School too easy?

UPDATE:

Date Posted: Thu, 04 Dec 2008

Quick update – had a great meeting with our Charli’s teacher and it’s just so great to keep the lines of communication open and nip little problems in the bud before they escalate. We are so happy with the support the school is giving us. They really are incredible and work so hard in trying to meet the needs of all the children. What actually transpired was our daughter was trying to finish things as fast as possible, but missing out some things in between and when asked to repeat the exercise and see things from another angle she was frustrated. She is quite single-minded and her teachers are working hard to help her view things in different ways. She’s always happy to be the leader and helper, but when she’s the ‘follower’ she gets frustrated if things aren’t exactly as she thinks they should be and finds it hard not being in control!

She’s moving up to a new class at the beginning of next year – but will be the youngest – so they are going to watch her carefully to make sure she copes okay with the difference. We’re so grateful to have such caring, dedicated and amazing teachers! Feeling a lot happier today!

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Charli came home from school today very frustrated. Her regular teacher has been away for the last three day’s and she hasn’t wanted to attend school. She is finding her schooling increasingly lacking in challenge and interest. I really need to have a chat with the school. Next year I believe she’ll go up from new entrants to ‘Year 1’. In New Zealand children start school on their 5th Birthday and move up according to age, ability and other variables.

When she was four and three quarters she was assessed by a child development team using the Griffiths Mental Development Assessment. Her speech and language test revealed no ‘ceiling’ and she demonstrated skills on the scale at least at a 6 – 6 1/2 year level. Her score was on the 95th – 99th percentiles. In practical reasoning she didn’t show a ceiling on the scale either and demonstrated skills at least a 6 – 6 1/2 level on the 99th percentile. Her performance with puzzles and blocks showed skills at a 5 1/2 – 6 year level on the 75th – 90th percentiles and her hand/eye co-ordination was at a 5 – 5 1/2 level on the 90th – 95th percentiles. She’s clearly bright and is feeling frustrated in being kept back at school and so keen for more challenges.

Has anyone experienced this? All advice gratefully appreciated! I’m just relieved Charli has pen and paper to channel her frustrations. She was, at first, directing her anger verbally towards Sophie and I had to intervene and ask, ‘What are you really cross with? Please would you go to your room and think about it.’ She wrote the above note to her teacher and afterwards was much calmer.