Some advise - Feel like I am going to get railroaded...

So I have posted before re my concerns with my boys school. Last term I spoke with my oldest (yr2) teacher in regards to his reading. She came across rather defensive & well IMO with a lot of attitude.
We also have concerns about my kindy boy. he seems sad a lot of the time & we are concerned about him socially at school. He is also behind with reading etc.

So I organised a P&T meeting this morning & just had a call from the school now telling me of the times this has been arranged. I was told that the principle will also be sitting in....

Now I am ok with this but I know from previous meetings/encounters thats they are going to crap on about how its "normal" they are doing ok, on track etc. That I will get the same in a big school. I am worried I will walk away with no real idea of how my children are doing still. They seem to be very good at keeping their progress "secret" We are not openly told what reading level they are on. I am told that they are doing fine. But when I dug for more info "fine" apparently means is a YEAR behind.

I am worried that seems DH isn't able to come with me I will just sit & listen to them crap on & then walk away ****ed off & with no answers.

Can I get some suggestions on what I need to ask, what I need to say to get the real picture. I don't want to hear that they are fine. I honestly believe that they are not doing fine. I think they are falling behind & its not because of them. I feel that the teachers are just doing a **** job.

I want to change schools. We are just stuck atm.....

I would let them know that you have spoken to teachers that you know and they have told you that where they are at is not acceptable at this stage of the year. It does sound like they are going to shaft you again, but I would stand my ground on this if it were me. Our school is always extremely open about where our kids are at and what they are achieving, so it seems really suss to me that they can't even tell you what level reader they are on.

I would ask them directly what reading levels they are on and what levels they are expected to reach by the end of each year.
Ask them if there are opportunities for reading recovery sessions (you may not need that, but it wont hurt to ask JIC)
Ask if you can see their assessment criteria for the boys - what is it they are testing them on and also what outcomes the boys are meant to be meeting

If you go in there with specific questions it will be very hard for them to fob you off without obviously looking like they are fobbing you off. If you ask to see what I suggested and they refuse, ask them why are they refusing etc.

But honestly, if it were me, I would not put up with that kind of treatment and if they fobbed you off again I would just pull them out of the school because clearly they aren't prepared to be open with you and while ever they are talking that stance, your boys will never advance.

Thanks tril I will write all that down..

I asked at the end of last term & was told Evan is on level 15 and Glenn is still on 1. I was told that they are fine & doing well. BUT when I spoke with the guy who is coming tot he school to do the reading recovery with the yr 1 kids (all 5 of them, small school.. but I believe only 3 need it) he told me that I should be concerned about Evan. At this stage he should be on level 26 & on 28 by the end of the year. 15 is something I should be concerned about & is not fine. He said for Glenn, its not too big a deal as he will be a part of the reading recovery programme next year as he will be in yr 1 & its the only grade its offered too. But wasn't offered when Evan was in yr 1.

I feel so bad as homework has been such an issue for Evan & we somewhat gave up doing in in yr 1 as it just caused so much trouble at home. Even the teacher agreed to just not do it. This year we have struggled also. Last term he started doing it at school. But seems I was under the impression that they are doing fine. Average with where they should be I wasn't too concerned about it all. Afterall, if it was a problem they would have told us right?

So here I am now in the last term of yr 2 for Evan. Being told he is a year behind by the specialist in reading recovery & I should be worried about it. But his teacher is blocking me getting the help for him. Telling me he is fine...

ARGGHHHHHHH It just makes me so angry!

AND I remember I asked about it being normal or not for schools sit kids out of the Naplan tests? Well I have since learned that it was not a child/ren who had disabilities ( as far as I know there is only 1 kid at the school who may have fallen into that scenario) . I was told a mother was asked by the school to sit her kids out. Mother was ok with that so that's what happened. I have emailed the Dept of edu about it. No reply yet though.

Can you get the reading recovery teacher to give you a report on your kids to present to the school? I can't believe they're blocking you on this :o

As for kids sitting out the NAPLAN tests, a friend of mine is a teacher, and he has said in the past that the NAPLAN results aren't worth anything, because the kids that teachers know will score low either don't do the test or the teacher doesn't submit it, to keep their levels high :shakehead:

If it was me, i would write out a list of questions/areas i am concerned about and ask them to respond in writing prior to your meeting. I would then take this to the meeting and use it as your basis for discussion. I am very avoidant of conflict, so this is probably the only way i would have the guts to do it. Also, it means you have written documentation you can use to take things further if required. They are also more likely to put the time and effort into responding as they know that you will be able to use it, rather than just blow you off with non-specific statement. Make sure your own questions are really specific, and take your time writing it. If you need to move the meeting, then do so, as its more important that you are prepared so you can actually get a resolution.

I would either email or give it to the teacher in a sealed envelope with a note saying something like "Dear x, Thanks for agreeing to a meeting with me regarding my children's progress. I am really pleased the principal is going to be joining us, as i would like to get a good understanding of how they are doing and what action we can take to ensure that they are doing the best they can. I have made a list of questions i would like to discuss in our meeting, i would really appreciate it if you could respond to these in writing prior to our meeting to make sure that i have everything clear in my head. I hope you don't mind this approach, i really want to make the most of this meeting and in the past i haven't come away with a good understanding or any clear outcomes."

Once you have your answers from them, get as many different opinions as you can. I am sure there are lots of teachers on here who could provide some advice, i would even consider speaking to another local schools principal about them to get their opinion.

Good luck!

I think it is frustrating too that when it is only such a small class, there should be absolutely no excuse for a child to fall through the cracks and teachers not realise that they aren't where they should be. My kids have constant assessment of their literacy skills and they are moved to different groups according to those results - and we're talking classes of 40+kids in Kindergarten and I think it's 65 for year 2. I do volunteer work in my DD2's kindergarten class for Literacy groups and what we have to do is take one of the groups, read their readers with them and do their sight words and then let the teachers know if any needed extra help etc. I did have a boy one day who really struggled with the book he had and when I told the teachers they said they would have to re-test him, so I just don't get why your school is so slack about it.

Thanks I will get DH to help write something up & take it in tomorrow.

Evans Class is a combined 2/3 so probably has 25/30 kids? Glenn is a K/1 & has about 17 kids I think.

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The only advice I would have is to try to put everything in writing where you can. Write an email to the class teachers and the principal outlining what your concerns are and why. Ask the teachers for written reports on the children's progress (not the 'normal' sort of school reports but in depth individual reposrts for YOUR children). Ask if they are meeting the state averages in their developmental areas. Perhaps contact the board of education and see what you or they (the Board) could do?
Is there some way you could get them independently assessed?