Private schools year 3 assessments - help!

[Bitsnbobs16]

Has anyone else had really bad scores the first proper assessments their kid has done? (And later had them go on to do well academically?) My kid just got 97 out of 141 for English and I am shocked! (We have an older child who has never had anything like as low as this).

The school is competitive and we’ve always had stellar reports for DD until now so I’m really surprised, honestly I thought she was really bright! The teacher said not to worry, they’re so young, it’s their first time etc, but I’m really panicked! Thoughts?

Bump! (Panicking 😬)

My oldest was around that mark in primary and is now on track for 7/8/9 in gcse.
However, there was a very defined reason behind this - dyslexia, dysgraphia and autism.
School put on targeted interventions which helped loads, and we very carefully selected his secondary school (a special school for able kids with specific learning disabilities).
If there is no concrete reason, its a lot harder i would think
My son only learned to read properly in year 5… it was hard, but once that was done everything else got a lot easier. he’s a super hard worker as a result which helps a lot.

Thanks for this and glad your one is doing well now!

Mine is not a great speller but is a terrific reader actually and has never had anything flagged before so it’s a bit of a mystery 🤷‍♀️

How does she do with timed stuff, like TT rockstars? Does she panic?
my very able but profoundly dyslexic son had 93 in his year 3 English test, so 97 seems low.
Does she understand what she reads, and how is punctuation etc? Might just have been being new to tests

I mean we read a lot together and she definitely seems to understand what she reads -and sometimes I’ll do her English homework with her and she seems perfectly fine.

The specific issues in the test were apparently spelling (which has definitely never been her strong suit but dyslexia has not been suggested before) and comprehension. The teacher says she doesn’t feel it’s reflective of her classroom work and was very keen to stress that it’s not such a big deal, so I guess it’s possible the test flummoxed her.

freaking out though!

Your child is 8. Calm down. Panicking why? Is she a good person, does she try her best, is she caring, thoughtful, kind.... Academic success is such a small part of who someone is. So what if she's not a academic, she will find her path

Why do you think the teacher is wrong to say not to worry?

If there is a big fap between classroom work and tests, it’s well worth investing some effort into finding out why.
Spelling is one, maybe she didn’t read the questions properly and missed some details? Doing tests is a skill that needs to be learned.

Because the mark is so low so I just don’t understand how it has happened.

The national average is 100. At their school they are supposed to generally get 115 minimum (the odd thing a bit below that is not taken that seriously but 97 really is very low and a shock given that she’s always had terrific reports).

Does school use Atom? Ours does, and it really helps with exam technique.

I've got 2 DC with dyslexia that I was a bit slow to realise there was an issue because they are both good readers and good comprehension (slightly above average), main signals were poor spelling and punctuation while writing. Actually I say I didn't realise there was an issue, I did but I was told by teachers they didn't feel there was SEN and I assumed that dyslexia would mean issues with reading - I've since learned there are many ways each individual can be affected.

I'm not saying your daughter is dyslexic but it just sounds similar to our experience so maybe something to consider despite her being a strong reader. If course it may just be that she's panicked at the assessment, some children find it hard to get into the groove with different styles of testing. My eldest (not dyslexic) really struggled at primary level with being timed so it could be something very simple and easy to practice with DC.

It is the first test.
The teacher knows her regular performance.
The teacher knows what kind of progression students make.
She says not to worry.

Why do you think she is wrong in her assessment of the future?

Are you tutoring? Or reliant on school? A lot of work at home is required for eg north London private prep. Less so out of London. If you haven’t been tutoring or doing extra work at home then I wouldn’t worry at all, it’s just a good indicator that you will make a difference if you get behind her at home. Awful process!!

Interesting! No not much outside of school to be honest as she seemed just fine (we do a lot of reading, that’s about it). I did a couple of English Atom assessments over half term just to see how she was getting on and she did ok. Hence the shock!

(The school Isn’t a north London prep but it is a London independent school really trying hard to carve out a place higher up the league tables and making that clear very recently.)