My son is currently in grade 1 at a local public primary school. He did grade Prep at the same school. Despite being a quiet, shy child he settled in well and is a great little student. I only have one concern: the reader system.

In grade Prep the students are given a reader folder with a book that you have to fill out every night to show that they have have read their Reader Books with you. Well as a mum to 3 children i guess i was slack and didn't do it as often as we should have.

My DD (who is now in highschool) attended a private primary school... reading at home was more "optional" for Preps as the teachers didn't push homework too heavily in that year. Never the less we still read lots of books together and she learnt to read quite easily despite not doing it every night.

The whole process is quite different in the public school system it seems. We have been caught out. Last year despite the impression i had that my son was reading to the standard of an average 5yo apparently this wasn't good enough. By grade 1 he was meant to be far more advanced... reading fluently, and with appropriate expression. Being able to read, say, the level 1 Dr Suess books isn't good enough. As a 6yo he can read "The Cat In The Hat" with little assistance.... but apparently most other kids are way past this level. And so my son has been put on the Reading Recovery program! in grade 1!

Ok so they say they are into "early intervention" but gee... I think he is doing fine for his age (he is now 6). The school really does seem quite uptight about the whole process and "enjoyment" really does seem secondary to "learning". i can't help but think two things:

1. They are catering to a generation of flash card toddlers (we didn't do this at home) and my child isn't as advanced as the average child of 2010.

2. The school is working toward maintaining a good naplan result.


Anyone who knows my son knows that he is a boy with a great attention span... he seeks out opportunities to learn of his own accord and i really don't want to interfere with this process by shoving learning down his throat when he is clearly too tired.... just to please a school. It goes totally against everything I learnt as a teachers' assistant at the Girls' school my DD went to.

Anyhow... the other point of this thread is to kind of warn parents of preppys in the public system in Vic to do your Readers with them as much as possible otherwise you could find that they are put in reading recovery which means twice as much homework every night