Y7 assessements - any Secondary parents/teachers able to help?

@SarfE4sticated I'm a parent governor at a school with a similar system. They do go to great lengths explain it to students and parents, and most kids are fine with it, but it still upsets some families every year. The use of SATS scores in setting targets for practical subjects is a particular issue. Hopefully that part will be ditched eventually - we do keep raising it as an issue.

Does the school also report on behaviour and attitude? That is the measure worth focussing on the most.

Also, it is likely that the targets are for the end of the year rather than for where she's expected to be in October. If she was meeting them now then they would probably too low!

My DD's secondary school are now moving their flightpaths to GCSE-grade targets so I'll find out what they are expecting at the end of November. I've already seen one of her exercise books with a grade (eg 6+) on it.

I said upthread that they set the targets from the SATs but I also think the Progress 8 comes into it as well - DD's school say they never lower a target as that would lead to underachievement for the school's Progress 8 score or for the pupil I wonder and they did test the pupils in a couple of subjects themselves before putting them into sets (English, Maths, Science).

I don't think there would be an issue if someone had underperformed in the SATs as no school is going to turn down the chance of getting someone to do better progress 8 again it is just the ones that did exceptionally well in the SATs. We all know that you can have a good day or a bad day with an exam, and the fact that the SATs follow your school life is a complete PITA IMO, although I'm told they are accurate.

I tell my DC to ignore their targets as they are purely a data exercise for the school. I would strongly suggest you do the same and tell her that she just needs to do the best she can. I think the "effort" mark on school reports is more useful than attainment tbh.

I actually have DC at both ends of this. DS got much higher than expected SATS and spent all of KS3 looking as if he was going backwards. DD, on the other hand had a nightmare and did much worse than expected so her targets are way too low for her. Fortunately the school quickly worked this out and so she is being suitably challenged.

It's a crap system but it's the system schools are judged on. That's why they report this stuff to parents. I hope one day parents will realise and start protesting against the crap system. As teachers we are trying but so often are ignored.

(ps My DD's school gives a progress measure but also a flightpath prediction based on current attainment. So if your DD was at our school she might see 'slightly below' but would also see 'on track for 6,7')

OP. I think you may need to keep a close eye on your DD's mental health and self esteem.

If she did 'over well' in SATs and then you 'lean in' to help her keep achieving so high in order to meet over high expectations, you could end up with a daughter who feels stressed and failing.

Instead you could ask the school for flightpath info or what 'below track' means for your DD - it could still mean on target for 7s. Then just keep explaining to your DD that the school's expectations are based on SATs which you and she know were unexpectedly high compared with peers at primary, and so you aren't going to 'hold' her to them.

Yes, you want her to do well, and to think you have faith in her, but you also want her to come out of y11 with intact mental health.

I don't like this system. I did well in my year 6 Sat's but there was this particular subject at secondary I was just crap at. Because of my Sat's I was expected to do well in everything and I always got it in the neck for not trying hard enough at this subject. I was trying it's just that I wasn't good at it

My ds is in year 10. He did a test at school when he got there in year 7 and got the highest score in the year. His targets have been all 8s (they wouldn't predict nines because back then they didn't know what they'd look like) and like you I was worried when his reports were showing that he wasn't meeting his targets. I spoke to his teachers and they basically told me that he shouldn't have done so well on that test! And his reports will look like he's not doing so well for a while.

He's finally getting the on targets and exceeding but it's taken all these years! It's a huge amount of pressure.

It sounds like I'm boasting about him, but he's great at tests, not so good at essay writing and the test didn't seem to account for that! He also can't draw for shit, isn't remotely musical and hates school PE.

Shit system really!

So glad DD didn’t do SATs. She is at a high achieving state school Y10 and being stretched but nothing like the noose you describe OP. The progress 8 measure won’t count my DD as she didn’t have SATs but it will include her in the achievement 8 result. Or that is how I read the government secondary measure guide.

It sounds like your DD has such a supportive environment OP and she will be fine.

Dd got high mark's on SATs after some very good teaching in yr6 and yes she did get set some very high targets. Some were ridiculous as anyone who has seen her in PE will attest. At first she did find it frustrating that her friends had lower targets but she has risen to the challenge. I think it helps that she has naturally taken to secondary school subjects such as humanities and science which tended to be brushed over in primary. The school is also motivated to support her and give her additional support. She is now attaining or bettering her targets in most subjects now she has selected her GCSE options. We did have the same talk in yr7 about SATs being the reason for high targets and that although it can be frustrating it might also mean the school are more motivated. Your dd seems to respond well to clear focused revision. She could not have done so well if she was not fairly clever and with additional support from the school she might actually thrive. We did make it clear to our dd though that those were the school targets based on government expectations and what mattered to use was that she was putting in effort, was well behaved and respected the teachers.

All schools are under the same pressure.

If your daughter did excellently in SATs and then just average in her GCSEs the school would be blamed for not ensuring she met her potential. They are all measured in the same way so it would have been irrelevant which school she went to - in none of them can students just settle into their own rhythm and find their own way I’m afraid.

They do retest in y7 at dds school, and will move accordingly if needed. That’s first half term of y7 and the result from that can influence SATS flight path, but not for many.

Nine of my dds were tutored but good at maths. They both struggled the first term of maths, lots of tears. I thought it was because I didn’t have them tutored that they were really behind, but caught up by Jan.

Ours were an hour after school so were easy to refuse! Not much you can do about the ones in the school day. We also live in an area that has super-selective grammars so a lot of children were tutored for those as well.

Yes as others have said this will be used for her GCSEs as this is what schools are judged on. I would just encourage her and help her to aim high. You can’t do much else.

Flight paths are a load of bollocks though - nobody makes a smooth flight path of progress.

I am a teacher and this is precisely what I hate about our data-driven education system. Why can't children just get along with advice she encouragement from the adults around them, rather than being strapped to a bunch of grades like it's a noose around their necks?
Hopefully your daughter will rise above the anxiety this is causing her. If it was really concerning, then I'd contact the form tutor for a meeting outside of the scheduled parent's evening just to talk through area a of concern, or even with the subject teacher directly. I'd be delighted if parents of my students were so keenly involved in their children's welfare as you are.

They do set them from the SATs and they won't lower the predictions, unfortunately. It's one of the reasons I declined any extra tuition for my own DD for SATs, I didn't want her to have any extra pressure in secondary.

I appreciate that, but scoring highly in SATS is very different to being assessed in a whole load of new subjects a few months later.
High scores in SATS don’t necessarily put the kids at any advantage as you’re seeing. It is great for the primary school though who are no longer interested in her targets or progress.
It doesn’t mean that she’s not doing well, but her bar has been set higher than others and it sounds as if that’s not boosting her confidence at the moment.
Hopefully it will settle down and even out.