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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to think school has screwed up?

40 replies

AuntLydiasSteelyArmPitHair · 21/07/2018 12:58

Like a lot of people, the school reports have come through from my sons senior school. It isn't a proper report but rather a graded cycle assessment type thing that they release every quarter. So typically September is a brand new term so the report tends to say that all students are below target as they haven't started yet, but through the year they should move up towards their target at xmas, easter and this is reflected by the useless report.

The last report I had, I called school as I was so concerned that my son is below targets in a lot of subjects. He does not lack brains by far but I felt I needed to get them to explain how if each and every subject has his behaviour as excellent or very good, and then his effort as excellent or very good.....why are his actual grades below target (and in the red) ? surely if he is complying and putting in "excellent effort and behaviour" then his results should reflect that as he would be completing all the work?

They said its nothing to worry about. It will right itself by July. Now his report is exactly the same and he is horrified as they have listed Art as one of the lowest possible grades and he is incredibly talented, he never has a pen or pencil out of his hand! He genuinely cant see how its possible for him to have been worse now than at easter and neither can I. Parents evening is always excellent.

So what the fudge is going on? Are the school failing my son in some way as he is obviously (by their own admission) behaving, completing work and is in top sets. Can anybody help me to figure this out? School is now conveniently shut and this is going to eat away at me if I don't get some answers. For comparison, his SATs in his school were all in the top 5% of the school.

OP posts:
maskingtape · 21/07/2018 13:09

2 children with the same name?

WhatCanIDoNowPlease · 21/07/2018 13:12

Contact the school anyway, they might be monitoring the emails.

Gileswithachainsaw · 21/07/2018 13:12

Mixed up results ?
Does sound strange how can you be massively below and in top sets..

scrappydappydoo · 21/07/2018 13:14

Interesting- we’re exactly the same - dd has not met one of her end of year targets despite no concerns being flagged up on parents evening or in previous reports. Report has just numbers and no comments. School is now shut so no chance I can speak to anyone before September.

Myusername2015 · 21/07/2018 13:17

Are his targets ridiculously high? We have many students targeted 9 for all so they have a sea of red every time. I think my level of concern would depend what year he is.

Original poster
AuntLydiasSteelyArmPitHair · 21/07/2018 13:17

Definitely not two kids with the same name.

Scrappy, that is exactly what i am facing with my son. It makes no logical sense at all!

OP posts:
Angelicinnocent · 21/07/2018 13:21

Are they end of year targets or end of key stage targets? This caused confusion at my DC school when they changed them

echt · 21/07/2018 13:22

He does not lack brains by far but I felt I needed to get them to explain how if each and every subject has his behaviour as excellent or very good, and then his effort as excellent or very good.....why are his actual grades below target (and in the red) ? surely if he is complying and putting in "excellent effort and behaviour" then his results should reflect that as he would be completing all the work?

Effort and behaviour are work habits and are quite properly not equated with attainment. How else would you assess a student with cognitive problems who worked their arses off and behaved?

I'd query how they assess effort. If the criterion is er..effort, then it's bollocks. Effort needs to be correlated to specific observable behaviours, e.g attention to task criteria, asking clarifying questions, responding to teacher feedback.

Being in the top set does not mean your son is attaining top set levels

An and of term semester should contain no surprises, what has been the attainment feedback this term? There must have been something.

SmileSweetly · 21/07/2018 13:23

My DD's end of Y9 targets were ridiculously high (targets were set in the first term of year 7)

Although she has achieved well and has attained 'excellent' for effort, attitude & class & homework she has not reached her target in most of her subjects (even though she's way above class average in every subject and top set for everything)

She is demotivated and disheartened and feels her hard work hasn't paid off. All her friends' targets were much lower and they smashed them.....

I'm not sure if I should ask the school or just tell her to ignore the targets that we know she's done Her very best.

NotAsGreenAsCabbageLooking · 21/07/2018 13:23

I hate this way of grading and reporting ☹️

echt · 21/07/2018 13:23

Sorry for typos. Hand in cast.

Original poster
AuntLydiasSteelyArmPitHair · 21/07/2018 13:24

I have tried to attach a photo of the report to show what I mean. I hope it works.

AIBU to think school has screwed up?
OP posts:
Original poster
AuntLydiasSteelyArmPitHair · 21/07/2018 13:29

echt, there is no feed back at all. Just this piece of paper and a pie chart that shows attendance. When I raised concerns at easter, I was told not to worry and it would all come good. Parents evening was fine. So this has come as a surprise. Especially art, he works so hard at it and has really upped his game across the board in the last 6 months by adding phone reminders into his schedule to improve his homework completion and study habits ready for year 10 in September.

OP posts:
echt · 21/07/2018 13:37

This is so cack, OP. There should be regular feedback on attainment. Teachers should be resting back on signifiant assessments. TBF, in my school a good number of assignments are manual, so rely on the students showing their feedback to their parents.

I'd be a wealthy woman if the answer to my question at parents' evening: Has snotty Johnny showed you all my feedback on his work? was yes.

Invariably it is no.

Clairetree1 · 21/07/2018 13:38

If those are GCSE grades, this whole system has no meaning, none of those exams have been graded yet, nd nobody has the faintest idea what those grades look like.

Also, meaningless to add increments of .1 of a grade!

there may well be no established grade boundaries at all, and teachers may be left to have a general stab at it the best they can, blindfolded.

these reports are worth very little - many teachers add all the grades, then adjust the classes grades to make sure they reflect the correct proportion of each colour. - Nobody wants to attract too much attention by having a whole class underachieving or over achieving.

The other problem is how to show progress next year, if you teach the same student and accidentally over grade them this year, in such cases, the student could score below expected progress, when they are not.

Also , the predictions themselves, where did they come from likely as not to be gibberish.

I once turned my list of predicted grades upside down, and attached it to the class list in that orientation instead, made more sense.

echt · 21/07/2018 13:38

Jesus, feeding back. Fecking cast.

noblegiraffe · 21/07/2018 13:39

That report looks like a pile of bollocks. What a waste of everyone’s time.

Lovemusic33 · 21/07/2018 13:40

What year is he in?

It maybe that his targets are set really high? My daughters report is similar and she is in top sets for all subjects, targets are set very high so it’s almost impossible for children in the top sets to hit them. At parents evening I am told she’s doing great and is top of the class in many subjects.

Piggywaspushed · 21/07/2018 13:53

But he would be below target? I am not saying this is the best system ever , but (unless I am reading it wrong) he is end of year 9? The MEG is a GCSE minimum expected grade (interesting idea that they have met their target if they achieve the minimum but hey ho) and the oranges and reds say he is not there yet. Which he won't be. because he is year 9!

I'd bet science is one of thsoe subjects that says ' well, he hasn't studeied these thing s yet so if he sat it tomorrow he'd get a 2' and others are maybe looking more at skills.

The colour coding is maybe a bit alarming to parents : but otherwise I can't see what is confusing? Add two grades on to all of those and he has exceeded his targte grade almost across the board : with the two year he has to go, that is likely!

He may be a dedicated artist but I would assume his actual skills and material uses will refine by year 11.

Japanese ! Cool school!

Piggywaspushed · 21/07/2018 13:55

ps and the only one you don't mention is geography and that is the only one that rings alarm bells!?

However, I'd bet that these grades are based on one off in class assessments and not a more holisitic picture as is the way with our modern treadmill education.

noblegiraffe · 21/07/2018 13:58

If those are GCSE targets, Piggy then he has already met his end of Y11 targets by the end of Y9 for RE and IT, but this is only marked as ‘on target’. They look like end of Y9 targets, generated from some sort of flightpath shite.

noblegiraffe · 21/07/2018 14:00

I’m also a bit perplexed as to why a student who is apparently grade 4.1 in maths at the end of Y9 (and who should be at 5.5) is marked as Maths Foundation Tier. Higher tier surely?

SassitudeandSparkle · 21/07/2018 14:02

Do you know where they get their targets (the MEG) from, it could well be the SATs tbh - if he did well in those then they predict high grades! Are they individual targets or an expected average?

My DD's Junior school report this year was great apart from a couple of subjects taught by the same teacher which were a grade below all of her other teacher's assessments not the only pupil this teacher marked in this way either DD was a little taken aback because one of them is a subject she studies outside school and has passed graded exams in. I tried to say that sometimes you don't always get on with teachers but really I was Hmm Angry

MinesAWhitMagnumPlease · 21/07/2018 14:12

DS report at Easter had one or two quite low attainment grades which were a surprise. Saw the physics teacher at parents evening and said you've given him good effort etc but low attainment and it seems out of line with other subjects. His reply - the others are grading too generously, he's on track to do well but this is only yr9, lots to still cover.

Fits with Clairetree1's theory.

BoneyBackJefferson · 21/07/2018 14:17

noblegiraffe
That report looks like a pile of bollocks. What a waste of everyone’s time.

Most of the new style reports are bollocks. Even when you were allowed to write 'personalised' reports they meant nothing as they were so heavily neutered.

Also welcome to the new world where your children are just data.