mamaknits - we definitely used the same as you!
The class size is huge in my opinion, but we're in WA so I'm not sure on the cut off, or even if there is one. There are four Year 1 classes next year, so hopefully the numbers per class will come down. An example at the moment of the teacher struggling to differentiate is with homework - our son is getting the same buzz words home as all the other kids - 'we', 'this', 'went', 'I' etc...and the new task this term is for them to learn numbers 1-20. We were doing that at least 2 years ago at home, so understandably he is not into homework in the slightest. I'm just going to do our own buzz words and get him to learn 5 new words a week and what they mean.
I gave the school the Hoagies translation table and I think that's what got the school psych in a tizz. His results come out at either EG or PG according to the SB section on that table and she said something like: "Oh, he's not profoundly gifted, that's an IQ of 180"...grrr. I'll spend some time trying to find the best way to communicate the level of giftedness, and have seen some good stuff in other topics here.
I've re-read my previous posts here and I can see how I am letting this one person tarnish what should be a positive and exciting time for us. I'm going to do my best to drop the issues I have with the school psych and focus on getting the Principal and teacher onboard (which I'm fairly certain they will be anyway).
I don't think the testing at the start of pre-primary (NSW's Kindergarten) was Best Start. It was literacy and numeracy and they call it 'on-entry'. It would be similar by the sound of it and I know they asked me if they could spend an hour with our son so I assume they went into some other levels of testing but we (nor any other parents) ever received the results. I've asked for them to be available at the meeting with the Principal in 2 weeks.
Great idea about showing examples of his work done outside school. I will do that!
