How do secondary schools manage children with below average SATS.

[JakeBullet]

I will be asking this question of the secondary school which DS will be attending from September but thought I would ask here too.

DS is autistic with ADHD, when he went into Y3 he could not read and was on P-Scales for attainment in all areas. There was a massive change when he went into medication for ADHD as within three months if starting it he could read....it was a massive success for him.

Now at the end if Y6 DS has achieved Level 3 across the board and Level 4 for reading. I am very very proud of him and very grateful to his school and his paediatrician for helping him.

Now to my concerns, virtually all parents posting in Facebook seem to be showing that their children have achieved Level 5 and the occasional Level 6! I know that Level 4a is the expected level of attainment at the end of Y6 and DS even at reading has only achieved Level 4c (I say "only" but am aware that this is massive from where he was).

I am also aware that children not achieving L4 at end of Y6 have a less than 1% chance of getting 5 good GCSE grades. I got that from Sir Michael Tomlinson as I am part of a local education forum which he chairs.

So I guess my question is how secondary schools support children who have not reached that magic Level 4. I want to help DS achieve the best results that he can within education and we do read at home and do practice sheets/workbooks to help him prepare for homework (which will be a whole other issue).

What do schools do to help children in my DS's case?

[Theas18]

You need to ask for specifics but my experience is that at a decent community school the larger numbers mean that additional needs/extra support is actually pretty good.

At a level3 your child certainly wont be the lowest attainer in the year group. It's only part of the normal distribution that is as far away from the "expected" 4A as the level 6 kids are in the other direction (so, statistically for every amazing mumsnet child doing level 6 papers that we hear about- and there are lots, there will be another equally amazing mumsnet child who is level 3, and we just don't hear about them)

Please call the school, this week and put all your minds at rest- speak to the SENCO and find specifics and what you can do to ease transition. I'm quite surprised that you/the school haven't approached this already as several kids I know with additional needs have had extra settling in/transition meetings etc

[CharmQuark]

You should be offered an induction interviewee at the new school at which you can ask for a mtg with the head of Inclusion, or however they name it there.

Obviously his SATS. Levels have been affected by his specific condition, with the right support he may well be able to make the sort of leap he made when he learned to read. No reason at all why he should follow a broad statistical average, he is an individual child with individual needs and ability.

As you say, he did extremely well to catch up on his reading like that, and he sounds bright. The school need to appreciate the affect if his ASD.

Good luck!

[lljkk]

You should post on FB that you are very proud of your son's SAT results, too, of how much progress he's made & how hard he's worked if you want to elaborate at all. You don't need to explain why or what they were. Your pride is as valid as anyone else's. Bit gauche to declare exact levels, imho.

I chatted to SEN dept at DD's high school a few weeks about DS (still yr5, who has behavioural issues but not below avg academically).
I'm sure this must vary by school. At DD's school any child on SEN-register would be flagged up & offered extra support. The very lowest achievers would be in a separate class where they get all the same lessons but at a pace they can handle and with small ratio of adults: kids. They are allowed out to join rest of student populations for the subjects they can handle well. Virtually none have PE, art or catering with the support group, for instance. At our school everybody in yr7 has the same subjects at same time (pretty much) so very easy to slot in and out.

I agree with others who have said that your son should be possible to accommodate in regular lower sets at most schools, he's not that far below median, in a big enough group will be many working near his level.

[lljkk]

children not achieving L4 at end of Y6 have a less than 1% chance of getting 5 good GCSE grades. I got that from Sir Michael Tomlinson

What is "good"? 99% of kids who don't get all 4+ also don't get 5 GCSE x C or better including English and math? Or something else?

[purpleroses]

"good" GCSEs means C or better.

At my DS's school (average comprehensive), they give a lot of extra basic skills support for kids who are in the lowest set. The tend to drop a foreign language by Y9 and may miss some of the other less key subjects to get extra small group support with English and maths. One of DS's best friends gets all this.

When they come to GCSE options they offer a whole range of different routes to suit different kids. Whilst the more academic ones will do 9 or 10 GCSEs, others will do maybe 5 or 6 alongside some BTECs and/or extra basic skills - which again is English or maths (or English as a foreign languge, if that's needed). They guide the kids as to which path to take - so they're encourage to do the academic stuff if they're good at it, but not if they're not.

I would guess with a child like your DS they'd be wanting to get his English and maths up to a reasonable level (C grade if possible) but would also want to encourage him to find other areas he is good at.

[NigellasDealer]

mu dd went into a small class and was never offered an MFL.
her reading age at that time was about 7 or 8. The small class was not counted as part of the 'mainstream'.
she was in the small class for year 7 8 and some of 9.
the support offered was fantastic - there were about 14 people in the class.
she is now in year 10 and has a reading age of 16 plus and doing GCSEs.

[lljkk]

This suggests (Table 5.2) the quote from Sir Tomlinson is wrong.

1-5% of pupils who get below level 3 at KS1 will get the magical 5 GCSE figure.
9-18% of the pupils who get L3 go on to get the magical 5 GCSEs.
So that's 10-23% below L4 who get the magical 5 GCSEs.
Even the kids who finish primary on L5+ still have a 3-6% chance of not getting the magical 5 GCSEs.
Those numbers are a bit out of date and the general trends are for Ls and magical-5-GCSEs to both increase.

Obviously below L4 not ideal, but if you're gonna fret may as well do it on accurate data.

[Mostlyjustaluker]

Work should be differentiated appropriately. Have you spoken to the senco at the new school? If not make contact ASAP.

This year I have taught yr 7 nurture group and lower ability yr 7 humanities class. Work was adapted to fit their needs. He will be expected to make at least 2 sub levels of progress and there is growing pressure on teachers to make sure this happens.

Feel free to pm me with specific questions.

[JakeBullet]

Thanks for the comments and thank you for that data lljk. Makes better reading and I might ask him about this in case I misunderstood him. He is part of a local education project I contribute to so that's how I got into conversation with him before.

I have spoken to his allocated 1-1 at the new school today and she has reassured me about a lot of stuff.

DS will have extra support in Maths and English, they will also enrol him in homework club as he sees anything school related as "school stuff to be done at school" so home work IS a battle.

Feel much more reassured about everything.

[Badvoc2]

Is t expected level at end if year 6 4b?

[Mostlyjustaluker]

4b is certainly not what I would consider to be a very low level.

[lljkk]

I can't figure out how to link, but if you google for "GCSE AND EQUIVALENT RESULTS IN ENGLAND 2011/12 (REVISED)" there is a spreadsheet worth a look (Try Table 1d). I think you'd have to calculate %s for yourself, but seems roughly same as the other link I gave.

[lljkk]

ooh, I know what I'm looking for now, it's called a "transition matrix". Google for those words & see this link, too.

[TheHappyCamper]

At my bog standard comp he would be in a small set of around 12 pupils for academic type lessons such as English, Maths, Science, Humanities. There would be 1-2 teaching assistants with the class. Work would be highly differentiated, probably from level 1 to 3. Very little homework would be set. He would join mixed ability classes for PE, Art, Tech, PHSCE with the rest of his peers.

Pupils below level 4 attract 'catch up' funding to help them get up to level 4 quickly, and remember they will still be wanting him to make 2 sub levels progress per year - whatever the starting point.

You could ask if you could pop into school and see what they are providing for this year's weaker pupils to get an idea? It might help set your mind at ease.

[littledrummergirl]

Speak to the senco. They seem to have a number of different techniques depending on the child.
Ours has been amazing and ds2 is starting to fly.

[Takver]

DD's school starts out with over 40% of pupils reading below 9 year old level, and their GCSE results are perfectly acceptable (not sky-high, but nothing shocking), so plenty of them obviously catch up from yr 7 on.

They have a catch-up unit for yr 7s who are struggling across the board which pupils may be in for just a few weeks - a friend's ds was there for a term I think, homework and literacy clubs, Read/Write inc sessions & loads of stuff.

I think just the size of secondary schools means they're able to provide much more support than a typical primary (& this is a small rural secondary, not a big urban school).