I'm a soon-to-be year 7 parent. My daughter is starting secondary school in September in our local comprehensive school, based in the borough of Richmond.
I'm a bit confused with target setting in secondary. I've just learned they band children - for the purposes of target setting - based on KS2 SATs results and I'm not entirely sure how it works. Also, for Maths (but not English) they group them in ability groups. Apparently it's 4 ability groups.
These are the secondary target setting bands, based on scaled scores at KS2 score, average of Maths & English:
- 80-100 Launching
- 101-105 Progressing
- 106-111 Securing
- 112-120 Mastering
Can someone tell me what this really means? If a child is placed, for example, in the "Mastering" band, does it mean they will work at a higher level with that band?
Will the school also use these bands for ability grouping in Maths, initially? It does say they will be tested again in October.
Or perhaps they will all work at the same level, but simply they are expected to get very high GCSE scores because they came in with high KS2 scores - and therefore they will be considered as failing expectations if they don't get high GCSEs? (Isn't it better if the child gets low KS2 scores then, so that they are banded low and they have great progress by the end of secondary?).
Thanks.