when they have finished etc. You will need to go right back to basics and train them.

It's unfortunate they've put a newish teacher in a new Key Stage with a TA who is also learning that year group as it can feel like the blind leading the blind, rather than having an experienced KS1 TA who can bring you up to speed with routines etc. You will both get there though, learning on the job together.

It's early days. It will get better, once you've had time to make your rules and expectations clear. Don't be afraid to come down hard and be bad cop for a while if you need to. Young children like to know where they stand and how far they can push it. If you give them an inch now they'll take a mile. They'll respect you a lot more if they know from the start what is acceptable and what isn't (such as volume control), be clear right from the off what is and isn't ok in your classroom.

Good luck

As above it's early days and will get better in terms of their following instructions. It might not be the year group for you and that's fine but I wouldn't judge it on the first week or two, hard though that is.

I always use live marking to mean the teacher marking in the classroom whilst children work. Do you mean peer or self marking? Not trying to diminish your challenges I'm just surprised marking is one of the main ones as it generally is quicker in KS1, esp if you tick and flick during the lesson. Do you get the children to hand in their books open at the right page? That also saves a tiny bit of time.

Can you really pare things back for now? Do less and do it better, my old head used to say. I've come to realise that no one has ever picked me up for a lack of work in books but they have for behaviour (when I was new to teaching) so it really is worth focusing on calm routines over getting stuff done in the first half term.