DS bought home an Autumn term progress report last night. I've never seen one before and am quite unfamiliar with the format.
The scores are all related to how well a child is performing in relation to what is expected for their age.
At the start of term DS was allocated a target of 'succeed plus' for every subject (including art, French, PE etc). He did well in his SATS FWIW, and I think that's the reason he was allocated the highest target. Obviously SATS performance isn't really an indicator of ability at sport, art, music etc., so it all seems a bit odd.
The report suggests he is working effectively towards his targets for everything except PE and art where he is far below what is expected for his age. In both these subjects not only is he working at the lowest level (classed as not yet approaching the beginning of an age appropriate level), but he has been reallocated an end of year target of 'well below' his age related expectation, so I guess he is struggling to an extent that they can't even see any hope of improvement?
I completely accept that few people are good at everything. But I'm concerned that the layout of this report implies that his target for these subjects is to remain well below what is expected of his age group.
I guess it's the PE that worries me. DS is not very good at sport, but he does try. He's a great golfer, skier and is motoring through a kayak and canoe qualification. However, he's never been fast or competitive enough to take part in team sports. I'm happy to accept he's not in the least talented at sports but should I be worried that he's not even been given a target of achieving a result typical of his age group? It makes it feel like he is judged as incapable of doing sport to any level?
In both art and PE he has been given the highest score that can be allocated for behaviour- implying that he is putting the effort in.
I don't want to be a tricky parent but I'm not sure if I should bring this up with his tutor? I also wonder if his PE teacher is implying that DS has some sort of inbuilt issue with sports- which may be the case, but maybe I should talk to the teacher about it?