Attainment levels for year 7. Can anyone explain these results? Is the target too high?

[flamehead]

My daughter is in year 7 and has just had the following results in her report.
The results seem very varied and the targets for end of year 7 seems very high to me for a child in year 7.
Can anyone advise please? What is she doing well in and what needs improving?
She achieved level 5 in Maths, Eng and Science at Primary.

Maths 5c target 6c
English 4a target 5a
Science 6b target 6c
Art 3a target 6c
ICT 5a target 6c
Geog 5b target 6c
History 6c target 6c
Language 2a target 3b
PE 4c target 6c
RE 4a target 6c

Thanks

[hercules1]

I think {havent worked in mainstream for a while) that the targets will be for end of KS3 i.e end of yr 9.

[hercules1]

could be wrong though

[Blandmum]

For science (and I think also in english and maths) they are expected to make 2 levels of progress through KS3.

so if they come in on a 4, they should leave the end of year 9 on a 6, 3 -> 5, 5 -> 7.

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

Targets at my children's secondary are for end of KS3.

[flamehead]

Hi, The report says that the targets are for the end of year 7.

Thanks Emma

[wordgirl]

I have given up trying to make sense of my sons' target levels. DS1's target for PE is 6b yet he never achieves anything higher than a 4 (nor is he likely to!) His marks for attitude are always high which suggests that he is trying his hardest so I'm not quite sure how they expect him to become a brilliant athlete in the next two terms!

[Wisteria]

THe targets in Maths, English, ICT, Geog, Language all look fine but

Science target is lower than achievment which must be wrong
Art is too high
History - not much point in her going at all is there
PE and RE too high.

Results are varied as she has only just started the subjects where she has lower marks.

FWIW I think she's doing very well

[roisin]

6cs are very high for the end of yr7 - unless it's a selective grammar school or something? Or an intense top stream?

At our school the assessments in yr7 are very tough, and many students are still on level 4s (top end rather than bottom end) by the end of the year.

[Wisteria]

The target numbers really depend on how long they have been studying the subject I think as I was confused by this too so asked the achievement manager.

The way it was explained to me was that in subjects where they are already fairly proficient the number will be higher to begin with and level 6 is a realistic target in the 3 'R's etc but where they have only started to become assessed on subjects individually, for instance French etc, the number will inevitably be lower.

I write down all my queries and concerns on receiving the report and take it to parents evening, unless I am really concerned in which case I make an appt to speak to the teacher concerned.
If the marks you have written are correct then I would be asking questions about targets being set very high, for instance the art mark but more especially why the History target is the same and how a science target can be lower (could be a typo - happens far too much on school reports IMO and E).

[Christywhisty]

ours are even more confusing

we have current level, estimated level at end ks3 and target level at end of ks3
For DT which he is very good at and got excellent throughout his report .

his current level 2.b,
estimated level 3c and his
target is 7.b

From what I have been told they use the cats tests and sats to calculate target levels which are supposed to be "challenging but realistic"

His results are very similar to your DD's

English 5c
Maths 5c
science 6c
ict 4b
art 4b
dt 2b
french 2a
games 4c
geography 4c
history 5b
german 2b
music 5c
Re 5c

His targets for languages are 6a, maths and science 7a and everything else 7b.

[Wisteria]

[BellaBear]

As a maths teacher the maths one seem fine. It isn't unusual for children to get the same level or slightly worse as they enter secondary, for whatever reasons, and children with high entry levels (ie 5) should make faster progress than those with low levels (eg 3 or below). So I might expect 6c at the end of Year 7, maybe 7c end of year 8 and 7a or 8c at the end of year 9, roughly.

Agree the Science one needs revisiing, but it is useful to see that she is exceeding expectations at this stage. (So even if it revised upwards, they should keep a record of the original target as well)

Haven't a clue about other subjects, maths levels are very objective!

[Christywhisty]

Wisteria will answer on other thread

[BellaBear]

Was replying to OP but it works for Christy too!

[fizzbuzz]

A target is a grade which a child is supposed to AIM for if they really really work. It isn't nessecarily what they are expected to get, it is a target to inspire them, which they are supposed to aspire to

[inamuckingfuddle]

if the school is using Fischer Family Trust to set targets they may come out high as they provide targets at different levels, so a high achieving school will use the higher set of targets in order to push kids more

[BellaBear]

fizzbuzz - yes I agree, I meant I would expect to see those levels as targets, not necessarily as outcomes, but I wasn't clear

[fizzbuzz]

...and don't those bloody Fischer Family Trust targets cause some hassle...Suddenly every kid is now capable of getting much higher,and these are often used as a stick to beat the poor old staff with

[fizzbuzz]

[dayofftomorrow]

If this is year 7 they only have a term to go on and targets are set from the levels supplied from primary school (using english and maths levels to set targets for history, re, geography, art and music!!!!) as your DC moves through years 7,8 and 9 the targets are revised depending on how she does.
Also science is a completely different kettle of fish at secondary school normally taught by specialists as opposed to primary school teachers who tend to have very little scientific interest/knowledge/ability.
Once they get to year 10 the targets change again into target GCSE grades another system to get your head round

[stockholm]

my son got a level 6c for his maths and his target was 5b is this a good level its very hard to understand

[Dingle]

Please could I ask what level is expected at the end of KS3 then?

My son is due to start Grammar in September and they have an accelerated curriculum, so am I right in thinking he will only have 2 years to achieve these "expected" targets?

[PowderMum]

Stockholm levels go like this
Lowest to highest
5c
5b
5a
6c
6b
6a
7c etc

So a 6c is two levels above 5b.
This is good in Y7
If got a 5 at KS2 he should achieve a 7 by Y9`

[bruffin]

this thread is over 2 years old, I was christywhisty in those days and DS has now just finished KS3! Pleased to say he met his KS3 targets

[ibizagirl]

My daughter is in year 7 at a good high school and is in set 1 for lessons. Recently she had tests for maths and although she always has been really "brainy" she gained level 7b on all three papers. She said that it was a good mark although many in her class did get similar results and they have done gsce maths exams already this year. So not sure what she will get in future as some of the work still seems easy for her in most subjects although the teachers do push them.