To expect my grandchildren to be given a good education?

When my GD, now 11, went into year 3, she was well ahead of the rest of the class in reading. The teacher encouraged her and some other advanced readers to help the slower readers, as well as to read their own choice of books. She is now a well-known face in two public libraries and also has her own Kobo electronic reader.

I agree totally with what Mamie said. Very good advice.

Gillybob your posting made me cry. It is outrageous that this sort of thing is still going on. You are obviously doing all you can to ameliorate the situation.
I agree with Mamie about putting your concerns in writing.
Chris Woodhead answers readers questions on education in the Sunday Times every week and it might be worth contacting him.

gillybob, at least you know why the school got a poor Ofsted report. A teacher like that shouldn't be teaching. I would do exactly what Mamie recommends.

DGD, aged 6, is at a school whose catchment area is divided fairly equally between a council estate with a lot of families with problems and an estate of nice 1930s semis full of professional people. The school recently had a poor Ofsted report, but the problems were very narrowly focussed. DGD is doing very well there. They do a lot to help the bright children like her, it is to the schools advantage, that their bright children flourish and from what I have heard do well by the other children as well.

However her class teacher this year, who is deputy head, is currently on sick leave suffering from stress and DS & DDiL have yet to work out whether his replacement is a fully qualified teacher or a classroom assistant.

I think every child should have a right to be taught by a fully qualified teacher and that younger ones are not palmed off with less qualified staff.

DGD1 has been reading fluently since she was 4. In Nursery school she was allowed to chose a book each day and read it out loud to the rest of the class. She was somewhat ignored in Primary 1 but carried on reading voraciously at home. Now 6 and in Primary 2, she and 2 others leave the class at reading time, go to the library, pick a book each from the 7-11 shelf, take it home, read it overnight and swop it each day. The 3 keep a record of what they have read and their teacher hears them read out loud from time to time.

DGD1 has been 'teaching' 4-y-o DGD2 (her cousin) who can now read simple books (and everything on the computer).

OTOH DGS has struggled terribly with reading, panicking and making wild guesses. All of a sudden in P2 thanks to a new teacher he 'got it' and in one half term has become one of the best readers in his class.

I am aware this is 'anecdotal' but my point is that all children learn differently, often taking major leaps forward rather than making steady progress. Their progress has little to do with their actual age which makes it difficult to cater for individuals when classes are streamed by age not ability.

That sounds really difficult, gillybob. Is the school in special measures or another category? Is it an LA school? I think it would be helpful for your GD's parents to put their concerns in writing to the head and Chair of Governors in a very factual way and copy it to the LA. Am happy to help if you want to PM me.
Chris Woodhead is long gone from Ofsted and I wouldn't recommend that route.

Chris Woodhead's book " A Desolation of learning: is this the education our children deserve " ?

The governing body has oversight of the curriculum. When I was chair of governors, we had curriculum reports every term, usually from two subject coordinators. Parent governors were, of course, especially interested. It might pay to speak to a parent governor about this issue so that it can be raised with the head teacher and/or the governing body.

Write to Sir Chris Woodhead at the Sunday Times was HM Chief inspector of Schools in England.

Oh this is so sad! Home education maybe?

Yes thanks Stansgran I have already bought quite a few and she has happily worked her way through them. Biff, Chip and Floppy ! The thing that worries me is not the fact that I (or her parents) cannot provide her with reading material it is the fact that she seems to be being ignored and we all know what becomes of children who are bored with school. The school is quite literally going down the pan. They are massivley short of teaching staff (3 left during the 6 weeks holiday that they were expecting back) and the classes are virtually all split. My older grandaughter (7) loved school last term and hates it this term as she has already had three temporary teachers who don't know or even get to know the children. It's frustrating to say the least.

Gillybob have a look at the Book People. They have the oxford reading books very cheaply and on line you can have reading eggs. DGC3 who is 6 has a new reading book every night so talk to the head . That is just negligence IMO on the teachers part.