School Reports

[Glovesick]

It is my first year as a school mum. I went to school abroad so have little experience of the English Way.

Our kids got their reports today (end of Reception). One of the mums keeps going on about how their PFB got "exceeding" on everything and that her kid is top of the class, if not the best in the whole country.

This is the same mum that told me she could run faster than me and everyone else, but sadly there was no parents' race on Sports Day to prove it.

Is this as exceptional as she says or do lots of kids get these results?

Not got my dd's report yet as she accidentally brought home the wrong bag. No idea what her report will say.

@Pandamodium if only all parents were like you.

Knowing the EYFS development areas and markers, I know that it's not very difficult to exceed, but it doesn't mean much in the long term. Her saying 'top of the class' is a bit - off the top of my head I think there are about 12 assessment criteria and only about 5-6 of them are to do with intellect; the rest look at physical and social development. In YR my DS was emerging in some physical dev areas and my DD (another Nov born) got exceeding for every category - in Y2 they got the same 'grades' but my DS did much better in terms of his raw SATs score.

Like MissEliza evidences, you never know when learning will 'click' for a child, and anyway communication and attitudes to work are as important determinants for success in life, IMO.

RockinHippy
I don't doubt some people will get catty, more I think most reasonable people won't have an issue because they know children develop at different rates.

There's always going to be a smaller group of people who enjoy bitching and comparing or who are a bit anti-academic but they're probably the same people who think it's fun and cool to admit ignorance in many areas.

It's generally safer all round to avoid big group comparisons and safe the positives to people who someone is friends with over playground chatter.

September born here. Expected in everything except emotional well being which was below. School want a chat. He's made huge progress from where he was as a toddler.
Report was still glowing. I'm trying not to be upset and initially I was really happy but getting more disheartened when people share about exceeding or make ridiculous statements about September born girls should be getting exceeding across the board.

Not always the case.

She sounds great - she is going to give you such amazing eye rolling opportunities over the next few years 😂

Reports last week and summer born DD (reception) got exceeding in everything. Headteacher found me at the school's drop in yesterday to mention her reading and how good it is (she's on lime).

We've told my parents. That's it. A few of the school mums have asked and I've made comments along the lines of "it's lovely and we are proud" and talked about the bits which say that DD looks after her friends and is considerate, and enjoys learning. I'm also aware that progress now means very little going forward and the class are likely to level out.

Her top of the class comment - they do map the children in reception here (a graph that has them all plotted against the EYFS) which technically shows a top child. It's not public though, we only know as we caught a glimpse while papers were evening shuffled at a parents evening. Our school are incredibly careful not to compare the children publicly. I find it hard to believe she's basing her assertion on anything else other than her own opinion of her child.

I wouldn't worry to much, as long as your DC is engaged with school.

My DD got top GCSE results but never really shone at primary school and indeed did not pass the 11+. She has better grades than her friends who went to grammar schools.

I don't know why people are saying that this does not matter. Our school filters children for Y1 by EYFS scores, creating a "stupid", "average" and "clever" class (of course, they are not officially called that, there are nice fluffy academically acceptable labels for them). Children from the "stupid" class are not even offered to try tasks from the mastery / greater depth syllabus.

You didn’t see the report I’m guessing, she could easily embellish the actual results. Just ignore her. Being a bright spark in reception does not mean that child will still be one by year 6.

There’s a parent I know who has frequently lied or exaggerated throughout school. There’s been a few occasions where she has told everyone her daughters test scores whilst her daughter has shown everyone the real (lower) number.
Her daughter does okay in school but again she is a September baby.
At the last parents evening she said the teacher told her that her daughter was an ‘inspiration to everyone in the school’

She did also tell me once that her daughter was much taller than mine. Whilst the 2 girls were stood next to each other and mine is nearly a head taller than hers. Bizarre

It doesn't matter because education is a marathon and not a sprint. Doing the "number bonds to 10" task in y1 rather than the "number bonds to 20" task doesn't mean the child is destined to fail their GCSEs as children don't develop in a linear fashion. Anecdotally none of my children ended up achieving what their primary school grades predicted. Being at expected level in primary rather than greater depth is not a problem unless the child needs to pass academic exams to their next school in which case focusing on exam prep rather than achieving greater depth will be a better use of time.

some people like to boast. ignore her.

as for getting exceeding in everything - guess it's not that rare. DC2 gets exceeding consistently for everything since reception and I know of two others in her class how get that too. so at least 10% of her class. hardly exceptional.

Can someone point me to the official stats on what % of the country gets all exceeding? The child in question is a Sept born girl, so suspect this might be part of it.

why are you so overinvested into this girls results? I get why the mum annoyed you bit that is a bit odd.

@pikapikachu
I cannot claim to understand fully the British system (as the OP, I am from abroad), but at the moment I can see the following:

1. Children are set into classes by ability at the end of Reception. The school concentrates on showing "progress" by the cohort from where they are on entry (as it is a part of their official assessment score) rather then actually stretching each child individually.
2. Next class reshuffling happens at the end of KS1, but by then classes have already been working for two years at very different levels, so no major reallocation is happening in reality.
3. On transition to the state secondary comprehensive (not a grammar area here), children are set into classes again based on their primary SAT results. Lower ability classes are not even allowed to take certain exams, and are not exposed to the associated curriculum.

So unless I buy my child out from this system early (tutors, private schooling, relocating etc), he/she is put on a specific trajectory pretty much at the time discussed in this thread, i.e. end of Reception.

I assume that you're referring to a private school.

In most state schools each class will be divided into 3 ability groups for maths and literacy. These sets are fluid (kids can move up and down) and specific to each subject so you can be top set maths but middle set literacy. Streaming (what you describe) is very unusual at primary. State school teachers are trained to teach kids of a wide range of ability and again very unusual to keep kids in a set that is too high or low for 2 years.

Setting based on SATS at secondary is also unusual in my experience as secondaries know that some schools teach kids to pass the tests with a high score but their general knowledge is not so good. My experience is that they do their own tests like CATS so kids are on a more level playing field. Again sets are fluid so a low set in y7 does not mean low GCSE results and vice versa. If you were taking about an older child - say y9 then it's a different story but your child is in Reception. The only people who should be worried are the below expectations people or those taking private school exams very soon (eg the 7+) and even then it's not necessarily doom and gloom as sometimes maturing a bit does wonders for grades (especially boys who may not be ready to sit down and study until y1/2)

Ours are set in to the above, on target and below for work throughout the whole school from reception. Obviously people can move up and down but that doesn’t change the work they are set in between moves so a smart child will always be given the harder work then the below child.

The smart ones in ks2 are also sent off to the local secondary here for extra lessons in the areas they exceed at to broaden and expand on what primary can offer. They also do the same for those that are athletically advanced.

Stats for 2018 are here

Urgh I hate all this.
My DS got expected in most areas but emerging in a lot of the emotional development stuff. However, he’s one of the younger ones, he only turned 5 last week.

I’ve seen a couple of boastful posts on FB, including people posting the whole report.
I understand people are proud, but it’s likely to make other people feel pretty shit.
I’m fiercely proud of what my DS has achieved this year, report or no report.

My reception dd got all 3 exceeding on everything on her report. Only people I told were my mum and obviously dh. I haven't even told my close friend who's dd is in the same class. She told me her results I didn't say my dds I am incredibly proud of my dd of course she has really struggled this year but I don't see the need to post it on fb, boast makes me cringe. We have emerging, expected and exceeding on our reports.

@pikapikachu

No, state primary.

@pikapikachu
Just found stats that 16% of primary schools use streaming by ability, and that there is limited evidence that there is any movement between the streams. So it is not the prevalent approach, but far from unique. My friend's DD school also does the same, and they are on the other end of the UK from us.
As you can guess, my child was sorted into the "low ability" stream, otherwise I'd be singing praises to the system.

I’m so glad DS’s school is only one class per year, I’d hate to think they were being separated on the basis of these reports, I want my DS to have the same opportunity as everyone else.

16% seems really high. Where did you find that stat?

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay
Here's an article I found (from 2013, I can imagine with all the pressure around exam performance etc. it only could have moved upwards since then).

discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10011537/

'Exceeding' is just that. It can mean colouring in and staying inside the lines.

It really is quite pointless at this stage.

When I was little I was having trouble making it through the night without wetting the bed. The neighbour told my mum how her child of the same age had been dry for years.

My mum pointed out that every morning there was a sheet and a pair of pyjamas on the washing line.

Some people bulshit. Some parents bulshit.

Silver. So they have a class of higher attaining year 1 kids and a class of lower attaining kids at your dc primary? I didn't know any primary schools did that. I'm glad mine didn't.