schooling

[gfrancie]

I have a question for those who live in the UK and have children who have recently been in year one at school. (let's say the past... five years) What is the curriculum like? What might a typical day be like for the kids? I ask because my Mother inlaw had these concerns that somehow Senor Onion might be behind when he starts school. Right now he is in preschool. (since he was four when the school year began) I think preschool is like the reception year fromm what I am able to gather. Now from my perspective, it seems like year one is like Kindergarten in the United States. Obviously more structure than preschool (he is in a play-based learning co-op) but probably not SUPER hard-core academics.

Any other thoughts/opinions would be appreciated.

Comments

[land-girl.livejournal.com]

Reception - the year that they start, aged 4 - will be learning through play. Year 1 will be a little more structured, and Year 2, a little more than that.

What may be significant is the size of the school. In a small school you may have two year groups in one class, which could work in your favour - if Senor Onion is struggling a little bit, he can spend a bit more time playing and a little less doing structured work. But my experience is that the early years stuff is very fluid these days, and the kids move about seamlessly from a work table to a play area without even realizing. Things have changed even in the last 5 years and somebody's experience today is likely to be very different from mine 5 years ago, if that makes sense. No super hard-core academics these days, not in the state system, anyway.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

This is useful information, so I am thankful. I figured I should be able to kind of give my own kid, heads up on what to expect. He is like me and wants to know what may happen. The plan is to send him to whatever the local school is.

[land-girl.livejournal.com]

Sending to the local school is a good plan. You may consider, though, that people often choose the school first and then the house. Some people judge schools on results/league tables; others on ofsted reports. For me it's the feeling I get when I walk through the door. Ask your family to put out feelers and come up with some local, friendly schools; send for prospectuses; look on their websites. Write to the heads. You may not be able to walk through the door physically but you can be asking questions from there :-)

There will be huge differences between local schools: size, results, atmosphere, relationship with the community. I think that in the US, the education of young children may be more streamlined. I totally go along with what you say about sending him to the local school but once in a blue moon somebody finds that it simply isn't the right place for their child (it happened to us with Rosie) so it is worth doing some homework first :-)

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

If things go to plan, we will likely be living in the village my brother and sister inlaw live in. (though they are moving) And they have had good things to say about the primary school there. (It would be the same one my husband and his brothers went to) Their feelings about the school has been very positive (especially compared to one of the other schools my nephew attended prior to moving to that village)

This is definitely a tiny local school. I say this as someone who grew up in a small town where there was only one public school for miles around)

[land-girl.livejournal.com]

Sounds good :-)

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

I did have a glance at the ofsted report (which doesn't really mean much in some ways) and one thing that stood out (that I thought was a good sign) was the fact that parents and teacher said there was a strong sense of community (which they liked a lot) and that children and parents felt safe. The school is good but not great when it comes to academics (which is about what I would expect in a very small rural school) BUT if there is a sense of community/inclusiveness/communication, that gives me a lot of comfort.

[hartleyhare.livejournal.com]

Yes, this - lots of play-based learning and experiment-based learning. SH is in Year Two, and they've done projects on lighthouses, vehicles and the Great Fire of London, with lots of writing, art, reading etc along the way. They're going to the fire station on Thursday, and have done trips to castles, farms and the local bakery.

They will do phonics as a whole class, with small-group work for children of similar abilities. They'll also have individual reading books and will probably bring these home. (One thing you could do is find out which reading scheme they use, and see ifyou can work out where Senor Onion would be starting). Number work similar - in SH's class they are in small groups for literacy and numeracy.

The Mumsnet website has a lot if stuff about primary ed and individual schools - might be worth a look!

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

this sounds like a lot of what I would expect for that age group. I had a look at mumsnet which had some good advice/information. (though it seems half of the parents on there have very very precocious brilliant children who are BORED in class which made me laugh)

[actually-not.livejournal.com]

My sister in law teaches year 3 but could probably tell you what you need to know about english schooling. My mum used to teach the same year and is still close to various colleagues although she retired a few years ago. Can introduce you both on FB if you like. They are even lovelier than I am ;)

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

May well do.
I feel a bit out of my element because I am facing something unknown and Mr. Jenner seems to have no memory of his early schooling whereas I can recall all sorts of distinct details from my first year of school. I can even draw a lay-out of what the classroom looked like.

[actually-not.livejournal.com]

yeah, I could tell you exactly what my year one was like but I imagine things have moved on a little in 35 years. I'll hook you up.

[far-gone.livejournal.com]

From what I understand, the big diff of english vs some of the other systems is that they start to learn reading earlier (certainly earlier than the french system). Maybe someone in the system can throw more light on that - I don't know if your guy is already tackling that in preschool?

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Right now it is pretty simple stuff. Discussion of letters, reading of stories. They aren't concentrating on phonics. Some kids are picking out simple words. Senor onion does that kind of thing. Along with simple math. Like the other day he was poiting out that if you take 3 away from 5, you have 2.
I am curious why the English system is so keen to have them learning to read so early? Because everything I have read (and OH MY I have read a lot in the past few years) is that learning to read early is not an indictator of long-term academic success. It seems like a slightly ... out-dated notion.

Honestly the Finnish model looks more appealing day by day.

[needlediva.livejournal.com]

(you know if it were me i would be inclined to run away to the woods, live in a hollow tree trunk, and make sure you were really good at identifying mushrooms and berries. but that is me.)

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Well yeah. That sounds like fun too.

[the-sybil.livejournal.com]

Would you like me to try and put you in touch with my friend Joyce (who I've mentioned to you before) who lives near your in-laws? Her kids are still in the school system, in fact I think her youngest is only a little older than Senor Onion. She also used to teach primary school - maybe even still does, we have had little contact other than Christmas cards these last few years - so she might be able to give you some more in-depth answers to your questions.

Unfortunately I don't have an email address for her, but as far as I know the phone# I have is up to date and I can try and call her, and ask if I can pass on her contact details to you.

[oreouk.livejournal.com]

By year 1 they are doing a bit of numeracy and a bit of literacy every day. In A2's school they started having weekly spelling tests about half way through the year, but all simple 2 and 3 letter words. She also brought home 2 reading books a week for her to read to us and for us to sign off to say she had done so. I can't recall if that started at the beginning of the year or cut in after Christmas. Still a lot of learning through play and fun project work and so on, nothing too challenging! It does depend on the school, but on the other hand the teachers that push the children more tend to be the ones that have the skills to get the kids to where they want them to be.

From what you've said about Senor Onion I wouldn't expect him to have any difficulties.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Ah okay. This is good information.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Reception - "rising 5s" - looks like what your preschool is. In reception, YB did phonics, letter and sound recognition, learning how to hold a pencil and how to shape letters, simple number work (ordering, shapes, size), loads of indoor and outdoor play, art, construction, sand and water play, occasional baking. After 4 years of nursery he took a while to adjust to the structure, but he managed. The children brought home a book each evening, starting with story books with no words, so they learnt about narrative order (not everyone will have been brought up reading stories at home, sadly). They also had some words to learn to read and write.

Year 1 had more structure again. Numeracy every day, literacy every day, the start of science, learning to link letters (joined-up writing at 6!) Numeracy was number lines and number bonds, sets, 2d and 2d shapes, adding and subtracting with numbers up to 10. Books had more words, there was whole-word learning and spelling tests. Making simple circuits!

What has impressed me through YB's education so far is what he's learning at his age that I didn't come across till secondary. I didn't do percentages, for instance, till secondary school. He understands what % is at its basic level. He is learning about vertices and points and corners. I don't think the word vertex was ever mentioned in my education.

The local village school sounds great - I would highly recommend mine, but obv it's a long way from where you're moving to!

[kitschycookids.livejournal.com]

I've also been surprised by what they are teaching them mathematically! Looking through his work at parent's evening they were making different types of graphs and calculating percentages off them... I definitely didn't do that at six.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, graphs! Eye colour's a popular one. By Y2 it was things like who had a tv in their room...

[kitschycookids.livejournal.com]

Yep, we had an eye colour one too. DO NOT WANT tv in bedroom poll.

[k425.livejournal.com]

More didn't than did, and YB hasn't mentioned it, other than stating who had one!

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

This sounds like something he could handle without much of a problem. Obv. some of it will challenge him (as it should) but he won't be behind.

[kitschycookids.livejournal.com]

Different slightly because we're in Scotland not England, but I had this conversation with my SIL last week! Jamie started primary 1 last year when he was almost 5 (one of the middle to younger children), Maia will start P1 this year as a 5yo (one of the older children); Scotland doesn't have a reception year so it's straight into 5.5 hour days. My niece starts kindergarden in Boston this year as a nearly 6yo, and my SIL was saying that there was an expectation (at her middle class suburban school anyway) that the kids should be able to read / write before they get to school. I was surprised by this, as most of the kids starting school here aren't able to read yet and the school seems to be happy if they come with some letter / number recognition and the ability to write their own name. Maybe one factor is that the MA kindergarden intake is fairly old though? My nephew in VA started kindergarden this year as a just-4yo, and I know for fact that he doesn't read or write.

As far as the day / year schedule, our school's first year seemed very phonics intensive. They did do a lot of playing as part of their day-to-day, but each week they concentrated on a letter from the alphabet (recognising / pronouncing / writing / signing) and they drilled that both at school and through homework flashcards. After all the single letters were done, they did the same for common sounds and this is still ongoing in P2. They're also drilling them on common words, reinforced by reading books based on those words over and over and building on them through-out the year. I was actually surprised by the amount of homework they get. From term two they had flashcards, literacy games, reading books and a workbook that needed completed every week. Numeracy was much the same but less intense, just repetition-based learning of addition and subtraction.

Based on our experiences and speaking to other mums, P1 is pretty intense in foundation-building but they do seem to start from scratch. There are also six ability groups within both literacy and numeracy times so they are learning in small groups and at different paces. I wouldn't worry that Senor Onion will be behind :)

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

I was reading about the Scottish system yesterday and how it differs. It makes me think of different states in the US. Some allow children to start kindergarten at 4 if they are capable and other states have strict rules for when children begin. When I was in school, if you could pass a test, you could begin kindergarten early (if your birthday was in Sept/Oct) and I know there was some concern that people were pushing their kids to start early because of issues with childcare. Of course there ended up with issues of some children needing to do kindergarten twice because of socialization issues.

[keirf.livejournal.com]

Calculus, matrix algebra, a bit of Shakespeare and Dickens, Keynsian economic theory, and some Special Relativity. Easy stuff, just to ease them into a formal academic setting.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

So stuff that is really for toddlers. Pah... poor child, He needs to be challenged. Not coddled.