School refusing access to exam results

Its standard practice, the only odd thing is your reaction.

This is the norm. In my kids school every class does 'exams' (they are end of year assessment papers, not that formal and a normal part of learning so no need for a big announcement - they aren't meant to be seen as an exam, and usually explained to children that they will be doing a paper that shows teachers what they know so they can help them on things they don't so don't worry if there is something they aren't sure about). They never go home, they stay in school and as you can see help write the reports and identify where they are in terms of expected learning. If your child is expected/exceeds expectations you don't have anything to worry about and not sure why you want to spend a summer pushing your child when they already are succeeding.

You also mention all the books have come home so if you look through those you will be able to see any areas of weakness (schools generally mark in one colour and children correct in another colour).

If you did want to push your child over the summer the main things to do are to ensure they enjoy learning - reading books from the library they choose (and maybe you read to them rather than forcing phonics onto them), basic maths around the house - telling them you are going to go out at 10.30, can they tell you when the clock shows this time? If they enjoy writing then keep a diary of things they do over the summer.

This made me laugh a bit because I know people who feel the same as you do, OP. Personally I would prefer more info from school in general, but that’s not the done thing here. You get the information that you get and are meant to support their learning by reading at home and taking them to museums. Oh also baking, that’s often mentioned.

We didn’t receive scores either but I didn’t bother asking. If your child is meeting expectations it’s not entirely wishy washy. You can find the standards online if you search for them.

Also saw your comment that they need to fit into a group. No they don’t. They are themselves and friendships can’t be forced just to make a group. At secondary it is extremely lucky if they can find their OWN group. Primary is eons away by then. If they can find their people and create a friendship group who are all into the same things and have the same values, that is incredibly important. Luckily you have all the time in the world to prepare for secondary right now. But you can’t control what happens there with friendship groups. It’d be a rollercoaster even trying that with primary kids! This is the system, adapt and accept and support your child as best your can, things like this are out of your control for a reason.

What do you usually do to support her learning? The best thing you can do is read with her, encourage a love of reading, and get her to read more and more. That makes everything else easier.

You don’t get marked exam papers at any point in their school lives. Schools do exams often from primary to secondary. It’s to judge how well kids are getting on and to identify where there are discrepancies that they could help with. It’s normal. I’ve never questioned or asked to be informed on the results. It’s internal in school. DD is now 14. There are SATS that you won’t see marked either.
As a PP said, you’ll get hit like a brick with it in secondary school if you carry on like this. There are yearly exams to test their skills and understanding in depth which can resort in being moved up or down a set. Shock horror OP you won’t get GSCE marked papers either when it comes to the time.
Your guideline is as you’ve said “meets expectations” and “exceeds expectations”. That’s not wishy washy, that is how your child is doing in school. And that’s a good result! If you’d have received a lesser expectation for your child then that is where you can step in at home to help them achieve higher. You need to understand school processes and what you yourself can help with at home if indicated.

Bollocks. Sorry. You don’t have concerns about your child’s learning or attainment, else you’d have raised this before you found out there were tests.

You're curious like any other parents and are trying to use claut to get what you want.

If you are indeed from a family of teachers, I’m surprised you’re placing so much value on this, and can’t just trust the school to act on the results.

Your child is 7. Chill. I don’t believe for one second you want the results to sit at home and somehow work on what she needs help with (how would a mark even tell you this?!). You’re just nosey and throwing your toys out of the pram.

You send kids to school and school do what they need to do - if you don’t like it homeschool

pick you battles here - and what makes you think you should “get a say” when they’re following the national curriculum- this is batshit behaviour

I wouldn’t even give this a second thought to be honest. Take a deep breath and breathe and relax. If they were concerned they’d tell you.

If for example she got all the fractions questions wrong then I would help her with fractions over the summer.

If that happened the teachers would use that information to decide the best teaching strategies for her and if they felt you needed to do anything they would tell you. They are teachers ... they teach!

Honestly let her have a wonderful childhood summer and forget academics!

I think it's crazy you would be doing fractions over the summer instead of letting the child have some downtime!

If your mum taught KS1 ask her to look at work of you must but let your child be a child, especially in the summer holidays.

I lived in a grammar school area and remember kids having to do practice papers all summer and felt sorry for them then and they were 10 year olds.

If you're taking an interest as you go along surely any issues will be identified.

All I’ve got is some wishy washy ‘meets expectations’ / “exceeds expectations “ thing. Nothing I can actually use to help.

She doesn't need help! Why do you think she does?

It is a pity the school made such a meal of the tests that they disturbed the routine so much.

I’ve never seen an exact score for a primary school test, in any year. All reports were either exceeds expectations / met expectations / not yet achieving expectations (or something, can’t remember exactly how it is worded). And almost all children get “met expectations” because you have to be a whole year or more above to get scored as “exceeds expectations” or a whole year or more below to get “not yet achieved”. (This is not UK.)

I would imagine that they don’t tell you in advance so that there is no pressure on the children. It’s just a snapshot of where they are at now, it’s not something that needs to be prepared for or studied for.

It’s Year 2. Your child will be burned out by the end of primary school if you take this kind of an approach.

Former KS1 teacher here.

The tests will have been part of the teacher’s end of year assessment but most of that assessment will come from knowing the children over a year. It may well be that child A messed up both fractions questions on the paper but teacher knows they had a bad day and there’s lots of evidence of independent work in their books to show they can do fractions so their assessment is that they can do those fractions. However teacher might have found that the child struggled in class with multiplying by ten. TA did a bit of extra work with child in class and is pretty sure they got it and low and behold the child smashed those questions in the test so all good, they’ve got that too. It’s one extra bit of information at this stage - 7 year olds are too unpredictable in tests to make that your sole
source of assessment. I’m personally of the view that it should be all teacher assessment at their age.

You having the test papers tells you very little because you haven’t got all the other information surrounding your child’s in-class learning. I’ve never known a school send home KS1 papers to parents. Especially not with the intention of parents looking at the tests and deciding what their children need to work on at home. I don’t think they can reliably tell you that information. There are too many variables with 7 year olds.

The working towards/expected/exceeding assessment that you deem wishy washy is how primary children are assessed against the curriculum. You don’t have a breakdown of how they are doing in every single area of maths for example …your child’s written report should speak into areas where they excel and areas still to work on but not in massive detail. That would simply be unsustainable.

If you’re genuinely worried that your daughter is falling behind or going unnoticed, make an appt with the class teacher once she’s back at school and ask specific questions. It’s in no one’s best interest to sweep that under the carpet.

I agree with this. Schools now paint everything so positively a lot of parents honestly dont know their child is a bit behind or not where they need to be!

School might say 'they are doing well be achieved the expectations' but if a score of 50 is the threshold for meeting expectations and your chikd scored 51, thats a very different situation to if your child score 64 and the threshold for achieving 'greater depth or exceeds' was 65. The 64 and the 51 both get told yes doing fine meeting expectations but clearly one is much more secure in their learning than the other and it isnt unreasonable for a parent to ask for this information, its their child!!

By coming to MN to say you think you should have the test results when the school has, to use your rather muscular choice of words 'refused access to exam results', you have told us here that the school should be giving you the results ie you are telling us that the school should be doing something different. My reference to parents telling the school how to do its job is not directed at you in particular. It's a general comment. The current heatwaves have led to lots of interventions of this kind, with some parents objecting to arrangements about water, clothing, time spent outside etc etc.

If your child's school were to heed your request and give you the results, the class teacher would need to get permission to give you the results because the policy at this school is not to; the school would need to consider whether all patents should therefore be given the results; if all patents were given the results in advance of parents' evening, the school would have to field requests for explanations and and queries that would come from parents sharing their child's result with other parents. It's not as simple as you asking for something and being allowed to have it because you are a parent.

The report will tell you if she is:
Not working at age related expectations
Meeting expectations
Working at greater depth.

However i do think modern school reports are so euphemistic as to be meaningless. They are positive about everything

Read with your daughter at home.
Play cards.
You could even teach her chess.
Sing some songs together.
Give your daughter ten focused minutes every day where you will do something together that is not electronically based.

These are ways you can spend your energy supporting her.

If the school says the test results are for internal assessment only - that is that. Different schools do it different ways.

Personally I am in agreement with them. It causes unnecessary stress, comparison and doesn’t really help overall. If, the tests showed up something unusual, they would contact you.

This is one of my biggest bug bears throughout my childhood education. The eldest is doing exams now and we asked again and again and again throughout primary and secondary how they were doing and received a ‘fine’ every time. Never - ever - received any test scores until prelims for Nat5 (like GCSEs) then found they were failing several subject that were apparently ‘fine’ and had to rapidly get various tutors and change course choices for highers and change my child’s career aspirations. Parents have a right to know this stuff throughout schooling. A responsible parent should be asking.

I have not said that parents should blindly trust their child's school, rather that the starting point should be to respect the professionalism of teaching staff, with intervention held in reserve in case things go awry.

Neither is it the case that I think a parent shouldn't take any interest in their child's education. IfcI thought that, I wouldn't have sung times tables in th car with my DD or taught her to conjugate French verbs systematically because school didn't teach that. I would like many parents to take more of an interest in appropriate ways eg is homework being prioritised, how much screen time is allowed.

However, some parents stray over the line from supporting their child to telling the school how to do its job, which is what you are doing with your child's KS1 test results: You - 'May I have my child's test results?' School - 'No. We use the results internally but we don't share them with parents. But we indicate how your child is doing on their end-of-year report.' You, on MN - 'I'm the parent. I want the test results.' MN, mostly - 'This is normal for KS1 tests. They wouldn't help you help your child.' You - 'I think I should have them.'

You and then all the rest of them!
Read the end of term report, pipe down and enjoy the summer holiday. Plenty of time for scrutinizing exam papers when she is doing her GCSEs

lol yeah put in a subject access request. You might get the info you want (unless they apply an exemption and withhold it) but you will forever be “that” parent.

dude, they are like 7 years old, chill out.

if you want to help them, get them some books to read over the summer and take them to the museum