Teachers! Why do schools do this?

[ButteredRadish]

School report. Year 5. SEN but at mainstream Primary. Report summary included wonderful, kind words full of praise and appreciation. Not a negative word to be said! Lovely. Brought a tear to my eye, actually. Then we get to the end of year ‘scoring’ section.

Maths: WTS = Working Towards the Age Related Expectation (So in other words “Your kid is behind….”)
Writing: WTS = Working Towards the Age Related Expectation
Reading: GDS = Working at a Higher Level within the Age Related Expectation for Reading

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not overly surprised that my child is behind in Maths & Writing but ‘ahead’ in reading. My child has SEN as I’ve said, so it’s somewhat to be expected. But do all schools use this ‘That kid’s behind, that one is ahead’ system?

I’m not actually complaining or being precious about them informing me my child is behind(!) I’m just shocked that they ‘score’ primary children on their report card. I mean, fair enough behind the scenes; Just seems a bit competitive to be issuing ‘scores’ on how clever your kid is. We’ve got all that fun & games to come with exams etc in high school.
Didn’t they stop the whole Top of the Class thing decades ago?! (I know it’s not quite the same!)

I can totally see some parents feeling like shit that their child didn’t get ‘GDS’ on all three. There’s already two mums not-so-subtly bragging about their year 2 DCs getting 3 x ‘GDS’, on the parents’ group and a playground mum I speak to whose DC is in that year, is heartbroken that her daughter got ‘WTS’ on all three. She wasn’t expecting it on any of them so the bragging is not helping her at all. Could they not include it a little more diplomatically within the Report Summary to avoid braggy mums, or is that asking too much?! Is this ‘scoring’ necessary for another reason?
Would be interested to hear from any teachers about why this is done? Thanks!

I actually really like this (working towards, working at, working above) grading. I think it's a reasonable way of conveying information parents need to know.

I'm not sure why you'd read that bit to your kid though if it had upset you. I just read out the summary paragraph to them that said how lovely they were and wishing them luck for the next school year. I didn't mention the levels, I saw that as for my information to know how they are doing and where they need extra support.

Parents bragging is ridiculous. I have two DDs in a two form entry school so a total of 120 children represented across the two WhatsApp groups I'm in and I have no idea how any other children were graded. If parents are sharing their children's scores on these groups then that's absolutely ridiculous and should be pointed out to them!

The method is standard in all schools though. It's not the school's decision to do it this way, they have to do it, and that's the answer to your question.

That sounds like a detailed and nuanced report. What’s impressive is that your DC’s achievements are assessed in relation to his abilities and a set of norms or goals, so not ranked against other children.

And the class teacher has done this for presumably 20-30 children.

I fail to see why or what you’re complaining about. The language is clear and accessible for a non-specialist, and tailored to your child.

I suppose it depends on whether you value what your child is learning at school.

Could they not include it a little more diplomatically within the Report Summary to avoid braggy mums, or is that asking too much?! Is this ‘scoring’ necessary for another reason?

You want useful, detailed feedback for your DC adjusted because there are other parents who behave like spoilt children??

Your ire should be directed at those silly parents, not your child’s teacher. Don’t be so daft.

This is the standard wording from the statutory teacher assessment frameworks.

I definitely haven't shared a school report with either of my DCs, I hardly understand the levels myself and I work with statistics!

I think your question should be "Parents -why do some parents do this?", because the problem is the twatty parents who are bragging.

The purpose of a school report is to report on a child's learning, but schools these days recognise that that isn't all that matters, so they include info about their character, behaviour etc, but where they are at academically is important.

Is this a state school? People screen shot reports at secondary school age, utterly tragic, how embarrassing for them and you still have WhatsApp groups for school children at GCSE age. I only recently was introduced to a Mum of my DD's friends because I dropped her home following a school residential. One of the best things about secondary is all of the intensity of Junior school is over and done with. To be fair though I think where I live everyone outdoes each other to look like they are the antithesis to the bragging parent, a vocal display of too much testing and children should be left alone but this is only at Junior school.

I much preferred the national curriculum levels years ago. Reports were far more detailed and accurate. With DD2 all we got was the glib "working towards" and it's not picked up in school when kids are behind and need extra help. Because often there is no extra help to be had. Then they get to secondary school and are thrown to the wolves. Then they wonder why they can't cope with 125 different apps to do their ridiculous amounts of pointless homework on and why 20% of them are missing huge amounts of school.

Dear lord. Teachers literally can’t win.

Yeah so it’s standardised so that’s why they do it. Has been for years and years.

As for SATS it’s really a measure of how the school is doing and SEN kids often don’t do it (for various reasons). As for indicating for senior school - it has nothing to do with subjects like drama. It’s to help the senior school understand which kids may need more help and to support streaming (if the senior school does this) in core subjects of maths and English. The prediction of grades was pretty accurate in senior school tbh.

OP I get you may not like it but get used to this for senior school when they get a marks and grades with behaviour and attitude which both you and your child will see.

Personally it helped us to understand in very easy to understand language where our kid was and how they were doing against the curriculum and to prepare us for how they might do in seniors.

Could they not include it a little more diplomatically within the Report Summary to avoid braggy mums, or is that asking too much?! Is this ‘scoring’ necessary for another reason?

Yes, the LEA should think about braggy mums more.

Only joking. You are being precious. Braggy mums will exist in every walk of life. Primary education is an essential foundation and takes years of study and research and best practice.

School reports are not bespoke. I never shared the contents of my children's reports publicly but you will get braggy mums your whole life. There's a limit to what you can protect your child from.

It doesn't matter how it is worded the bragging mums will still brag.

If you’re complaining about the way parents talk about their child’s reports on the playground then why is your title blaming teachers and schools?

Reports are for parents, not children. If you don’t want your child to be upset by it, don’t show them!

I don't show my daughter the report as it's for me not her. My daughter also has SEN and has just finished Y5 and she is working below age in every area of the curriculum apart from PE and Music. It does hurt when you see it in black and white, I spoke to my mum about it as it feels like I am being told my child isn't measuring up but this is due to her needs and the way she is being taught not being appropriate for her to learn. I am reframing it in my head as the school not meeting her needs rather than a deficit in her.. The school system isn't fit for purpose for children who don't learn in the traditional way.

There's literally no way to tell people what level their kids are working at without telling them where they are compared to what is expected at their age. I think 'working towards' is a really gentle way of putting it tbh. The different colours on the other hand is absolutely hideous.

Well not really, Data has meaning; I work in data protection and if it didn't have any meaning then I wouldn't be working through 10000 emails and redacting them for Subject Access Requests, SARs people have submitted as they very much believe the data is going to reveal something about them. I used to do this job for schools and information requests were always about acquiring data to prove/disprove something as it was the meaning behind the data they were concerned with.

In all honesty, I think it is pretty arbitrary and yet at the same time can be very demotivating to be labelled in this way. As a 90s teenager my teachers didn't hold back on their predictions at parents evening, I was told that I wouldn't achieve more than a D for Science, my Dad objected to this statement of 'truth' and said that is "nonsense" and he was right as I achieved a B in the real exam. I do think when you teach impressionable young people you need to understand the impact of your words that's the difference between a good and bad teacher IMO. In contrast my English teacher was very encouraging and i studied it at university to Masters degree level.

You are right, I stand corrected. Thank you

Data does have meaning, it tells us things that we might want to make decisions on the back of. But it doesn’t attribute value to people, it doesn’t tell us that they are better or worse people or that they are more worthy of being valued by society than others. It’s just a statement of facts about the world and the people in it.

The OP says her child is probably behind expectations in those subjects, so it feels like stating that is just an objective fact and observation of the actual scenario. It should have no bearing on the child’s self esteem or perception of self worth. It’s okay to be working towards a goal or a standard, provided they are working towards it and doing their best.

And surely “working towards” is the exact positive language you want to encourage a child to keep working to get better. The teacher hasn’t said “child is rubbish at maths and so may as well give up now”.

Your teacher saying you won’t get more than a D isn’t data, it’s an opinion. It might have been data that you were behind others in your class, but the data is that you achieved a higher grade and therefore were capable of that with enough work.

I agree with everything you’ve said, I just don’t think grading children and using the words “working towards” contradicts anything you’ve said.

In my experience, most parents don’t like the modern reporting system and want them to be clearer. We use a similarly vague system to say where children are. Many parents really want a tangible figure, or to know exactly how they compare to others and we don’t give it.

In theory, you should know if your child isn’t achieving the expected levels because concerns should be discussed way before it gets to reporting time. PP have suggested that this isn’t always the case.

I actually think we should be writing clearer reports and sharing the information with parents, and pupils to a degree. I think if done correctly, positively, and sensitively it is useful to everyone. It’s not about labelling a child, but rather about being clearer on what support is needed.

The alternative is the all-must-have-prizes, self-esteem building nonsense where expectations are either so low that anyone can excel or every comment must be positive for fear of judging or harming the child.

Do you really want a system where you 'thought' your child was doing really well right up to the point they fail their GCSEs?

The problem here is you. You've put your child in a box marked SEN and then expect them to conform to that expectation. Surely the Higher Level comment is testament to what's possible with the right support. Well done those teachers! Why shouldn't SEN children excel and have the same opportunity of fulfilled and outstanding lives?

I actually think the old-style SATs levels were more helpful, as they gave you more of an idea of where your child was actually at.

'Working Towards' could mean anything - in theory if a child is in a particular year group, teachers should put 'Working Towards' only if they're working towards that year group's expectations, otherwise should put 'Working at Year 3' or 'Working Towards Year 4' or whatever year group's curriculum they're actually at. But I think often this doesn't happen and instead, 'Working Towards' is used as a catch-all for anything from nearly being at age-related expectations for their year group to being four years behind! Which gives you zero idea as a parent (and as the next teacher when the child goes up) of what the actual gap is.

As a teacher and as a parent, I preferred the SATs levels.

Also to add - my DC has been consistently GD for reading and WT for writing for the whole of primary school. Their handwriting is atrocious and they'll never get WA until they manage to improve it, which is looking less and less likely. So I feel your frustration!

The wording is fine. It’s your interpretation that’s the problem.