Awful Year for DD1 (Y3)

[Mazzymaz]

Hi, my DD1 has just completed Y3 at her school. Up until this year she has been doing very well at school and is very bright.
The classes were mixed up at the end of Y2 and since then we've had some problems. She was placed with one friend in new Y3 class but no-one else from her larger friend pool who are all in the other class. Unfortunately her friend from Y2 has become incredibly popular and left my DD1 behind. She has no other friends in her class and although she appears confident is quite shy socially (although she is a girl who is very sociable). She has been picked on a few times this year (name calling and the like) and it has not been noticed by the teacher (a NQT) and DD1 has waited weeks before she has told me what has been happening. The last time has been by the boys and girls on her table (they are placed in ability groups). This has affected her confidence quite badly. She does now have friends from the other class who she plays with at playtimes but she is pretty much on her own in the classroom.
We have just received her report and she has made very little progression (from a 3C at end of Y2 to a 3B at end of Y3) despite the fact that we were told at Parents Evening in January that she was doing well and needed to be stretched. She is and has been on the highest ability table all the way through school and I know that children who were on the equivalent grading at the end of Y2 who are now in the other class have all progressed onto Level 4. She is obviously not doing as well as she should and I'm not sure how much of this is down to the teacher and also the problems she has had in the class.
What do I do??? She will be in this class for the rest of her primary education.

[AramintaCane]

3b is very good for year three i think ?

[katiestar]

Lots of children appear to not make progress between Y2 and Y3 .This is partly because of teh grading which makes it harder to get a level 3 on KS2 papers than KS1 , and partly because rmany children actually plateau at about this age and then take off agin in Yr5 and Y6.Also at our school teacher officially grades one piece of work per subject each half term and the level seems to fluctuate like mad !So I would say the levek she is given on any one occasion should be taken with caution
I think it is good that your DD has got good friends in other classes to play with at playtime and braek.IME having best buddies in teh same class isn't necessarily all that beneficiial,in fact quite a distraction to the child as they get older.
I think an occasional bit of teasing,name calling etc is par for the course and the children have to learn reilience,but if its more sustained then you need to flag it up with the school.

[Mazzymaz]

Yes, 3B is good but according to her teacher from last year she should be on a 4.
Does anyone know how they assess them in Y3 - is it tests or continual assessment.

[Fennel]

I wouldn't take the grading on sats too seriously.

one of my dds went from a 2 to a 4 between yr2-yr3 in literacy (a jump of 3 years?) and a 3 to a 3 in numeracy (no progress whatsoever). I suspect she actually made fairly equivalent progress in each subject. They can be quite rough estimates.

[ingles2]

She would have been on 3a for her 2 sub levels a year not a level 4.
There is a big jump between yr2 and 3.
I don't think 3b is a problem at all, it is still above average and it maybe that she has plateaued a little.
I'm interested in how you know she is not doing as well as she "should"... on paper she is doing better than. Is it more, not as well as you expected or have benn led to believe by one teacher?

[Mazzymaz]

I suppose I'm just concerned by the lack of progress. It doesn't matter what the grade is she just doesn't seem to have moved on much in a year. What worries me most is that her confidence has taken such a dive in this new class which I think may have affected her work, i'm having to push her in the door every morning whereas before this year she was bouncing in. I just hope it's not a continuing situation and she settles in more next year....

[ingles2]

Mazzy there is a very good chance she is finding the work harder this year which is why she seems less confident. There really is such a difference between the expectations in yr 2 and yr3 and not just academically.
My eldest (now yr 4) sailed through yr 3 which was a shock as he didn't have much confidence, but my youngest who is also yr 3 has found it much much harder.
He was the confident, full of beans one in yr 2... he's struggled with the extra responsibility,the amount of concentration etc and I really think there is a disparity between level 3 in yr 2 and a level 3 in yr 3.
Hopefully this has reassured you, and your dd will be happier come Sept but if not, then make a appt to see the teacher and see what she thinks.