Report doesn't accurately reflect child's ability - does that matter in the long run?

[Shellandwhale]

Hello,

I just want some feedback on whether this issue matters or not in the long term, because I can't decide.

Background

We have a parents evening for my son who is 8 years old (so Y3) in a fortnight. It's the school's policy to send out a one page report before that, which we received earlier this week. It doesn't have much detail, just levels of achievement for three subjects, writing, reading and maths.

I'm sure this is going to make me sound like 'that' parent - but the levels on my sons report really don't reflect his current level of achievement at all, and I don't know if this is going to be a problem or not.

It's not just me that thinks this. My SIL is a primary school teacher and a no nonsense person who wouldn't lie to me to make me feel better if you know what I mean, and when I showed her the report she said she felt school had seriously underestimated his ability level in two areas.

For example, at the beginning of the year he was moved up several levels on the reading scheme. He is now at the 2nd highest rung on the scheme, so he only has to go up one more before he finishes Year 6. But the 'level' he was given on his report for reading was the equivalent of a C for achievement which is classed as 'needing additional intervention'. I cannot see how that can be the case, he is a fluent reader and has great comprehension. He was also given the equivalent of a D for Maths which is classed as 'needing significant intervention', which I also don't agree with. He did well in his SATS for Maths so I can't see how he could be at the 'significant intervention' level this year.

Question

Do you think this is worth worrying about? It's not the final report he'll get in this academic year - so it's possible that his levels will be adjusted anyway by the end of the year.

As far as I know at the moment, they don't stream them in class according to these levels so he will still be doing the same work as everybody else - so it's not like he'll be disadvantaged or missing out anyway. So that part of if makes me think I should just let it go, because it's not going to affect what he achieves ultimately anyway.

But on the other hand it worried me when I read it because I felt like they've got him 'wrong'. He's one of those children who doesn't stand out. He's typically fairly quiet by nature and well behaved, most of the time, so he sometimes slips between the cracks in my opinion as quiet children sometimes do. In a previous year he had a teacher who struggled with the class and he was completely overlooked by her - she sometimes even called him by the wrong name and it was fairly evident at her parents evening that she didn't really know him at all.

I feel more confident about his teacher this year who seems more with it on the surface, which is part of why I was taken aback by the report.

I don't want to overreact and I don't want to come across as precious either. I'm struggling with my anxiety at the moment so I don't know how much that plays into it.

Sorry that was really long but I didn't want to drip feed.

Thank you for reading.

[AlexaShutUp]

Not sure that it matters enormously in the end but I can see why you might be concerned. Why not just tell the teacher that you were surprised by the grades and ask what intervention they think is required. They'll either explain their reasoning or realise that some sort of error has occurred.

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

At parents evening just ask what it is that they see to give him xyz scores. Ask what you can do to supper his studies. Ask and be on ‘their side’ (so not suggesting they are wrong or being lazy). ‘I’m surprised to see a D when he did so well in the SATs - why do you think that was?’.

We’ve had cut and paste from previous reports.

I find they are just a wee snapshot - like parents evenings there should be no surprises or shocks.

Please don’t worry about it - reports can be stress inducing!

[Quitedrab]

Yes, of course, go ask. Maybe he has problems you're unaware of.

[user1474894224]

Are you sure they aren't reporting on end of year. So at this point in term it would be typical for a y4 to only be 'emerging' rather than 'established' in a skill as there are still 5 half terms to go. Also school have to report on progress - they want to see 3 levels of progress per year.....often teachers targets are linked to this - so you won't see them mark kids to high to soon.

[applesandpears33]

I wonder if you have received a report intended for someone else, or if the teacher has confused your son with another boy. I'd raise it at the parents night.

[user1474894224]

....as for does this really matter long term. Not really. As long as he is being continually challenged in his learning don't worry too much.

[Danglingmod]

I'd assume it's someone else's report, tbh. I'd either ask about it before Parents' Evening or on the appointment itself as to what his correct levels are. If he's an above average reader and also did fine in Yr 2 SATS, he can't possibly be needing "significant intervention" now!

[Marchitectmummy]

I dont think it matters maybe just have a chat with the teacher when you see them.

What level are the other children on with reading? Only reason I ask is a couple from the end of the scheme could mean anything, not all schools continue to dark red or 16 - 20 levels. Our children's school it would be the lower end of the class to still be on the reading scheme in year 3. Most are moved to free reading by the mid to end of year 2 in their case and levels 16 upwards are replaced with books of the children's choice.

[Shellandwhale]

Thank you so much for all these replies, I really appreciate it.

@user1474894224 no I'm not sure about that, I will have to ask. I hadn't considered that so thank you. In the back of my mind I did wonder if this might be in order to show progression.

@applesandpears33 and @danglingmod that crossed my mind as well, about it being the wrong data in the report. There is a behaviour and effort section which sounds accurate to him so who knows.

Thank you to everyone else who suggested I bring it up, I will do now because I feel like I'm not being unreasonable to at least wonder what is going on.

[userabcname]

Definitely discuss with the teacher as it doesn't tally at all. I'm a secondary teacher and at one parents' evening one girl's parents sat down and started gravely expressing their concern at her report for my subject - I was utterly baffled as their daughter was a lovely girl who was doing really well. Turned out the report in front of them bore no resemblance to my records - she'd been put down as the lowest scores for behaviour and effort and her assessment score was completely wrong! Not sure what happened - I guess an admin mix up somewhere along the line- but it was easily rectified and I was so pleased they brought it to my attention as the poor girl had really been stressing about it. So it could even be something like that.

[DelphiniumBlue]

Let the teacher know in advance that you have serious concerns triggered by the report, which you want to discuss in detail. Ask if the slot given at parents evening will be sufficient, or whether you should make a separate appointment .
My experience of reports is that they are usually backed up by test results and checked by SLT, so it is unlikely that a mistake has been made. Its more likely that your DS hasn't given evidence of his ability, and this should be a matter of concern to you and the school. What does DS say? Is he completing his work? Is there a reason why he might not be committing himself on paper?

[Shellandwhale]

Thank you again for the replies. I will see if it's possibly a mistake.

@DelphiniumBlue it's hard to get a sense of what is going on from my son. I do ask him everyday what he's been doing but he doesn't tell me if he fails to complete stuff. I used to be able to tell because last year they had some lessons in which they had 3 levels of task to complete in a set time, and he nearly always managed to progress to the third level. But they don't seem to do it that way this year.

They don't get homework other then practising spellings every week and times tables, which he is nearly perfect at when I watch him do that. We don't have access to anything else that he writes or works on, but we do get to see the books at parents evening so I'll have a sense then I suppose.

I can see an scenario in which he perhaps doesn't write enough in English lessons. Not in maths however, because he's very enthusiastic about that.

What is the SLT?

[AlexaShutUp]

Senior leadership team

[RedskyLastNight]

Two possibilities

• he's not demonstrating his ability at school
• the report is measuring against expected levels based on where he started the year (flight paths) so he might be doing well, but not as well as the school expect him to do. If he's starting from a high baseline it might be very hard for him to do as well as he's expected (one year my DD was giving "average" on her report despite getting basically top marks in nearly every piece of work - it turned out to meet her expected levels she would have to have actually got top marks in every single test).

[Changemyname18]

From year 3 my DS did not demonstrate the ability/intelligence shown at home when he was at school. Did well in KS1 SATS, Fundamentally, kids have to write a lot more from this stage, and work faster. Writing is not something boys tend to demonstrate/choose to do at home at this age. After a few years of confusion and almost becoming 'that parent' he was diagnosed as a high ability kid with dyslexia. Shows up in written work and slower processing speed. Verbally he was ahead of most of his peers. Maybe this teacher is good at spotting potential need for intervention. Go along and as others have said, say you are suprised and ask what interventions they would offer and why.I say with sympathy as we struggled to understand how the attainment of our bright boy suddenly halted. We didn't have a teacher who spotted it either...

[Rhayader]

I had a similar issue where my kid got “just about meeting” for what I considered to be her best subject (but higher on others). I asked the teacher and she said it was a mistake and she should be a 3 (comfortably meeting but not exceeding). She was put in top sets just after so it must be a separate system 🤷‍♀️

[Godstowe]

Where both my children have been concerned, there have been teachers who simply failed to grasp strengths or weaknesses, that have had significant impacts on their progress. In my eldest daughter's case, her primary school failed to accept any possibility of her being dyslexic, as she had developed coping strategies for reading and memorising spellings which simply disguised the problem. We had to get an Ed Pysch assessment to prove we were right all along. With our youngest child, it sounds just like your scenario. We knew she was bright, but her early reports were simply mediocre. She was the class wallflower, increasingly bored and disinterested. But of course these teachers knew best. An infant school with 3 teachers who had a combined age of not much more than my own! It was ridiculously frustrating. We got an Ed Psych assessment, and the results blew their opinions out of the water big time. She wasn't just able, she was seriously gifted, and they had not spotted one iota of this. Needless to say, we moved school. If you feel something isn't right, then please do trust your instincts. Don't ever feel you are 'that parent', you are simply questioning what any parent would. Good luck.

[Awkward1]

As a PP said what band is he on and how far do the bands go at the school?
Most kids in our school were free readers by some time in yr 2. But we only go up to like.
I would ask what the target is by the end of the year.

[83maddog83]

Agree with user147. At our school they base it on where they should by the end of the school year, so none of the children will be at expected yet as the year has only just begun.

[Shellandwhale]

UPDATE

I just wanted to nip back and thank everyone who helped with this.

We had parents evening last night, and it was all cleared up. Basically as many of you suggested it was fine. He is doing well and the teacher believes he will be achieving what he is meant to achieve by the end of the year. The levels are just based on where he should be at the end of the year compared to where he is now.

My personal take on it all is that the teachers interpretation of the levels is a little on the cautious side. I got the impression that I wasn't the first parent to raise this as it was the first thing that was explained to me when I sat down - so I'm not the only one who got confused.

We've been given a few things to work towards with him. I'm also going to be trying to work on improving his confidence in speaking out.

Thank you so much for all the help, it really gave me lots to think about and also some ideas of what to ask.