School refusing access to exam results

But to what end? What really is the point of giving people data that is of very limited use to them? The whole point of a school report is to distill down all the information a teacher has gathered about a child over the course of the year and to put it into a digestible format for parents to gain a good understanding of where their child is at.

I have children and I completely understand the desire to support them as much as possible and to do that you need some information. However you don’t need the same amount of information as a teacher if you’re not doing the day to day teaching of the child. There’s nothing secretive about that it’s just what seems practical.

Yes - that might well be the case.

But I would say that's for the parent to decide once they have actually had chance to digest the information, not the school - and the SAR legislation would seem to support that view. Which brings me back to my point earlier - under UK law it is parents that are legally responsible for ensuring their child receives and efficient, full time education. They can't do that without the necessary data, context, and transparency. They might delegate that responsibility to the school, but they have a right to monitor it as they see fit within the legislative framework.

I honestly cannot believe this thread! That people would consider a SAR for some year 2 progress assessments is mind boggling! As if schools haven't got enough to bloody do! Yet another thread that reminds me I absolutely made the right choice in not becoming a teacher, some parents are insufferable!!

All because you can doesn't mean you should

And that is fine if the OP wants to go that far, but at 7, unless your child is struggling, I really can't see the benefit for the child, and surely that is the most important person here.

Yes but that wasn’t what OP requested. She wanted the exam scripts so she could look through to see which questions her DD got wrong so she can work on those areas over the Summer.

DD’s scores from each paper will be on a tracking document somewhere, and yes the parent is entitled to that. It will show trends and progress markers but won’t have a breakdown of different areas of learning which is what OP wants. There will not be a tracking document which says that her DD got the division questions all correct but struggled with one of the fractions questions because we don’t input data in that detail. Thankfully.

If OP really wants those test results I’m sure she can have them but I’m not quite sure how she’s going to use them to support her child in specific areas of learning. An informal conversation with the teacher where she asks those questions would be much more informative.

It’s irrelevant who it is most useful for, the school will have an obligation under UK GDPR to give them to the OP

@LittleWhiteRabbit surely more useful for a teacher than a parent

Yes, the exam scripts are exempt.
But the raw data will almost certainly be entered into a detailed Class Data tracking system, which tracks individual progress of each child in each subject in granular detail against the published assessment data and progress statements.

That will provide very useful and detailed information about progress and trajectory objectives, and it's subject to disclosure in a SA request.

Perhaps pity the poor 7 yo in their school setting rather than at home.
Their class teacher will doing the exactly the same - teaching to the assessment criteria every school day.
But instead of a one-to-one in a quiet, supportive enviroment, they are likely to be in a class of 30+ pupils, some of whom will be regularly disrupting lessons and some pupils will have significant SEND issues without the resources or staff to meet their needs.
Is it any wonder that any parent asks for more information than a generic report, and wants to know how their child is actually progressing?

The exam scripts where answers are recorded by the pupils during exams and assessments (which is specifically what the OP wanted) are exempt from SAR disclosure. Schools are not obliged to hand them over.

OP has the right to ask for the raw results but I’m not sure what additional information that will give her when she’s been given her child’s actual books to look at.

If you have genuine concerns about areas of your DDs learning then I think its fair to ask for more details. Not 'exam results' though. That's surely not the language they are using for 7 year olds?

Sadly I have had to be that parent. Teachers saying DD is fine, but then telling me that a reading assessment scored low. They put it down to being a blip but that 'blip' happened every term, coupled with our horrendous experience at home trying to do reading homework with her ('oh but she's fine in class'). Its now confirmed she has dyslexia. We wouldn't have got to this point if I hadn't kept saying to every teacher "something doesn't add up here".

If there are lots of discrepancies between what you are seeing with your DD at home compared to what the teacher is saying then you definitely need to speak up, but if its just because you want to know if she's top of the class and are going to sit her in front of a maths textbook throughout the school holidays then you just need to chill.

And I pity the poor 7yo whose parent gets hold of this information and then spends the summer holidays ensuring their child is getting 100% in every assessment criteria they had dropped a few points in

Mastery of a topic, for those above the expected level in a subject, is a UK governement policy decision for 'Closing the Attainment Gap'.

In subjects like maths, the government heavily funded the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to roll out East Asian-inspired "Teaching for Mastery". The policy goal is to keep the whole class learning the same topic together to prevent lower-attaining children from being left behind. It is critics frequently argue that the system compromises individual high flyers to elevate the whole class.

The policy is fundamentally designed around the philosophy of equity over acceleration. The OP is not obliged to accept such a philosophy for her individual child in her home learning enviroment.

@Bigtrapeze We are all reporting now on whether a child meets, exceeds or is working towards expectations for their age. I don't think you'll get much else out of school.

Almost all Primary schools use detailed, granular tracking records every term to chart the progress of every child against the assessment criteria in the statements for each subject in maths, english and science. And schools have a legal obligation to share this information with the parent if it is requested.

The other thing to remember if you do want to do some teaching over the holiday use the methodology the school use, which might not be the methodology you used at school. Also for those who are above age expected level it is not about powering through the curriculum, so moving on to the next topics before their peers. It is about mastery of that topic, understanding questions that might be asked in a different way, using different language, nit using mathematical symbols but that the child can understand what is actually being asked

Sorry @Lmnop22 I did not mean to quote you just then.

OP, I don't think the results will be any help as it will be a number that might not resonate with you. In my experience it is about testing cohorts not children. They are comparing children across schools and also screening for any children who have difficulties but less at Year 2, as they will know your child really well.

I think this would be the wrong hill to die on. You won't get much information from the score, won't know how to help her and all of that information will be on her school report. We are all reporting now on whether a child meets, exceeds or is working towards expectations for their age. I don't think you'll get much else out of school.

Are there some targets on her report? These are often fairly generic. If the cohort as a whole have scored badly on shape for example, that will be taught with some additional focus in Year 3 but the intention is not that you should rectify this at home over the summer. Take her to the library, go for days out, have conversations, write some postcards to friends and family and do some baking where she measures out the ingredients for the recipe. That's the sort of support from parents that makes the difference to children's achievement and I'm sure you do this already.

I understand OP.

I think this post is somewhat disingenuous.

The vast majority of primary schools do complete internal assessment tests at least every term. While the UK government does not legally require it, individual school leadership teams almost always mandate them. They're used internally to track pupil progress, spot learning gaps, and back up broader teacher assessments. They are very much more detailed than the pupil reports to parents.

The papers aren’t long either, so a slight exaggeration from the DD! They are not GCSEs

The KS1 SATs used to be reported as an actual result. I’m assuming this was when your mum taught. This was before they realised that actually testing children of this age is a very inexact science and teacher assessment is the best way forward. I’ve been a KS1 teacher for 25 years and appreciate the development as well as now not making the SATs nonstatutory. Looking at the papers may allow your mum as a KS1 teacher to spot things to work on but having not taught your child in the classroom will be of minimal help as the way things are taught has changed massively in the past ten years. The score will also only allow you to see if she’s on track or not and you’ll get that from end of year grading. A conversation with the teacher plus an end of year report is the best way to see where to work next.

I usually suggest my y2 parents focus on…

telling the time to the minute
using money and giving change
times tables - 2,5 and 10 then 3 and 4.
practical mass, capacity and length
reading to and with them

@LittleWhiteRabbit do you work in a school?

It's a common gatekeeping response from schools, but working at greater depth is not a valid legal reason to withhold data, nor does it invalidate the OP's legal right to be actively involved. The law does not require you to have a complaint or a struggling child to see their records.
She has an absolute right to look under the hood of her child's education to understand their strengths, areas for stretch, and exact trajectory.

I might be in perfect health, but l want the otption to view my medical records - and my GP makes them easily available to me without obfuscation. I see no valid reasons why schools cannot do the same - and they are legally required to do so.

It’s you.