I dont understand the school report!

FBaby

yes, agree with you gingin, English and Maths do make more sense for me too, although I still feel that expectation of progress to be lower than they were in primary school, but for the rest... same comment than you in French, expectation of progress seems double faster than science? Why? I can understand that starting from scratch in a language, you are going to end up with more gained knowledge at the end of the KS3, but surely expectations should be adjusted accordingly so that even if you learn more in 3 years of French than 2 years of science, you overall progress in terms of expectation in similar?

FBaby

Talking of Maths, my DD is a good exemple how SATS/CATS are not always reliable in really understanding where a child stands. DD Y6 teacher said at the end of the year that DD had a special ability in Maths, but couldn't really assess her level as SATS only go up to level 5a. So at her end report, she got 5a, although her teacher thought she was most likely higher. She comes in Y7, doesn't do her CATS until end of October, and get a level of 6a. Outcome on report: she is currently at level 6b with the expectation to reach level 6a at end of year....

It's hard to take these seriously... I don't care, I'm not interested in the grade itself, just to be sure that she is making progress to her capability, but that's not always easy to assess when all you have to go with are those levels.

DirtyDick

Depends whether that was sustained outcome - just based on the test - or teacher assessed based on aggregate of classwork and test result. In maths the level is pretty black-and-white as it's right/wrong.

The system is all !!!!!!!!, btw. The Levels work well as a broad brush understanding of sustained ability, if a parent asks or if a new child arrives at a school.

However, the constant and sustained progress fails to take into account children's developmental differences, behaviour, ability, etc. from KS1 to KS4; and levels are routinely massaged to meet school and national expectations: how many children come up from junior schools assessed as a Level 4 when they are clearly 1 or 2 levels below that? Pretty much any school worth its salt will retest all new pupils to ascertain a more accurate level or else themselves end up penalised for the child having failed to make adequate progress.


NC Levels have sublevels: > 4c, 4b, 4a, 5c, 5b, 5a, etc. Each child is expected to make 3 sub-levels progress per academic year. So if they join Yr7 at Level 4c in September, they should be at a Level 4a by July. So, frex, being a 5c and expected to be 6b by the end of the following year is not unusual.

daska

And to add to the difficulty of understanding/believing the figures we were told when DSD started secondary school that the figures could also be meaningless because they were never allowed to adjust them down, even if they thought the figures coming through from primary school were wildly inaccurate.

duchy

If only school reports were like this in my day-I'd never have got into trouble for them as no-one would have understood them

Ridiculous !

As a side note I spent a year working as a classroom assistant in a secondary school and was shocked how many teachers came to me asking who such and such a child was at report time (usually the quieter middle of the road kids who just got on with things-the very bright and the struggling usually got noticed and remembered) and how they achieved/behaved. I was shocked that after a year of teaching (and marking) they had no idea who some of these children were. The good teachers never did this but the not so good ones (IMO having seen them teach over the year) very often did.

Madmel

Another secondary school teacher in agreement with everyone else. I'm sure that if the OP doesn't understand the report, the vast majority of other parents won't either. As teachers, we get so swamped by producing data for absolutely everything that we can forget not everyone knows all the acronyms and meanings. I would ask the school to provide an translation of what it all means and make it available on their website.

DD1 has a table inside the front cover of her report detailing all the meanings of the various grades. Pleasingly, it's exactly the same as the staff handbook so at least we are all working to the same criteria.

The thing which has annoyed me in the posts above is the sub-levels of National Curriculum subjects. Up to the end of primary school, sub-levels seem to have some value, but they are completely meaningless and not in the NC at secondary level. Schools do not even have to give out NC levels until the end of a Key Stage anyway although lots do as it can be a useful way to measure progress.

To the poster whose child was level 5a in Maths at the end of Primary school and already 6b when they walked in the door of secondary school, I know exactly what you mean. Some primaries do give level 6 at key stage 2, even though they are not meant to. At the end of the day, it's just a number, and like you, I take pride in knowing DD is amongst the brightest at Maths, whether she was assessed as level 5 or 6 at 11 [or in her case 10] years old. After a term of year 8, she is working at a consistent level 7 - as long as she continues to make good progress and enjoys and understands the subject, I couldn't care less what level they pin on her.

bikebarbie

thank you all for your replies. Ok so it 'seem's that he in 'on target', however as someone mentioned, I will take into account his attitude and motivation and they 7 A's, 4B's and 2 D's (then all 5's and 3 6's) . I am pleased he is settling as he had an horrendous time in Primary and his Maths teacher mentioned in the Parents Evening that he does not recognize my son from the child in the report received from Primary School! I can already imagine all the negative things they might have written. Feel like asking for a copy but at the same time want to put it behind me and stop it hurting me, after all those years of pain with them.

I will ask his Personal Tutor to clarify this 'system' for me. They have another Parents Evening in January which I dont understand why is so soon after the first one, but then again they may surprise me with something new