End of KS1 teacher assessments - good, but how good?

squeakysue

My ds is September born and came out of yr2 with all level 3's, I think it is a great achievement. He is just finishing year 5 and has level 4a's and level 5 in Maths, children are expected to leave primary school with level 4's so he is doing very well regardless of his birthdate.

I would too be very proud of your daughter and I am sure this success will follow her into ks2 :T

milliebear00001

JodyBPM wrote: »

Yes DD's report had no negatives, even veiled ones.

DS's was also outstanding, but had a few "shows great enthusiasm for areas of his own interest" (but what about the other areas?) "He has tried hard to remember to remain focused during whole class activities" (aka he can't sit still when someone else is talking!) but "he has learned to manage his feelings well and has developed in maturity week by week" which could be a veiled negative, is actually my favourite comment of the whole report, because it really has been possible to watch him grow up week by week, and he's miles on from where he was at the beginning of the year (due mainly to him just growing up, plus a lot of work from us, and a totally fab teacher too!)

LOL! I can tell you have learned to read between the lines of a school report. A very important parental skill!

Glad they're both doing so well. I always make sure I ask the teacher at Parents' Evening about things mine need to improve on, or any targets they have been set.

Poppy9

DD (now 17) never officially sat SATS as Wales abolished them when she was in Y2. She was however given scores and if I remember rightly had the top level possible for her age.

I queried one - handwriting, as it was appalling but Y2 teacher assured me it was correct.

When she went into Y3 at first parents evening I raised the issue of her poor handwriting and her Y3 said she was surprised how poor it was given her KS1 levels.

While I was given these levels and targets throughout primary school the school itself never conveyed where DD was academically in her class, they just said she was working hard, doing well etc. all very general terms. She is an only child so I had nothing to measure her against so we just left her to get on with it (aside from I helped her with her handwriting by buying special pens for lefties and finding a comfortable writing position )as she seemed to be happy and not unduly stressed by school work.

Such a change at senior school where from Y7 onwards they constantly tell you where they are, what the level means, predicted GCSE grades (she had to sit exams in her first 2 days of Y7) etc. so grade/target/exam focused and it's all about "value added" so you may like me find yourself in Y11 meeting with "learning leader" who tells you that your child is predicted 11 Bs (she was predicted 11 As in Y7) in the summer exams. When I pointed out that Maths was on the list as a B and she had sat it the previous year and had an A* there was an awkward moment when I asked if the predictions were manipulated to show greater "value added"!

So if your instincts tell you your child is progressing well, that they are learning to read/write work with numbers relax and enjoy these years before they enter the word of senior school!

milliebear00001

squeakysue wrote: »

My ds is September born and came out of yr2 with all level 3's, I think it is a great achievement. He is just finishing year 5 and has level 4a's and level 5 in Maths, children are expected to leave primary school with level 4's so he is doing very well regardless of his birthdate.

I would too be very proud of your daughter and I am sure this success will follow her into ks2 :T

Your son has done very well.

A child who achieves level 3s in Year 2, will be expected to achieve level 5s at the end of year 6 as 'normal progress'.

JodyBPM

Does anyone know how I can change the title as I put KS2 instead of KS1 (getting confused with Y2!)

mintymoneysaver

I think you can go to edit, and then advanced edit.
People above are right, your daughter is doing very well, but it may well be that in Year 3 it is reassessed slightly. She can't get ABOVE a level 3 in infant school, so she could be anywhere from a 3c to something a lot higher. So she could be a good above average, or she could be a genius, the report will tell you more than SATs ever will!

thatlemming

You used to be able to get a 4 but you had to take an extra paper (this was probably about 12 years ago though haha, do they even do sats exams at KS1 now?). My little brother did. He's got an offer from Cambridge now so in his case it did follow.

thegirlintheattic

Poppy9 wrote: »

Such a change at senior school where from Y7 onwards they constantly tell you where they are, what the level means, predicted GCSE grades (she had to sit exams in her first 2 days of Y7) etc. so grade/target/exam focused and it's all about "value added" so you may like me find yourself in Y11 meeting with "learning leader" who tells you that your child is predicted 11 Bs (she was predicted 11 As in Y7) in the summer exams. When I pointed out that Maths was on the list as a B and she had sat it the previous year and had an A* there was an awkward moment when I asked if the predictions were manipulated to show greater "value added"!

Not sure what the situation was back then but now level targets and GCSE predictions are based on Fisher Family Trust data. These predictions can be wildly wrong and DO NOT take into account actual attainment and cannot be changed. For example I have several students finishing the year with attainment levels above the target they have been given for next year. So they will always be above target for the year. Those students will likely end up with GCSE predictions of C (from FFT) when I would predict them an A.

jellyhead

It seems to vary with each class. When my eldest took his SATS more than a third of the year group got level 3 and another third got level 2a.

Now that my youngest has taken his I don't know what the year group's results are but 20 or so of us were chatting in the playground after we got the reports and there weren't many 3's, however they are all boys we were talking about and most of them are summer birthdays. Youngest's year group seems more average though, whereas eldest was in a class where most children were above average.

Poppy9

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

Not sure what the situation was back then but now level targets and GCSE predictions are based on Fisher Family Trust data. These predictions can be wildly wrong and DO NOT take into account actual attainment and cannot be changed. For example I have several students finishing the year with attainment levels above the target they have been given for next year. So they will always be above target for the year. Those students will likely end up with GCSE predictions of C (from FFT) when I would predict them an A.

Just looked at the school website:
We use FFT data, Alis data and standardised tests (Midyis, AWRT, Yellis). At KS3 and KS4 FFT data is used to predict pupil performance; at KS5 Alis is used. We track pupil performance against this data using the 123 review system. The 123 system is new this year.

They get a 1, 2, 3 (1 is above level, 2 on target and 3 below). One of DD friends had all threes in March so was not allowed study leave for Summer AS exams. She had 3 As in January AS exam modules and is a great student so it seems unfair to not allow study leave based on inaccurate performance measuring.

What I don't understand is how the automated predictions can be wrong if a pupil is performing well throughout the year, attaining good marks in the regular tests and external exams. What marks are they putting into the system as data?

I have to be honest in that I've ignored the 1-2-3 and stand back as DD is almost an adult, works hard and she is content she knows what she is doing.