The end of Year Three

The end of Year Three

These last few weeks at school have been a really hard slog for us both, but now the term is over and we’ve reached the end of Year Three.  It’s been an interesting year with a few challenges along the way.

One week in to Year Three

We started the school year with the sunflowers towering over you, we were full of expectation of what the year would hold.

The first week in Year Three started with you having school swimming lessons and wow did you embrace that.  What a total contrast to the swimming lessons I had to pull you out of a few years earlier.  It was a joy to watch you every week, and see your progression, I was so proud of you and what you achieved in that term on the swimming front.

We always knew that it was going to be a challenge for you to leave Miss P behind and build a relationship with Miss W.  It soon became clear that you were struggling to let her in, and had reverted back to keeping all of your thoughts to yourself.  To be honest, you just weren’t a fan.  Then Miss B arrived on the scene, the teacher in training who you took quite a shine too.  How overjoyed where you when she became a NQT and was snapped up by the school immediately, and she then became your class teacher for the rest of the academic year.

It was clear early on that you trusted her and you’ve felt happy to share your experiences with her.  Even asking at one point for lunchtime maths work.  Although that didn’t last, I could see you felt happy with her.

Throughout the year you’ve shown great resilience, you still don’t find school easy.  You still feel that reading, writing and maths are a punishment rather than things to be embraced.  But you try, although getting you to do any homework is becoming more and more of a challenge.  I’m not sure that we’ve seen a great improvement in your handwriting but you have enjoyed a number of the topics covered this year.  Volcano eruptions were a definite highlight.

Sports Day this year was a revelation.  You embraced it fully and went for it.  The joy on your face was clear to see, as we cheered you on to two wins.  I wish Miss P had been out on the sports field in the afternoon to see how much you’ve come on.  The confidence, the ability to run in front of a whole host of people you didn’t know, and just do it.  I was so proud of you for just joining in and having fun.  The winning was the cherry on the top of the cake.

Learning to play the violin. Something totally new for you and you seemed to really want to learn at the beginning of term.  It took a whole term for you to bring the violin home, and I had hoped that that was the start of a love of music.  But we never saw it again.  I loved watching the end of Year Three strings performance from all of you who’d been learning the violin and cello this year.  You might not always have had the violin bow going in quite the right place, but I was just so impressed with you, for standing up in front of all the parents and trying.  You’d never have felt secure enough to do that a year or two ago.  You stuck with it, tried your best and had a go.  I’m rather sad that you don’t want to continue with the violin in Year Four, but you’ve tried it and I can’t ask for more.

Your friendship with your best friend G has strengthened, it’s hard to believe that you’ve been as thick as thieves since you were three.  I wish you’d widen your circle a bit more but you’re content to have friends but only one really close one.  You aren’t bothered that you never get invited to their play dates and rarely to parties.  It makes me a little sad, but you don’t care, and I guess that is what matters.

The end of Year Three

We have had a bit of a reading breakthrough thanks to Miss B.  She bought a book from a charity shop with you in mind.  A book all about steam trains.  She told you that you could read that book instead of your school reading book.  Bingo, you’ve since actually picked up two of your own books and read them, rather than just looking at the photos in them.  Result.  A win, we’ll take that, thank her, and hope that this is the start of something wonderful.

You still have a mountain to climb on the academic front at the end of Year Three, and I still worry about what faces you in the years ahead.  I wish the penny would drop that working on your reading, writing and maths now, would really, really help you in the years ahead.  Maybe the penny will drop in Year Four.

We found recently that you will be in a mixed Year Four/Five class in September, with a male teacher.  A first for you and an unknown for us both.  Apparently he’s quite strict and very different from the teachers you’ve had before.  You seem ok about this idea although you’ve already expressed the fact that you aren’t keen on the TA you’ll have.  A shame, as you’ll probably continue to have ask help from the TA’s in the months to come.  I really don’t know how this will all pan out, we’ll just have to wait and see.  But the good news is that you are still with your best friend and will be reunited with some of your friends who you were with in Nursery, Reception and Year One.  We’re both happy about that.

It was lovely for his Mum and I to watch you walk together to school this morning, still the best of friends, looking on and wondering what the future holds for you both.

The end of Year Three

So it’s the end of Year Three and I’m so proud of you. You keep trying, even when you find things really hard.  You’ve opened up more in class and join in more.  It’s been a good year but I know you are really ready for the school holidays to begin!

 

 

1 thought on “The end of Year Three

I'd love to hear from you and try to reply to all comments