Starting in a new country:
- Teachers expect new students to take time to adjust. They will offer support to help your child reach their potential.
- Language barriers can be a challenge. Talk to the teacher about creating a glossary of terms together (like “fraction”) to help your child understand the lessons.
Catching Up:
- If the teacher feels your child needs extra help, they will discuss it with you.
- Ask how you and the school can help your child catch up. This could be through school support or activities at home.
- Ask the teacher their opinion on your child’s progress:
- Do you share the concern that your child is behind?
- What areas does your child need to develop?
- What is the school doing to help?
- How long might it take for your child to catch up?
- Can you schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss progress?
Understanding Reports:
- Primary school reports:
- Show your child’s progress in each subject.
- Include test results (Years 1, 2*, 4, and 6) if applicable.
- Parents’ evenings:
- Offer opportunities to discuss your child’s achievements and any catching-up they may need.
- Secondary school reports:
- Provide information about tests, exams, and progress.
- Secondary school parents’ evenings:
- Allow you to discuss your child’s progress and how you can help them at home.
- Contact the teacher:
- If you have any concerns, schedule a meeting to discuss them.
Remember:
- Communication between you and the teacher is key to supporting your child’s success.
- Be open and honest about your concerns.
- Work together with the school to help your child reach their full potential.
If a child is behind at school but the teacher believes that they will catch up over time, how will the teacher express this to the parent? What will they say at parent’s evening or in a school report?
If a child is settling into a new school in a new country, teachers usually expect this to take time and will allow for this but still offer as much support as soon as possible to discover the child’s ability and potential. There is likely to be some catching up or adjustments during this time.
Sometimes, language may be a barrier to understanding some of the maths or literacy terms which can hamper a child’s understanding and learning. This is where communication between teacher and parent can be helpful so that they may build a glossary of terms together which is regularly updated and used in the classroom and that the child can refer to e.g. fraction, character, digit.
If the teacher feels that your child is behind in a subject, they usually ask to see you to discuss this or they may speak with you at parents’ evening about it. They will tell you that they feel that your child is not working at or will not reach the expected level for a child of their age and that they may need time to catch up or receive support. Ask them what needs to be done to help them at school and at home.
If you feel that your child is behind in particular subjects or areas at school, ask the teacher if they share your view. If so, ask where the areas for development are. Ask what the school is doing to support your child to catch up with their peers and what you can do to help them. The teacher will usually be honest and say what needs to be worked on. Ask the teacher when they think that the child will catch up – a few weeks, months or are they a year or two behind? Ask if you can make an appointment in a month’s time to discuss if there has been any change. This then spotlights your concern and will remind both school and home to keep working on the progress.
In the primary school report, you should be able to read how your child is doing in a particular subject and, if they are in, years 1, 2*, 4 and 6, they will have the results of assessment tests that they have taken indicating how well they are doing. Parents’ evenings every term also offer an opportunity to ask about what your child has achieved or caught up on.
Secondary school reports usually provide information about tests, assessments and mock exam results to parents. At secondary school, parents’ evenings are the opportunity to ask directly how well your child is doing and what the school is doing to support your child with catching up if they are behind. Ask what you can do to help at home too. If you are concerned before or after parents’ evening, contact the school admin office and make an appointment to see that teacher.
*Primary schools have optional tests in Year 2 for reading, grammar, punctuation, spelling and maths. It is up to the school whether they choose to use and/or report the results from these.
This question was asked by one of our parents during our recent webinar ‘Unlocking the Power of Parent-Teacher Communication‘ and was answered by a very experienced primary school teacher who has also held a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCo) role.
If you have any questions for our bilingual team (English and Cantonese), reach out via email contact@seven-springs.co.uk