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Got a meeting with DS's reception class teacher - what should I ask/expect?

4 replies

SarahR1 · 05/05/2014 18:49

Hello all,
My son is 5 and in Reception. He has always been smart, but it's only now that I've started to realise how different he is and what it all means. His school are pretty good - they started him off with an appropriate reading book for his level and after I told them he was bored in maths they started sending him up to year 2 for maths a couple of times a week. Just before Easter his teacher came out of class to show me a SATS test he did (just for fun!) where he passed with a 2b. He enjoys this maths, but I don't think he's fully challenged, plus now he's definitely bored with most of the other work they do in school. He needs to be challenged to be happy, and happiness is all I want for him!
So I have a meeting on Thursday, and I need to come up with a plan. I'm going to ask for a copy of their g&t policy, plus I want to know if they have a g&t specialist in school (I doubt it) and if there are any other children like him in his year (it's 4 classes, a big school). I want to ask her to challenge him more in other areas, but I'm not sure what my expectations of the school should be. I'm also worrying about him socially of course.
Has anyone else been in the same position? Just not sure what I should expect from them.
Thanks for your time!
Sarah

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tricot39 · 05/05/2014 19:05

There are a variety of Early Learning Goals in the EYFS curriculum. Ask how they think he is getting on against all of those to get an idea of his strengths and weaknesses. It will give you an overall impression on how he is getting on and it may be that you can ignore some of the areas that he excels in for a while to bring him up to speed on other areas. We do very little academic work with DS but are keen to help him with social skills/development as early intervention in this area should make his life easier later on. Hopefully someone else will be along shortly with advice on the academic side that you asked about. Good luck

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SarahR1 · 05/05/2014 20:47

Thanks that is a great reminder, as I am very keen to help him be more of an all-rounder. I'm always trying to get him to be creative at home! From what they've said he's ready for year 2 work in literacy, he's certainly passed the EYFS. I'll ask about the other areas, they never seem to mention them.

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inthesark · 06/05/2014 09:22

I think if they were worried about other issues, they would bring them up.

For us at that stage, the thing we concentrated on was getting DD used to the idea of challenge overall. In her case, her co-ordination wasn't so great, so we focused on that, to give her the experience of really having to work at something.

But even so, I do totally know what you mean about needing to be challenged to be happy (DD was a vile door-slamming teen when she wasn't challenged in Yr!). We did find that two or three pull-outs a week were enough to keep her on track, but you'll just need to keep an eye on him and see what works for him as they all have very different needs.

In terms of what you should expect, some schools are really good at this, others aren't. From what you've said so far, yours seems to be fairly on the ball and are doing quite a bit. But you might also find Potential Plus helpful - have a look at their website and perhaps even give them a ring?

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SarahR1 · 06/05/2014 16:02

yes, I do feel he needs practice at having to work at something, and I can't see that happening at school, I'll bring that up. At some point there will be an academic subject that is hard for him and I don't think he'd cope well with that. I do wish they would reward trying rather than acheiving, but I guess that isn't the way schools are set up.
Thanks for your help!

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