Yr4 individual targets - have your dc's been given theirs yet?

[MrsTruper]

In our junior school dd gets individual targets for her numeracy, literacy - these targets generally are taken from the APP grid. She has not been given any yet this term, have your dc's been given theirs yet?

Would have thought it was quite straightforward as they follow on from approx where they left off end of year 3?

I will obviously ask the teacher but wondered what the norm is. Thanks.

[MrsTruper]

ohh and she has not been given any homework yet this term either, only the standard reading their books. Have yours been given any h/w yet?

[TheRoundTable]

No individual targets. They don't do this in our school. Loads of homework though.

[Elibean]

Individual targets given quite quickly, at our school (for every class). dd1 now in Y5, and on third lot of homework this term.

That said, individual targets are shared with parents at parent/teacher consults which are next week - so maybe yours are about to be given? I do know the first few weeks of the Autumn term involve a lot of assessing, as some kids slide back a bit over the summer, others move ahead (eg in reading), and so on.

[Heifer]

DD Yr 5 just been given her current scores and her target scores.
Lots of homework here, given maths & english twice per week along with times tables, spellings and reading they should do daily.

[MrsTruper]

our parent/teacher consults are mid Nov...

[Oblomov]

Same as Heifer.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

From year 4 at DD's school they set their own targets one English, one maths and one other (usually extra curricular). They then review them every half of term.

[simpson]

Had target meeting a couple of weeks ago and all the kids were given the same targets. Total waste of time IMO.

[simpson]

Sorry, forgot about homework DS (yr4) got his 3rd lot today.

[AChickenCalledKorma]

She will have been set a target, but we haven't been given them yet. We have a parents' evening in a couple of weeks. We don't generally get the targets on paper until the mid-year reports, though. (Although it is possible to guess them from the end of year reports, as they are just a set number of sub-levels on from where they ended the year).

[Ihatespiders]

My class are getting their targets next week. I like to see how they settle after the long break. Some will have slipped and some will have come on leaps since July, so I want time to see a range of their work before I level them and give targets. I'm rearranging the groups too, which will upset some parents and delight others ... [sigh]

[PastSellByDate]

Hi Mrs Truper:

I think the 'target' issue really depends on whether your school's teachers will sit down and design individual targets for each pupil or whether they'll give the same targets to high - middle - low ability groups.

Our school goes for banded targets and in fact what I found was it was far more important I generally understood what should be covered in Y4 (and in my view mastered by the pupil) than what the school thought my DDs should be working to.

Two reality checks on curriculum:

Draft national curriculum documents (these are to be finalised but will be coming in for next school year 2014/ 2015) - info by subject here: www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/a00210036/sosletter - just select the area of curriculum from the light blue box on the right.

This is the overview for the entire year - so won't identify when these things should be taught/ learned - but at least you have an idea of what 'in theory' should be covered in a given school year.

Campaign for Real Education curriculum documents: www.cre.org.uk/primary_contents.html - again just select area of curriculum and then look at the school year you are interested in. Now Campaign for Real Education is 'ideal world'/ 'gold standard' kind of stuff and most likely your school isn't working to this - but it is useful to see what is considered achievable in ideal circumstances.

-----

I've found being aware of these curriculum documents better helps me to judge what my DDs should be doing and where they should be working to than a slip of paper with my DDs' handwritten targets (which usually is shown to us at parent evenings) & a photocopy of a summary list of APP targets for the next NC sub-level DDs are working to.

HTH

[MrsTruper]

Thank you everyone, looks like there is lots of variation.

Campaign for Real Education links are fab, very useful. Thanks so much.