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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

school reports and 'exceeding expectations' ...or not

72 replies

flownthecoopkiwi · 12/07/2017 16:33

so, got my DD report, she's in year 3. They can either not meet, meet or exceed expectations. She's doing well apparently, doing harder than year 3 maths work but not 'exceeding expectations'. Her report only had high level subjects like maths, english etc.
I have friends whose reports for the same year broke this down into small topics for each subject, and then judged progress against all of them.
Do standards of what exceeds expectations differ between schools? Is my DD doing ok or not brilliantly because she's not exceeding????

Give me a good old fashioned A or B or C any day!

OP posts:
Original poster
flownthecoopkiwi · 12/07/2017 16:34

sorry, AIBU to not understand this and expect consistency?

OP posts:
Mrsemcgregor · 12/07/2017 16:38

I think it's with regards to their progress, so they are comparing them with themselves.

So for example, my friends DD is an incredible reader and has already worked through the bands up to yr 6 level in year 3. But as she started the year at such a high level she hasn't progressed as much as a child who started on a lower band and work up through several.

I think that's how it's done at our school anyway.

Original poster
flownthecoopkiwi · 12/07/2017 16:41

so that child won't be exceeding expectations because they already had high expectations of her?

OP posts:
HoneyWheeler · 12/07/2017 16:41

Exceeding expectations is really really rare as far as I understand it and I am a Year 4 teacher. None in my class are exceeding, and actually it's a huge achievement for them to meet age expected! What I would focus on over the next few years is if she is maintaining her level, and then perhaps ask questions about how the school is challenging her to get greater depth and on the road to exceeding.

HoneyWheeler · 12/07/2017 16:42

And yes, each school assesses their children differently, which is....not helpful!

Kitsandkids · 12/07/2017 16:42

If it says she's met expectations then she's doing well. She's met the Y3 standard and is ready for Y4 work. That's right where she should be so that's great.

phlebasconsidered · 12/07/2017 16:44

Exceeding expectations is a nonsense when the actual expected levels have been racked up so much. In my class one child met it. One. To get even to expected now, the bar is stupidly high.

BrieAndChilli · 12/07/2017 16:46

We are in Wales and they give us the level they are expected to attain at the end of year 6
So level 4 is the average and what the kids should be leaving year 6 at,
Level 5 or 6 is exceeding the level they expect children to be.
If she is meeting expectations then is means she is on track to be where she need to be. Most children should fall into this category.
Exceeding means she will be doing better than average.

Original poster
flownthecoopkiwi · 12/07/2017 16:46

ok, brilliant, but (not that I'm comparing or competitive) other children have reports showing them exceeding in lots of subjects (but at different schools) and I'm wondering if they are doing better!?!

We got told by a teacher that it was rare to exceed at our school but still...

OP posts:
Mrsemcgregor · 12/07/2017 16:47

Yeah, I don't know. I am just as confused really! The school tried to explain it, I thought I got it but reading this I am not sure now!!

Borntoflyinfirst · 12/07/2017 17:43

As I understand it there has to be evidence that the child has exceeded expectations in all the sub-areas listed in order for the subject to be marked as exceeded. There may be 8 or more subsections. If your child exceeds in say 7 of them but only meets expectations in the 8th then they will be marked as meeting expectations for that subject. There has to be actual evidence too.

Sittinginthesun · 12/07/2017 17:48

We get a breakdown, so if you take Maths, for example, there are around 18 subsections, and you can be working towards, at expected level, or exceeding expected level.

As a governor, it means that we can track a cohort over the year, as the teacher provides the data regularly. You can see if a child (a dot on our charts) has slowed down or had a spurt in progress.

I haven't seen the data yet (other than the SATS and Early Years), so no idea how many are exceeding. I think we usually have a handful.

Grrrrrsnarl · 12/07/2017 17:49

Ha I've just posted about flightpaths in dds secondary school.

Same stuff....
We get told that she is on a secure flight path..... Nothing else

Secure flight path to failure or secure flightpath to an A*. Unless we write to the school we don't know.

As you said whatever happened to a b c in relation to average achievement

You are just starting out trying to fathom out school progress reports... It doesn't get any easier.

Sittinginthesun · 12/07/2017 17:51

Sorry, I mean a handful exceeding in some areas. Unlikely we have many, if any, exceeding in all sublevels.

Take my DS, he is exceeding in reading, at expected standard in spelling, working towards in handwriting.

Groupie123 · 12/07/2017 17:58

'exceeding expectations' isn't comparative between schools because it also depends on the other children in the class to an extent. A child moving schools may get higher/lower reports if they perform a lot differently to the other students.

For example in year 3 my DD was 'meeting expectations' throughout her time at state school because there were about 10 really bright kids in her class who were working at level 6. Moved her to a private school mid-year and was then told that she was 'exceeding expectations' at the new school as she was working on the equivalent of a level 5 in core subjects, but also getting straight As in the non-core subjects which rarely happens in that particular school.

blackteasplease · 12/07/2017 18:02

Our school only bothers with those "grades" in the sats subjects. In everything else it's just a narrative.

TBH all the information of any interest is in the "attitude" section. The rest seems to just summarise what they've learnt. Not knocking the school but I know where to look first!

DD is yr 3 btw.

Acopyofacopy · 12/07/2017 18:03

At my dcs' primary you are apparently only allowed to exceed expectations in one area. I'm a secondary teacher and I don't get it Confused

In secondary school you should be assigned some kind of flightpath or learning journey (helpfully different from school to school), and theoretically you should stay on this path and make expected process up to your GCSEs. My school doesn't disclose where you are flying to to parents or students. So for years you think little Johnny is doing well, making expected progress and then you find out that his target destination is a [insert what you think is a bad mark].

It's a load of bollocks and I would insist on the school telling me what the target/expectation is in terms that I can understand. My dcs primary school teachers "translate" into old curriculum levels for me at the moment.

BrieAndChilli · 12/07/2017 18:12

We've also had Welsh national test results home today. For one of them DS score was 'more than 140' the results are standardised but I don't get how he can't have a definitive score? Surely if he got 100% that should still translate to a actual score?

Sittinginthesun · 12/07/2017 18:12

In our case, the ability of the cohort wouldn't affect anything. There is an expected level, which does not change. The expected level tracks with the class during the year, so you can see who has fallen off the pace. You are not measuring children against other, but against this moving target.

megletthesecond · 12/07/2017 18:38

My dc's school doesn't tell anyone if they're exceeding expectations, they can only be working towards or have reached the expected standard. So I worry that they're on the lower end and panic buy workbooks every summer Blush.

The old levels were so much easier. I knew where I was with numbers and working up levels.

eyebrowsonfleek · 12/07/2017 18:49

I think it's very unclear for kids on the other end too.

I was told that ds wasn't meeting end of year expectations in the autumn term and the teacher seemed flummoxed when I asked by how much. Would he be meeting them for the year below? If so would he be "great depth" if he was a year younger?

He was predicted to fail SATS but passed. He exceeded his teacher's expectations but that's not recognised by the assessment system.

blinkineckmum · 12/07/2017 18:55

As a teacher I have been told that 'exceeding expectations' is an expectation of the child, not the class. So we look at data and baseline assessments at the start of the year, decide on an expectation, then report as to whether they're meeting that expectation or not.

eyebrowsonfleek · 12/07/2017 18:58

We were told that exceeding was based on raw data like their assessments and SATS/Optional SATS scores. Expectations meaning government expectations.

Ds knows that he should be proud of himself for exceeding the school's expectations. He failed phonics test in y1 and didn't meet government expectations in y2 so to pass y6 SATS is a relief.

BrieOnAnOatcake · 12/07/2017 18:59

I've got a yr 3 who was exceeding in all areas apart from pe. She is super super bright though.

I didn't realise it varies between schools we were told it's not personal progress but against national standards.

I don't like the whole expectations thing though, my youngest has friends in reception whose parents are really worried as they're "not meeting." At 4 :( think it's horrible as it makes parents feel their children are failures when they're not.

grannytomine · 12/07/2017 19:05

I remember coming out of a parents evening for a reception class and one mother was disappointed with her son. She said she was "writing him off now" and she was going to concentrate on her daughter. This was 40 years ago. I often wonder how he did, we moved so I never found out of he surprised her.