Teachers, should Level 5 writing be consistent or just for assessment work?

[Ineedmorepatience]

My Dd3 it seems can produce Level 5 writing in test situations but it is very inconsistent, should she really be assessed at level 5?

I actually dont think she is a level 5 looking at the criteria and have a passage of typed work that I could email if anyone would like to level it for me.

[mrz]

It needs to be consistent not one off pieces of work

[Ineedmorepatience]

Thats what I think too, mrz, Dd3 doesnt generalise her skills well, she has Asd and now a dx of dyslexia aswell.
She doesnt ever join even though she can during handwriting practise but always prints other work. she has told me of times where she has had to repeat work numerous times, which the EP has now said must not happen! she does use some punctuation but inconsitently and doesnt write in paragraphs or even sentences sometimes!

At parents evening I was told she has to get level 5's because she got 3's in yr2 but what if she isnt capable of it and they are over inflating her scores.

[toomuchicecream]

That's the trouble with the system! We were moderated for writing a couple of years ago and the message was loud and clear that writing must be at that level across all genre and all subjects - not just in a writing book.

[Ineedmorepatience]

Thanks too much, I had this with Dd2 as well who is also dyslexic. She went upto secondary on a level 4 and it was obvious pretty much straight away that she wasnt. I had asked her primary to let her be a level 3 and not push her up to the 4 because she would have got more support and it would have been more obvious that she was struggling.

And now history is repeating itself except Dd3 is more academic and less dyslexlic [if that is possible] so she is heading for top sets at secondary and there is no way she will cope

[TheGruffalo2]

We expect consistent evidence not only in English books, but in other subjects such as history, geography, science and RE to award levels.

[Ineedmorepatience]

Oh I wish !!!

Why can't I make the school understand me, they just look at me as if I am mad

[ReallyTired]

Sats are quickly forgotten about once a child starts secondary. Virtually all secondaries make their own assessments of children.

"And now history is repeating itself except Dd3 is more academic and less dyslexlic [if that is possible] so she is heading for top sets at secondary and there is no way she will cope"

Schools are used to primaries inflating results and often use CATs tests for setting. There is a lot of movement between sets in the first year.

[Ineedmorepatience]

I agree with that really I am obviously naive but why can't the primary see how ridiculous it is to inflate her results!

If she was assessed correctly she wouldn't need to be moved between sets!!

We are talking about a child who cannot cope with moving from one class to the one next door once a year, she is already going to be under extreme stress just coping with a new school never mind having her sets changed.

I am at the point of giving up

[ReallyTired]

"We are talking about a child who cannot cope with moving from one class to the one next door once a year, she is already going to be under extreme stress just coping with a new school never mind having her sets changed."

I am sure that your child will be resilent enough to cope with the joys of secondary school.

Your child is still very little. You will be surprised how much she grows up in the next 6 months. Lots of secondaries use mix ablity classes for English in year 7 for at least the first term.

[Ineedmorepatience]

Yes my child is very little! She is in fact roughly 4 years delayed emotionally and socially and is non verbal when stressed!!

Home Ed is looking more attractive by the minute

[MrsKCastle]

It definitely sounds like she's not at level 5. When you say she uses punctuation inconsistently, do you mean she doesn't always use full stops/question marks? Or her work is correctly punctuated, but doesn't use higherl evel punctuation?

I expect my level 5 writers to punctuate correctly throughout, including dashes, semi-colons, brackets, correct use of commas. Plus confidently using paragraphs, a range of sentence structures, lively and engaging style.

There might be the odd piece of work where they have missed out a full stop or something, but if they're jot consistently producing that level, then they're not on that level!

I would ask for another meeting with the teacher and reiterate your concerns.

[ReallyTired]

"Yes my child is very little! She is in fact roughly 4 years delayed emotionally and socially and is non verbal when stressed!!"

Have you spoken to the special needs coordinator or your teacher who will be your child's head of year at your child's secondary. In my experience a good secondary may well be better at supporting such a child than many primary schools. Often secondary schools have programmes like Resilence training or Protective behaviours to help children who struggle with stress or emotionally. Many secondary schools have a base for children who struggle socially which is supervised by a TA to go to at lunch time to escape bullying.

Secondary schools are large in comparision to the typical primary school, but they do try to break them down into smaller units. For example your child will have a head of year and a form tutor. In my experience my son's secondary school really tried to support the year 7s as they got used to the new routines and getting themselves to their lessons with the right equipment.

I imagine that there will be a lot of children who go up to the secondary with inflated grades from your daughter's school. The secondary school is probably used to it.