Are there any teachers about??? and can you please answer me some questions on grades and reports etc........

[Psychomum5]

DD1 and DD2 have received their reports.

now I am pleased with them in the whole....they are making progress and their attitude to learning is good (which is what I tell them I want)....

BUT

they get grades like 4c/5a/6b etc.

they are graded on yr6 (or yr8) grades, spring term grades, what they are working at now grades, and what their aim is grades.

problem is, I have no idea what they should be on.....there is no idication what the average is, what the rest of the class is roughly achieving, what the government reckons they should be achieving.

bow, I can see where their grades have improved.....I can see where their grades have not improved........what I cannot get is whether they are working to what they should be, above what they should be, or below.......do you understand???

I hav tried to ask the school....they claim not to get what I am asking......apparently I am asking for the grades for all the girls in their classes....I am not....I want to know if my girls are keeping up with where they should, or dropping, or are above where they should be.

sooooooo

anyone help???

if anyone knows the rough averages for yr7 and yr9 on all subjects (not just core subjects), that would be wonderful.

OR, if you can tell me why their teachers cannot tell me (as when I ask they seem to busy to explain), that also would be wonderful.

TIA

[popsycal]

very vsgurely, st the end of y6, 'they' say thst the 'asverage; chid should be around A 4B. THE A, B AND C ARE RE4FERRED TO AS SUBLEVELS with a being highest and c lowest.

Expected progress would usually be 2 sublevels per academic year - so if 4b at end of year 6, adequate progress by end of year 7 is 5c. does that make snese?

BUT!!!!!!
Are they happy at school? Are teachers writing nice comments? Do they try hard? Do they hand in homework?

That is more imortant than some target-driven, politically laden tosh.

IMHO

[seeker]

Happy to tell you what my year 7 dd got for hers if it would help?

[Psychomum5]

seeker......yes please (altho DD2 is dyslexic so her grades are low anyway)...it still gives me an average to work with tho IYGWIM.

popsycal.......their reports tell me that they are concienscious (sp?) girls, well liked, well respected, good attitude. I am thrilled....honestly thrilled as that is what I want form them.

I just widh that I could understand these sodding grades!!!!

what happened to A,B,C ect???

[seeker]

OK - any particular subject?

[seeker]

subjects, I mean.

[popsycal]

I have nagged and nagged our management to issue 'expected' levels with reports as parents obviously don't get it - and why should they. SO they issued this time @Most pupils in year 5 will achieve levels ranging from level 2 to level 5'
grrrrr

[seeker]

We got a current level and an end of year target for each subject in November, May and July. Don't know about progress in relation to anyone else in the class, but it was easy to track dd's personal progress as the levels and targets changed.

[Psychomum5]

any......literacy for yr7 will be low for DD2 anyway as her dyslexia was only confirmed last sept, but it would still help.

as for the others.......like I say, any please.

I will tell you what she is now....( I know it is low, but she has started the year being graded at 5yr old standard {her old school let us down in a dreadful way})...she is level 3a now, working to get level 5c.

pretty much all other subjects are 4a (french is level 2 but she has just started that so I think that is normal?).

[popsycal]

to me the 'working to get' bit sounds like school ssaying that is tyhe 'average' - not of the school but nationally expected as 5c is 2 sub levels higher than the 'expected 4b at end of year 6

[Piffle]

ds yr9
all 7s and 8 for maths
he is v high achiever btw what is expected by yr9 nationally is level 5 ds1 says?

[seeker]

Psycho - I'm not sure this is a good idea, thinking about it - my dd is at selective grammar school, so I suspect her levels and targets will be above average. For example, her English target was 6B - she got 6C. He Spanish target was 4C - she got 3A. History target 5C - got 6C.

[Psychomum5]

argh.....no....probably not average then, nor a good idea!!!

I just want to know how far behind DD2 is, and if DD1 is up on target!!!

DD1 (YR9) is on 6a's for many, 5a's for some.

see. this is where these sodding grades are pants, surely....we have no idea if our children are on target or not!

thankyou anyway

[Heated]

Ok, broadly speaking in English an average-to-good year 7 pupil works at levels within 4 to 5; a very good student might be level 6. If they come in on level 3 that is considered weak and they automatically get catch-up in maths and English.

In year 9, in English they sit a level 5-7 paper which reflects the levels year 9 achieve. Weaker students might get level 4 and for exceptional students a teacher assessment of level 8 or exceptional performance can be given.

The sub-divisions should mean c=working within the lower end of the level, b= securely working at that level, a=working at the upper end of that level, possibly showing signs of the next level.

I think a lot of other subjects are roughly in line with this except modern foreign languages.

[Heated]

Dh has corrected me a little. He says at his school level 5-6 in yr 9 is the average.

[Heated]

Studies show that on average a pupil progresses a whole level in about 18m.

Parents, I find, are much happier when dcs get to GCSE and get grades

[Psychomum5]

heated, thankyou. makes a bit more sense now

[Piffle]

in which case 5-6 in yr9 is excellent psycho!
I have to concede this levels shizz does my head in too
thank god yr10 next and its Grades!!!!!!!!!!

[worzella]

Similar in maths - most year 7s work at 4-5
year 8 5-6 and year 9 5 - 7. Schools are measured on the amount of level 5s and above in year 9 ('good' schools get maybe 80 - 90% level 5 and above) Exceptional students get a level 8 and the weakest are still at level 3.

If students aren't looking likely to get a level 5 at the end of year 9 then they are often offered booster lessons to increase achievement.

In terms of GCSE maths it is generally considered that achieving a good level 5 is a good indicator of whether a student will achieve a grade C

Most of our top set year 7s came in with a level 5 at KS2.

[Heated]

Yes, on some assessment grids it equates level 5 with future gcse grade c, 6 with a B and 7/8/EP with A/A* - although last year one of the previous level 5s got two grade As for English, which is why I keep bandying words like 'broadly'!

[Psychomum5]

right, so for DD1, she is on aim for at least grade C GCSE's, is that what we are lookikng at????

I will be happy with that for her, as will she, as it at least means that the college course is covered.

[3andnomore]

I don't understand theses grades neither...what is wrong with saying a/b/c/d/e/f and plus and minus....I mean, if they want to do the grading thing as it is, maybe they should give parents a pointer of what it all actually is....grrrr....

[Psychomum5]

I wonder that too.....why did they change them????

worked ok before didn;t they!!!

[Heated]

It depends on how much her dyslexia impacts ie. are we talking poor spelling? Poor spelling and poor syntax? Problems with processing info and making herself clear...and how good the support is.

Levels and CATs predictors are quite good for predicting GCSE core subjects but not that relevant for predicting subjects like PE, art, music, design etc

[MaureenMLove]

I'm just about getting my head around levels, but why oh why do the sub-levels work the opposite way round to the numbers? I.e 4c 4b 4a, 5c 5b 5a. It would make life a whole lot easier if it went 4a 4b 4c wouldn't it? Or is it just me? DD got a 6b for maths btw, end of yr 7! [v. proud mummy emoticon!]

[Psychomum5]

heated.....DD2 has poor spelling, poor processing (auditory processing problems), poor syntax skills (equvilent to age 6 I think....very low I know and she is 12 now)....oh, and poor verbalising skills too....she is (was) very far behind. She has made up 2yrs progress in 6mths, so one proud mum here.....I still do not understand these grades tho!!!

maureen.......feel proud