NC levels in year 7- I am turning into one of ^those^ parents.......!!!

If it's this week then it's the begining of Y7 so levels don't matter. Y7 wipes the slate clean.

At this stage the only things I'd be asking about would be: is she/he making an effort and is she/he being sociable.

In Y7 all we can ask for is application and sociability.

BlueElephant90. Yes thats right. Dd took maths gcse in year 7. Not took any others at the moment.

Seeker. Go on then, what area are we looking at, just for a bit of fun!! Not sure what you mean about school a law unto itself. But you may know more than i do.

Ds is in Yr8 now but I was told which levels he was working at in Yr7 when I met his tutor for the first time. IIRC it was around this time of year.

I didn't ask. The information was automatically given to parents. There was a list which showed the levels given by the primary school at the end of Yr6, the baseline assessment results at the beginning of Yr7, and the end-of-KS3 targets.

For the following term I only knew what levels ds was working at if he came home and told me. This was usually in the context of "I got a level X in my test/project last week" or "Mr A said the work we did today was a level YZ."

At Easter all parents were sent a copy of their child's current levels, and then again in the end-of-Yr7 report.

Homework is usually marked and commented on.

ibizagirl. Haven't you said many times before that your dd had taken her Maths GCSE in yr7 or 6?

Hi BalloonSlayer. Dd has been getting 8's since year 7 and so did a couple of boys in her classes. Some teachers apparently give them out for "exceptional work" or something like that. If they do an assessment and they do better than is needed and put a lot more work into it, then the teacher may give an 8. If that makes sense!! Maths is the only one i think that is a "proper" 8. But now dd is in year 9 the marks are gcse marks. I actually have a question. Are the A grades disappearing? Dd said that teachers have said that there will be no more A and that A will be the limit.

My daughter's English level is 5.25 (personally I thought it would have been a bit higher), and she is working towards a level of 7.25 at end of KS3. She is in top set.

In top sets for Science and French, but no idea of current level - she got 100% in French test and level 5 in Science SATS.

As regards marked work, tutors all seem to do a different system. In French she got A+, her friend got B+ which apparently meant she got everything right but there were spelling errors. A sticker in DT is really good, but my daughters was marked with a merit and the others aren't, so guess this is really good? Some do a traffic light system, green just what tutor looking for, amber ok red not acceptable, do again, a + with it means they've put in a lot of effort. She's constanlty getting a G+ in these.

Others are marking on a level being 3, 4 and 5 and she's getting a 3 and has been told she isn't putting enough into them and everyone else had a 4 in history. She can't be good at everything, but something doesn't sound right given that she does so well in other subjects.

You won't be a git for having expectations. Many other parents have them too. Speak out.

Really noble?

Ooh that's gratifying to know. Actually I haven't written off A Level Maths for her, I actually have very high hopes for all my DCs (higher than I would ever admit to anyone other than DH!)

But as I say, DS1 is in top set, and is doing well but his target is 7a. I think he would have to be exceptional in his school to get a Level 8 target.

It's not very helicopter for people with good memories for numbers MC. Some people can glance at numbers and remember them yet can't learn names no matter how hard they try!

Balloon, if your DD gets a level 6 in Y6 in maths then she should absolutely get a level 8 in Y9, it would be an incredible failing on the part of the school if she didn't!

Level 8s aren't reserved for maths geeks, all of our top set and a good proportion of our second set would be expected to get one.

I also think it's a shame that you seem to have already written off A-level maths for her, it's an excellent choice of A-level for many paths, not just a degree in maths.

Grrr, lost my post when the site went down.

Thanks TFM. I guess if there isn't validation then all the levels show is the progress your child is or isn't making. If the numbers in general are going up then it doesn't actually matter about the actual level awarded?

I look in DS's books. I'm interested. Blimey, my job is education. It'd be odd of I wasn't interested in that of my own children!

Is normal to look at books

Knowing kids levels off the top of your head is very helicopter.

My DS has a target of Level 7a for Maths in Year 9. He is good at Maths and I can see him getting an A or even A* at GCSE if he works hard.

DD is in Year 6 and according to her teacher she is better at Maths than DS. She will be doing the Level 6 SATS paper for Maths - teacher said that DS would have done this too but they have only just started doing it. I expect DD will be coached and coached by the school - she'll love this, the little swot! - and may very well get L6.

I also expect that her Year 9 Maths target will also be 7a.

My instinct about it is that Level 8 Maths targets are not for kids who are "good at Maths," but for those children who are incredible whizz-kids at maths, who go on to do it at A Level and even as a degree, (and who grow up to be like the bloke DH used to work with who used to meet his mates in the pub and they all took their calculators with them ) I don't think either of my DCs are that good.

No KS3 SATs, but we still have to report end of key stage levels. As far as I can see, there is no validation of this process.

I don't think ks3 sats happen any more do they???? I think that level 8s for subjects other than maths must be a level made up by the individual school for children who meet level 7 criteria early.

Tbh I think the whole level thing is a bit bonkers. As I've said on another thread a child may be awarded a level 8 for a half term or a piece of work early on, but they've only been taught a small part of the curriculum for that subject. It doesn't necc. mean that they are level 8 for the whole of that subject.

As you might have gathered from my post earlier in the thread, I take the whole thing with a massive pinch of salt.

I am absolutely flabbergasted that it could be regarded as a negative thing that I look at my child's school books! I am interested to see what she is learning and I do want to see the teacher's comments, and I really thought everybody does that?

So why are people's DCs upthread on here getting Level 8s when they are in Year 7?

I don't understand the Levels thing either. If you google SATS levels like here it says that Level 8 is only available in Maths.

Yet on Mumsnet, loads of people's DCs are getting Level 8s or have them as targets.

I don't get it . . . Can someone explain why some schools go higher than Level 7 and some don't?