Homework for 5 year olds

Mrs_pbradley936

FenellaWitch wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, having been out of the education system for 20 plus years (and I never had tests at primary level) but are these levels that children should achieve for the schools benefit or for benefit of the child ? Much as I would love my child to achieve the highest level possible, I will certainly not be putting pressure on him to do so. I will continue to carry on as I am until the end of year unless the teacher informs me that he needs extra help.

We all have hopes and aspirations for our children but it is up to them to have their own hopes and aspirations. At present my sons only hopes are that he will get some chocolate and he can go and see grandad and his aspiration is to be a superhero - because he is 5!!

It is to assess the National Curriculum. We have the National Curriculum which was brought in because the "loony left" were not teaching anything at all. It was introduced so that children would be prescribed a broad education and all schools (apart from fee paying) in England and Wales have to follow it.

The National Curriculum needs to be tweaked so that teachers are allowed to use their professional judgement. By that I mean that if a teacher decides that a child would benefit from more reinforcement and repetition on a given topic then they can give it rather than move onward or upward with those that are not ready.

Moving onward before the child is ready is why we have children forced to confront geometry and algebra before they have fully mastered the basics.

Jagraf

Of course the school gets judged on outcomes of the children! We could go back to non-accountability but although far from ideal, at least we have a system to look at progress.

Gcse results also affect school reputation. Should we allow schools to not have an academic system at all?

FenellaWitch

Actually Lil Elvis, now you come to mention it , I do remember being tested in English, maths and IQ but when I was at school , primary education was divided into infants (5-7) and junior (8-11). I was tested at the junior phase but cannot remember it at all at infant stage.

Nicki , thanks for that. I assume then, if a teacher states a child is where he should be at for his school year then one should not be too concerned.

Jagraf

ViolaLass wrote: »

These levels that 'must' be achieved are based on statistics that look at the whole population. It does NOT follow that a child not getting level 2 in KS1 will not do well later on, they are just statistically speaking, less likely to do so (but lots of other things make a difference too). Pushing them at KS1 may or may not be the answer - if their understanding is not solid but they 'get the grade' then no good has been done.

The tests are for the sake of the school, not the child. The teacher should already know how that child is doing (and tests on one day do not necessarily reflect what a child is or isn't capable of). The tests are to judge the school, NOT the child.

How a child is "doing"? What is that based on? Surely averages / assessments etc?

Nicki

Doing an hour a day every day of the week homework with a 5 year old is certainly pushing them too hard and if the OP genuinely finds it takes this long then she should speak to the teacher.

I struggle though with the concept that reinforcing my 6 year olds classroom learning by having him read to me 3 times a week and doing one maths and one English worksheet over a weekend is unduly taxing, pressurising, or that any improvement this makes to his learning will not stand him in good stead.

But homework in primary school is a subject on which opinions are polarised! Has been the case since my son who is now doing GCSEs was in reception and will no doubt continue to be so for time immemorial ��

ViolaLass

Jagraf wrote: »

How a child is "doing"? What is that based on? Surely averages / assessments etc?

Ongoing formal and informal assessment, not one test on one day.

[Deleted User]

Wimps - my 6 year old has a weekly maths homework, a weekly spelling test to prepare for, daily reading and weekly ancient Hebrew. They had a similar workload in year 1.

We never spend more than 30 minutes a night doing these. Might have to get him to learn an instrument on top of this lot soon.

He's not a big fan of the Hebrew, but loves reading and will often spent 30 minutes reading on his own before bed.

missbiggles1

FenellaWitch wrote: »

Actually Lil Elvis, now you come to mention it , I do remember being tested in English, maths and IQ but when I was at school , primary education was divided into infants (5-7) and junior (8-11). I was tested at the junior phase but cannot remember it at all at infant stage.

Nicki , thanks for that. I assume then, if a teacher states a child is where he should be at for his school year then one should not be too concerned.

That rather depends on the teacher's standards and expectations.

ViolaLass

missbiggles1 wrote: »

That rather depends on the teacher's standards and expectations.

At some point you do have to trust the professionals who have been hired to do the job.

FenellaWitch

Of course it does Miss Biggles , but I have no choice but to put my faith in the teacher to educate my child to the best of their ability and acknowledge and convey to me when more help is required. The teacher who teaches my son has vast experience and I have to have a certain amount of trust in her.

I only have my only preconceived ideas of where a 5 year old child should be and if I feel my child was not on a par with his peers, I would be raising my concerns. The other alternative would be home schooling which would be disastrous for both myself and my child .