Joshua & Brandons Interim School Report

Today myself and Tina attended Joshua and Brandon's yearly interim school review with their respective teachers. Brandon's report was pretty glowing showing good progress everywhere and no real concerns. By the sounds of things the only thing he lacks is a little confidence to get involved a bit more in group discussions and have faith to put his hand up to give an answer be it right or wrong. The comments on his interim report were:

 

"Brandon is a fairly quiet member of the class but has settled well into school. He has made good friends and has a good rapport with adults. Brandon sometimes lacks confidence in his own ability and will seek adult reassurance but can be relied upon to try his best. Brandon is making steady progress and I am confident he will continue to do so across the curriculum. Well done Brandon. Keep up the good work!".

 

So that's Brandon done which then brings us onto Joshua. On the plus side academically Joshua is doing well and is right where the average Year 1 child should be. Apparently they should achieve 1a standard by the end of the year and currently Joshua is on 1b and improving steadily. His teacher has no doubt he will achieve 1a no problem. The other positive is that he really enjoys Maths and is actually very good at it, however he is in a lower group purely because he doesn't apply himself and concentrate as much as he should. His teacher knows he is capable of more. There appears to be a few behavioural problems creeping in where Joshua does niggling little things which often get him put on a warning, like sharpening too many pencils, taking too long to have a drink or hiding someone else's rubber. Nothing major, but enough to make it such that it is his name that is called out all the time and him who is on a warning. Joshua has also started to show an interest in girls and his teacher mentioned she has had to tell him to stop staring at the girls when he is getting changed for PE. We discussed that this could be a result of Holly coming along and Joshua realising that boys and girls are built differently. So the main feedback is he needs to improve his attention span and to stop these annoying, niggling, little habits of his which are getting him on the warnings. Anyway his interim report comments were:

 

"Joshua has made good progress so far this year. Initially, he found it very difficult to concentration his work but is developing this skill as the year progresses. He now applies himself in more lessons and is beginning to make more rapid progress as a result. Joshua shows his potential regularly but still seeks adult support to meet this continuously requesting help and reassurance even when he is capable of completing the task independently. Joshua would benefit greatly from extending his attention span and interacting more during the whole class teaching time. Joshua is a very sociable boy who enjoys the company of both the adults and the children in the class".

 

Anyway we have had a little chat with Joshua about his concentration and his behaviour in school. Hopefully this will be a turning point and the end of year report will be improved. To reinforce the importance of the boys getting a good report we have told Brandon he will get a treat at the weekend, however Joshua will not get anything until his teacher confirms there has been improvements. Hopefully this will help motivate him without having a negative impact on his performance.