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School refusing access to exam results

261 replies

Rainbowstarssunlight · 16/07/2026 22:12

My daughter is just about to finish year 2. A few weeks ago, she started coming home from school saying that they were doing exams. This went on for about two weeks and she told us that for four out of the five days they were doing exams and then having a rest on the fifth day. Obviously, I don’t know if this is true as kids can be unreliable when it comes to time!

I have asked the School for the results of these exams. I’ve been told that they are for internal monitoring only and not to be shared with parents.

I feel a little bit miffed about this. She seemed to spend a considerable time doing them without the School informing us and I don’t really see what the point was if we can’t use the results to help to support her learning at home.

I’ve always had a good relationship with the school and don’t want to upset the apple cart but I do feel that they’re being a little bit unreasonable. Do you agree or is it me?!

OP posts:
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Ohdearanotherone · 19/07/2026 19:17

You are being unreasonable. Wait till you get to secondary school and they have tests every few weeks. Anything you need to know will be in their school reports, don’t panic,

a1056798 · 19/07/2026 19:14

Telling OP to chill and making assumptions about her parenting is odd and does not come from a great place. OP, I would say this, I hear the advocating for your child in your posts and wanting to have a greater understanding of her academic journey. People say, oh she's 7. Well I feel SATs at 10/11 are a lot as are the GCSEs and A levels. The educational system in UK is designed around testing and puts a lot of stress on kids. I'm a pragmatist and it is what it is. OP, I will say it's natural to want to know where your child is showing gaps in learning. Some of the responses (when distilled) speak to the issue that some of these gaps can't really be addressed yet because in year 2 they are still absorbing how to process information, how to engage with school, and other big life things like being part of a cohort and community. My child is off to secondary and received her SATs results recently, and many will say those are useless and only useful for the schools stats. I am not going to debate that. However, I will say, I did find the lack of feedback from school (and its a great school) but there was a very generic doing very well for all of primary. In the process of looking at the KS2 SATs, it was super valuable because we were able to see concrete places where there were super easy fixes - for example forgetting about order of operations, or not placing a line under the addition question because her teacher said it had to be done with a ruler or not at all - so she would just have a bunch of numbers all lined up and floating around so easy calculations became jumbled. At the end of the day - I approached these exams as a chance to understand her learning process better, consolidate her learning, and teach her how to take and enjoy taking these exams. All children are different - no paths are the same. There are leaps in learning - as long as you are not trying to pressure the child at a pace beyond what's comfortable - and nothing you have said indicates that - then I would say there will be a lack of info (our experience) coming from the school. I supplemented her education - built on what school taught because I wanted to ensure she had a strong foundation, particularly in maths (I did not have one myself and it was a source of stress). In year 2 that would not have been possible as she was still too young and I looked at my role as more of a forensic analyst - see what was there and where I could contribute to her growth and giving her a strong foundation. I'm not telling anyone else how to do it, or debating the value of testing. But, I do get where you're coming from and also understand the frustration which is more of a general needing more feedback. Pedagogy is great patch work of different styles and methods and all this to say - don't look at the school for detailed clues about your child's journey. Accepting that will take away some headaches - also grain of salt on MN. I don't have a roadmap - just my experience. So far, we've had excellent results in testing broadly, but more specifically she feels really confident and likes the journey. We all know they are more than numbers, and we are all doing our best with our unique kids. All the best to all.

Ploomv · 18/07/2026 18:29

KrazyKatty · 18/07/2026 18:00

Presumably you’re entitled to see the marked pieces under the terms in the General Data Protection Act?

I’m in Ireland so totally different here and far more open. We can chat to teachers at the gate if we want to query something. It’s no big deal. 🤷🏻‍♀️

That's exactly what it's like where I teach (in England).

Supersleepysheepy · 18/07/2026 18:19

KrazyKatty · 18/07/2026 18:00

Presumably you’re entitled to see the marked pieces under the terms in the General Data Protection Act?

I’m in Ireland so totally different here and far more open. We can chat to teachers at the gate if we want to query something. It’s no big deal. 🤷🏻‍♀️

They probably just chuck the papers out as soon as they've entered the data.

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 18:05

@KrazyKatty exam/assessment papers are exempt under SAR, including internal ones

OP could request results formally

KrazyKatty · 18/07/2026 18:00

Presumably you’re entitled to see the marked pieces under the terms in the General Data Protection Act?

I’m in Ireland so totally different here and far more open. We can chat to teachers at the gate if we want to query something. It’s no big deal. 🤷🏻‍♀️

PeonyBulb · 18/07/2026 17:42

If she was struggling they’d tell you so it seems like she’s where she needs to be

Natsku · 18/07/2026 17:07

Rainbowstarssunlight · 18/07/2026 12:04

Doesn’t seem to be anything. There just a lot of ticks on there. She doesn’t seem to have got anything wrong, which surely can’t be possible?

If she's getting all ticks in her exercise books then it sounds like there aren't any areas she's struggling in at the moment so just do normal things you'd do to support learning like playing boardgames and card games and visiting the library.

Natsku · 18/07/2026 17:06

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 11:50

She likes to help/support others. In some countries, and I think Finland is one, where children have grasped concepts easily they then work with their peers who may not have grasped it as well. Helps embed their understanding

They do often do that in Finland, at least when my DD was in primary, it does help deepen understanding when you try to explain to someone else how to do it (though if a child is very secure at something I dunno how much more helpful that'll be). But DS appears to get stretching work rather than being expected to help peers (except for when he had to literally be a second TA and operate as a translator for a child who didn't speak Finnish)

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 16:26

I would just let her have a relaxing holiday then. Lots of reading. Do they do the library challenge near you (is that still a thing?) and wait until next term and see how she gets on. You can then ask if she is being challenged Doesn’t seem as if you need to worry about anything. I assume you can see progress through the year

If you have not yet broken up maybe ask about the ‘second TA’ comment

PeonyBulb · 18/07/2026 15:37

It’s only year 2 you should know what they can do or not do at this point yourself

Rainbowstarssunlight · 18/07/2026 15:33

No idea if she got as far as the challenging questions. There are no gaps and it looks like she completed all the exercises but presumably there could’ve been other things on the board that she hasn’t copied down?

OP posts:
Rainbowstarssunlight · 18/07/2026 15:32

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 12:16

I remember at one parents evening seeing DS’s maths book with a long list of ticks on one page and being pleased and then the teacher said that wasn’t good as DS had ignored the challenging questions at the end, ( or more likely for him he had run out of time as was a bit of a dreamer) so she was keeping an eye on him and moving him to the challenging ones set in the book once it was obvious he had grasped the concept

I’ve been through all the books and she doesn’t seem to have got anything wrong. The only thing I could find was at one point she was putting her y and g with the tail sitting on the line, but at some point during the year she seems to have stopped that. Telling the time looks fine, multiplication and fractions look fine. There’s just not much to go on there.

OP posts:
sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 12:16

I remember at one parents evening seeing DS’s maths book with a long list of ticks on one page and being pleased and then the teacher said that wasn’t good as DS had ignored the challenging questions at the end, ( or more likely for him he had run out of time as was a bit of a dreamer) so she was keeping an eye on him and moving him to the challenging ones set in the book once it was obvious he had grasped the concept

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 12:10

It is possible is she has grasped the concept, but I would expect things to look harder, if you see what I mean. So simple additions with mathematical symbols, move on to questions with words and no symbols eg in very simple form 1 + 1=2 to Amy had a red football, mummy buys her a blue football, how many footballs does Amy now have

Rainbowstarssunlight · 18/07/2026 12:04

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 11:53

Can you see in her books whether there have been additional challenges for her to do on learning objectives, so she isn’t just doing the same type of sum for example.

But I would follow up that comment, is there a space in the report for parents’ feedback/comments?

Doesn’t seem to be anything. There just a lot of ticks on there. She doesn’t seem to have got anything wrong, which surely can’t be possible?

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sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 11:57

It could also mean something like if a child is struggling to put their coat on she will help them, or sorting out the whiteboards, pens etc

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 11:53

Can you see in her books whether there have been additional challenges for her to do on learning objectives, so she isn’t just doing the same type of sum for example.

But I would follow up that comment, is there a space in the report for parents’ feedback/comments?

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 11:50

She likes to help/support others. In some countries, and I think Finland is one, where children have grasped concepts easily they then work with their peers who may not have grasped it as well. Helps embed their understanding

aliceyyyy2654 · 18/07/2026 11:49

Rainbowstarssunlight · 18/07/2026 11:48

I’ve asked and all I get told is everything is fine and there’s nothing to do. The school report says that she operates as a ‘second TA’ in the classroom. What does that mean?

That’s not a good sign, shows she is finishing her work quickly and helping others rather than being further challenged by the teacher. I would be asking more into that comment (and I am a teacher before anyone jumps on me)

Rainbowstarssunlight · 18/07/2026 11:48

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 11:45

@Rainbowstarssunlight I still think asking about specific areas rather than test results would help identify areas you may want to support on.

I’ve asked and all I get told is everything is fine and there’s nothing to do. The school report says that she operates as a ‘second TA’ in the classroom. What does that mean?

OP posts:
sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 11:45

@Rainbowstarssunlight I still think asking about specific areas rather than test results would help identify areas you may want to support on.

Seashor · 18/07/2026 11:36

I teach KS1. We do end of unit assessments in maths and English after every unit taught. We do end of term assessments and end of year assessments. We analyse them intensely- boy/ girl, FSM, EAL, summer born, SEN, ECHP etc and then we use them to do target interventions.
Emerging, Expected and Exceeding is what the government requires us to use for parents.
If there are any issues and targeted support I’ll tell parents but I certainly wouldn’t be giving parents details of assessments otherwise.

Rainbowstarssunlight · 18/07/2026 11:29

sittingonabeach · 18/07/2026 09:00

@JustMarriedBecca but involved parents with the resources and time won’t close the education gap. There are children now in state who do as well as those in private education. What did you do with your knowledge of the test results if you didn’t tell your DC? Or make them do extra work?

18% of the population are functionally illiterate, so they won’t have the ability to help their DC. Them seeing test papers wouldn’t help their DC’s education.

Many people in England seem proud of the fact they can’t do maths and then tell their DC of the fact and so the issue continues. Those parents seeing the maths papers aren’t going to help. They won’t or can’t help show a different method for learning fractions. During COVID when homeschooling was happening it was very obvious that the maths schooling took a massive backseat in Primary level, with many parents not even trying to engage with it.

Being interested in your child’s education is important, and the best thing you can do is tell your child that education is important, be engaged and to respect your teacher. It’s the attitude towards education that will help reduce some of the gap.

I agree with you but it’s not my responsibility to close the attainment gap. It’s my responsibility to give my child the best education possible.

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BusyMum47 · 18/07/2026 11:01

Northerngirlabroad · 17/07/2026 23:06

I no longer teach in the UK but we use similar assessments and I try to avoid giving results to parents because A) mid year assessments are done to inform my teaching rather than to grade each child, B) end of year assessments are only part of the story when it comes to giving a grade, and C) parents rarely understand what the grades mean and I end up in multiple meetings having to explain that their child hasn't failed because they didn't get 100%. So many children struggle with the pressure of exams and get questions wrong even though I know they understand the topic. Also, the assessments we use are set so that most children who are meeting expectations will get around 60 - 70%. This allows for us to see who is exceeding expectations or working above their age range - if a child who was meeting could easily achieve 100%, it would be difficult to see who was working at the expected level and who was above, as they'd all have the same score. I find that parents will look at a grade of 65%, for example, and think that their child is doing terribly as they have answered 35% of the questions wrong, but this is not the case. I always state the topics that each child needs to work on in their reports (Isla needs to work on finding fractions of numbers, Bobby would benefit from some additional work on the 7 and 8 times tables...) so that parents know what to work on and I find this is much easier for everyone than just giving them a score or an exam paper.

⬆️ Fully agree! (Fellow teacher)

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