Progress and GSCE grades - Year 9

[HartYY]

So, DS is (we have always thought) a pretty academic kid. We got his current levels today and are a bit concerned. He has made no progress at all in a year in maths, science and ICT. Comments are that he is working well, contributes in class etc, doesn't mention the lack of progress. He does his homework ok, and seems happy enough to us. He has made one sublevel progress in the last year in most of his other subjects (and more progress in languages and non academic subjects).

He went into senior school with 6c maths, now 7c. Science and ICT were 5c at start of seniors, now 6a and 7c, but this progress was all in year 7. None since his report last November. We did have a parent's evening last year and asked about how to move him forward, but school just said for him to carry on as he was.

He is predicted to finish year 9 with most subjects between 7c and 7a - any idea what sort of GCSE path that puts him on? I know things are changing for his year, but if the current system were in place, would he be on for c's, b's or a's with those grades?

I always assumed he would be on for a's , but now wonder if I should be revising my expectations downwards? He is a bit of a coaster - should we be pushing him? I don't want him to feel he is under a lot of pressure.

Has anyone else here had similar and can offer some advice? Or are there any teachers about (p/t obviously, given the time!).

[TeenAndTween]

Ending y9 with 7s would put him in line for A/A* with current GCSEs.
(I think. Only a parent, but DD1 is y11).

[catslife]

Parent of child in Y10.
We have been told similar to teenandtween for current GCSE, but also that this correlation doesn't work well for Maths, as this subject has level 8 at the end of Y9.
Level 6 at the end of Y9 should lead to a B at GCSE in subjects other than Maths (which will be approx 1 grade lower).
When predicting GCSE grades they would also take into account KS2 SATs results and possibly other data such as CATs scores, so it's not just based on the end of Y9 results.

[HartYY]

Thank you Teen and cats - you have been reassuring.

I am still worried about Ds's lack of progress though, and the fact that school aren't raising it with me. I know kids don't learn in a linear fashion etc etc, but no progress in maths at all in year 8 and now into year 9. Surely someone should have noticed and be asking why? (not just me, that is).

I don't want DS to be under huge pressure, but I don't want him to drift (ie not make any progress) just because he's achieving well already.

[HartYY]

Popping back to see if there are any other experienced parents about or senior school teachers that could offer any words of wisdom?

[noblegiraffe]

It's possible that the school do not track progress finely between years so no one has noticed that he hasn't made any progress. It's possible that someone has noticed that he hasn't made any progress in their subject but doesn't have the overview and so has put it down to a blip or poor teaching or inaccurate levelling. It's possible that they have noticed he hasn't made any progress but haven't alerted you in case it reflects badly on them. It's possible that the levels are a work of fiction and shouldn't have much attention paid to them.

The only way you're going to be sure it's flagged up is if you bring it up with the school. The individual subject teachers should be able to tell you why they have given that level in their subject, but it's possible that it's the same as the end of last year as they have not done enough work in Y9 to justify bumping up a sublevel so have just copied last summer's level across (which is what I do at this point in the year!). The current teacher might not have any idea why no progress was recorded last year.

[WittyUsername102]

Is it possible he didn't really progress that much in year 7, and so he is only truly at that level now, and will improve later in the year? Or that they are not tracking progress properly?

Just a parent, but DD got all level 6, except science which was 7 and maths which was 8, and got all A*/A at GCSE. So I think he should be on track?