Madeleine

Mrs Sedden, Madeleine's reception teacher, and I sit down for our parent-teacher review of Madeleine's progress. "Madeleine" she says "is enthusiastic, enjoyable to be with, and making excellent progress. She takes her work seriously in the class-room and pays good attention to her work. She is a pleasure." Mrs Sedden also comments:

"Madeleine is working hard on her reading and writing. She recognises the beginning of words which she can write. She can spell her full name, and can trace and copy new words. When she started in September 2006, she could recognise 9 letters. At Christmas 14 and now 21 - this is 'excellent progress.' The next stage for her is to assemble the letter-sounds of a word into a full word."

On numeracy, Madeleine is "just where she should be." She recognises numbers 1 to 5 and is working on 5 to 10. She can add 1's (ie, 1+1, 5+1 9+1 etc) and understands the 10 series (10, 20, 30, 40....). She is comfortable and enjoys math.

"Madeleine's drawing is becoming more focused and less abstract." Mrs Sedden shows me an early drawing of a person and now - the difference is striking. "She is very creative and loves to work with the various art tools."

I thank Mrs Sedden, who says "well thank you for letting us have Madeleine." Bravo.