Teachers please - Y4 expected SATS levels

FBaby

Well done to her, that's incredible. It is the highest level expected at end of year 8, so utterly impressive. One question though, how is she getting on in class with that level? How are the teachers challenging her and how is she learning new skills? My DD got assessed as 6a (same age, Y7), and that's already very high for her age. Her teacher said that she could start working at level 7, but they don't have the resources to do so. Her teacher is trying to challenge her and has started spending 5 minutes with her at the start of the class to give her some individual work, but it's still limited, so was wondering how a Y7 teacher can challenge someone at that level.

liney

FBaby wrote: »

Well done to her, that's incredible. It is the highest level expected at end of year 8, so utterly impressive. One question though, how is she getting on in class with that level? How are the teachers challenging her and how is she learning new skills? My DD got assessed as 6a (same age, Y7), and that's already very high for her age. Her teacher said that she could start working at level 7, but they don't have the resources to do so. Her teacher is trying to challenge her and has started spending 5 minutes with her at the start of the class to give her some individual work, but it's still limited, so was wondering how a Y7 teacher can challenge someone at that level.

Surely your Secondary school have all the rescouces available for KS3 and KS4 available to them. She isn't a Year 7 teacher she is a Year 7 to 11 teacher. If this were my child I would be asking for an action plan before she gets very bored.

thegirlintheattic

thatgirlsam wrote: »

Wow I am shocked

She hasn't had a 'formal' assessment, her teacher told me that she was working to level 8... although that must be in her opinion

I am excited for her to start senior school in September in that case as I think they assess them again to see what level they are, as primary cannot officially give them more than a 5a I think

I know she is extremely bright, she is on the G &T register etc but I didn't know that level 8 was GCSE level

In maths she doesn't work with the rest of the class, her and 3 other girls are taught by another teacher as they said she needed more of a challenge

I hate to say it but I'd be extremely skeptical of a level 8 from someone in primary school - least of all because the teacher will not have seen level 8 work regularly and only the brightest Year 9s at our school are hitting level 8 with any consistency.

I would suggest that you make sure your DD is not getting bored of the work and is getting a challenge but would put little stock in the 'teacher assessment'. We test Year 7 within weeks of them arriving at secondary school simply because the teacher assessments they come with are wildly inaccurate. There are kids with a level 5A in English who can barely string a sentence together. We've also had Year 7s arrive with 'assessments' of level 7/8 across the board only to find they are Level 5.

FBaby

liney wrote: »

Surely your Secondary school have all the rescouces available for KS3 and KS4 available to them. She isn't a Year 7 teacher she is a Year 7 to 11 teacher. If this were my child I would be asking for an action plan before she gets very bored.

Thanks for this. This year pupils are not in group sets so this doesn't help.I didn't know that when she started there. Her teacher's response was that she was very advanced and she she needed to challenge her more but it was difficult to give her the time she needed she sticks to giving her harder work.she also said if she gave her more she would be even more advanced and then it would be even more of an issue next year although then she will be in a set group. I am disappointed with the school in that regard as I feel they should do more I have already raised with the head of year but the response was that they were trying to arrange a set group for top pupils but that was months back. I am happy with the school but for this my DD does get bored in class but not to the point of being an real issue.I'm just hoping this year is transitional and next year more challenging. The school was inspected in September and got a 2 although the lack of sport to top pupils was highlighted.

FBaby

In regards to the issue of discrepancies in levels between primary and secondary schools I wondered about this as my two kids were rated very high but DD levels expectations at end of year initially based on last year have already gone up in 8 of her subjects. My DS has changed primary school and they too have assessed him slightly higher with an 4b in writing and reading and 4a possibly 5c in maths at the end of this year in year 4. They are clearly academic some kids just are.I don't think it is impossible for a year 7 to be assessed at an 8c level although I would have thought the exceptionally of it would warrant some serious talk from the school about how to best support such a childrather than being blase about it.

bylromarha

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

I hate to say it but I'd be extremely skeptical of a level 8 from someone in primary school - least of all because the teacher will not have seen level 8 work regularly and only the brightest Year 9s at our school are hitting level 8 with any consistency.

I would suggest that you make sure your DD is not getting bored of the work and is getting a challenge but would put little stock in the 'teacher assessment'. We test Year 7 within weeks of them arriving at secondary school simply because the teacher assessments they come with are wildly inaccurate. There are kids with a level 5A in English who can barely string a sentence together. We've also had Year 7s arrive with 'assessments' of level 7/8 across the board only to find they are Level 5.

I would suggest you go back to post 100...

...seems the primary school assessment you quoted from July 2011 wasn't far off the mark.

Maybe if yr 5 - 8 teachers got together for moderation, this sort of thing could be avoided.

Our primary school frequently tell our feeder secondary our kids have been doing French since Reception, but still the secondary make them repeat all the basics - they don't learn anything new in French til end year 9 - by which time they're bored stiff and want to give it up.

Secondarys are very quick to dismiss primary assessments - we know all the secondary schools in our area rarely use the TAs we send up and waste half a term doing their own assessments ready to stream. Pointless. Seems from your post your school do this too...

JC9297

FBaby wrote: »

In regards to the issue of discrepancies in levels between primary and secondary schools I wondered about this as my two kids were rated very high but DD levels expectations at end of year initially based on last year have already gone up in 8 of her subjects. My DS has changed primary school and they too have assessed him slightly higher with an 4b in writing and reading and 4a possibly 5c in maths at the end of this year in year 4. They are clearly academic some kids just are.I don't think it is impossible for a year 7 to be assessed at an 8c level although I would have thought the exceptionally of it would warrant some serious talk from the school about how to best support such a childrather than being blase about it.

I think the difficulty in assessing a year 7 or younger child at level 8 is how that assessment is reached i.e. what is it based on. Are they sitting the KS3 level 6-8 paper and attaining level 8? Children of that age will not have been taught the 'level 8' maths topics at school.

I think it is very unlikely that your daughter is the only child working at the level she is, each cohort will have a handful of exceptionally bright children and schools will have experience of working with them. My son is bright, top sets and expected to get A/A*s but he is not exceptional, the same as me and his dad were really, but he knows a few kids who are on another level academically and the school manages to meet their needs.

thatgirlsam

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

I hate to say it but I'd be extremely skeptical of a level 8 from someone in primary school - least of all because the teacher will not have seen level 8 work regularly and only the brightest Year 9s at our school are hitting level 8 with any consistency.

I would suggest that you make sure your DD is not getting bored of the work and is getting a challenge but would put little stock in the 'teacher assessment'. We test Year 7 within weeks of them arriving at secondary school simply because the teacher assessments they come with are wildly inaccurate. There are kids with a level 5A in English who can barely string a sentence together. We've also had Year 7s arrive with 'assessments' of level 7/8 across the board only to find they are Level 5.

She is working at level 8!!!! She has been assessed by her teacher!

This is what we have to go through all the bloomin time - people just don't beleive you!

Wy can't people accept that some children are really bl00dy clever!

JC9297

thatgirlsam wrote: »

She is working at level 8!!!! She has been assessed by her teacher!

This is what we have to go through all the bloomin time - people just don't beleive you!

Wy can't people accept that some children are really bl00dy clever!

As I asked in my last post what did the teacher base the assessment on, has she sat a level8 paper?


I don't think it is a case of people not believing that some children are very able, everybody knows that is the case (as I said before any cohort will have several of these children). I think sometimes people question the levels given by teachers as they are not always supported by evidence. For example a child in year 6 may be capable of learning and doing GCSE work, but unless they have been taught the more advanced maths and are consistently getting it right they cannot be said to be working at that level.

thatgirlsam

JC9297 wrote: »

I think the difficulty in assessing a year 7 or younger child at level 8 is how that assessment is reached i.e. what is it based on. Are they sitting the KS3 level 6-8 paper and attaining level 8? Children of that age will not have been taught the 'level 8' maths topics at school.

I think it is very unlikely that your daughter is the only child working at the level she is, each cohort will have a handful of exceptionally bright children and schools will have experience of working with them. My son is bright, top sets and expected to get A/A*s but he is not exceptional, the same as me and his dad were really, but he knows a few kids who are on another level academically and the school manages to meet their needs.

I don't know which paper she sat but she scored a level 8c - Her teacher 'knew' she could do it so to speak.. She hasn't needed to be 'taught' level 8 Maths - She just knows the answers!!?? I don't know how, she just does

Oh and she is the only child of that age working at level 8