DS been asked to leave school due to low CAT score.

[omgitcantbetrue]

Just had a meeting with DS Prep school and I'm feeling so worried and anxious for DS.

He scored 92 average on the CAT test.
The teacher gently informed me this means he'll not manage to achieve above a C grade in any subject at GCSE. He's only in year 5, and I'm amazed they can make such predictions.
I was then informed that it's in his best interest to transition to a more gentle secondary school.
I don't know what I want really. Advice from parents in a similar position?
Are her life prospects totally limited? With C's only I'm assumings he'll never go to University. Which is fine. I'm worried for his prospects.
Do children who score 92 ever improve? How below average is this?
Thanks for reading

@ ohmygodcanitbetrue. How did he complete the test was he given support Or was he left to do independently? That would affect the outcome... I work in SEN so if I can help I will try to answer your questions

My dd is dyslexic, she’s 11. She never scores well in tests, but she is incredibly bright, she just struggles to read, write and spell. She has miles more common sense than my academically able 15 year old! She is more practical and much more logical. I know she has wonderful things waiting for her in the future. I shrug when she tells me she got a low score in a test and tell her how amazing she is and who cares about a maths/spelling test. It doesn’t matter and it won’t shape who she is as a person or where she goes in life.

Putting dyslexic children in an overly academic environment isn’t going to make for a happy child. Of course you want them to do well and sometimes my heart sinks for her when she tells me she got the lowest in the class, it affects her self esteem hugely, so I counteract that with her out of school activities that she can thrive at.

Don’t worry about it, but do find somewhere that works for your child, and your child doesn’t have to be a square peg in a round hole.. x

I’ve taught children whose CAT scores predicted them grades of 2s, 3s and 4s. Usually they smash these targets. I had one student targeted a 2 and achieve an 8 in GCSE History. CATS are often very low if a child had a learning difficulty. If the school is prepared to help remove the barriers to progress (e.g. get the pupil a scribe, tinted paper and books or extra time) then children can fly.

Stop wasting your money on this school that has no interest in your child and move them to a school which understands how to get the best from all children.

@Bvop agree - Bruern is an exceptional school! My DS attends there and is thriving in the environment they have created, is engaged and excelling academically. I often feel tearful to see the stark contrast between where he was and Bruern as I feel I let him down. There are schools out there that really focus on those kids that have a lot of potential but don't fit into the usual profile.

Get him out of there---sooner than secondary if you can.

Schools like this are not interested in keeping students that need extra support. They need to continue to give the illusion of providing a gold standard education, by saying goodbye to those students out who won't give them the results they desire.

I can see that some are of the opinion that what is required for dyslexic children is the sort of watered-down curriculum you might find in a less academic school. But I don't think this is the case at all. Many children with dyslexia - and others who are not NT - are perfectly capable of sophisticated abstract thought and would thrive in academic environments. What they do need, however, is to be taught according to their learning style, which is often more visual than verbal.

Freebird, why do you think that schools like Henrietta Barnet or St Paul’s Girls or Alleyns have 10 applications per place, whereas some other London or south east private schools have just 1 or 2 applications per place? Why do you think that if a parent gets an offer from both of those types of schools, they usually choose the one which had 10 applications per place?

Sorry... And one last thing my nephew is dyslexic, has dyspraxia and Aspergers, he graduated from uni and has now started his own little business so ✌🏻To that teacher he can achieve great things especially with a supportive mum like you behind him.

What a horrible thing to hear about your lovely son. Honestly, in your position I would take him out. Plenty of people who score slightly below average in such tests at your son's age will go on to have full, happy and successful lives in different things, academic or otherwise. I would just worry that your son has been written off, and the impact of staying in that in environment will be much more detrimental than what his actual CAT score may mean.

Also are there other things you could do to help with his dyslexia? Educational psychology input, even privately, about recommendations for him to make the most with his learning? Anything else going on like his attention being poor, and this being missed/all put down to dyslexia when it could be ADHD also, for example?

I have a friend who had a very similar conversation about her DS. She found another independent school that did not feel the same way after meeting him. He was a slow burn but bagged a good haul of GCSEs, great A levels and came away with a first from what MN would describe as top university for that subject.

That’s awful! I do hope you move your poor little lad as soon as possible - I say ‘poor’ because he is clearly not appreciated and valued as he should be at school.
There are many schools out there that will take a completely different approach.
We looked (without realising its true nature) at a very competitive academic prep school for my younger son - it rejected him on the ground that he wouldn’t catch up even if he stayed down a year due to his very low academic potential. They said they thought he had dyscalculia (bad spelling, sorry).
Instead we sent him to a brilliant inclusive school with a real sense of being a family & supporting the individual. To be honest we weren’t expecting great things from him academically, but guess what? When given the encouragement & support he needed, made to feel confident, he flourished. He has gone from really struggling to doing well- very strong in maths & science. So much for dyscalculia! It was just a question of finding his interests, at the right time, with the support of a kind and patient community.
What I’m getting at OP is that there is somewhere out there for your little man, a friendly supportive environment. His existing school sounds rotten. Please don’t worry about his future- just focus on changing school at the moment. (I wouldn’t wait till year 7 as that may mean he has to join existing friendship groups, depending on the intake of the new school. Plus he deserves a better school right now!)

Absolutely appalled by this. They are happy to take your money now but when the time comes to put the hard work in they don’t want to know. Aside from the fact that they clearly don’t have much faith in their own teaching, I am shocked at the lack of morals and duty of care to an existing pupil.

The CAT score has not changed your son’s ability so please do not take these results to heart. He still has the same potential and will succeed in the right environment. Start researching schools now and you will find the right fit for him.

My sister got all Cs (and 1 D) at GCSE and is dyslexic. Went on to get a 2.1 in English and now has a good job in NHS. Don't write off people with "just c's"

@OutwiththeOutCrowd exactly! They are bright kids and have a lot to offer. They just think differently and it is hard to assimilate that with the traditional school system.

I think I'd happily leave a school like that. How dare they write him off in year 5!
You said he is dyslexic. Has he has any special provision during his tests for this?
I've worked with children for 25 years and I feel confident in saying they cannot predict a childs G. C. S. E results in year 5. They can't even reliably do that in year 11.

I can't read all of this as it brings back too many distressing memories. The rounds of the professionals... My daughter was also written off and her father supported the professionals. I didn't agree. Educationally she has attained her master's and continues to collect relevant qualifications for her career.

If they had advertised as a hot house, we simply wouldn't have been there. I genuinely was under the impression it was mildly selective, so there is a degree of bad feeling on my behalf.

So sorry OP but in the private sector any degree of selectivity at all is just that... and any child who isn't clearly above average academically will typically be managed out. Choose a completely non selective school. You might notice their results arent much better than state. There's a reason.

I got low a low CAT scores and was predicted Cs and Ds. I cried and cried because I felt I'd been labelled a failure by a computer. Luckily my teachers saw past it and I went to Oxford in the end (fuck you Cats).

How awful for your poor son to be written off like that and so young! They don't necessarily mean anything but the teacher's response does mean that they don't value your son. Also, I understood that CAT tests were better at predicting cohort performance than individual ones?

I hope that you can find somewhere that lets him shine without fear. Poor lamb.

I wouldn’t want to keep my child in a school, where effectively, they have written them off at such a young age. My grades at GCSE were in the C’s and A levels were poor. I went on to do a degree and a masters and have now working as an allied health professional for a number of years, getting a good salary and importantly happy.

I'm dyslexic and achieved c's in my gcses. Didnt stop me achieving a degree and masters. I'm a teacher myself. Your daughter can achieve great things with hard work.

Move them to a school that's values all students

OP, I’m dyslexic and was told in year 5 I wasn’t going to pass maths or English GCSEs. I did very well, great GCSEs and A Levels and a first at Uni. I get so angry when I hear or children getting written off at such a young age. For me, it took until secondary school for me to develop strategies which had previously prevented me from doing well. Having said that, if success was based on spelling and arithmetic tests every week I would have still failed, but I know I can’t do it in my head but I can see where it is wrong written down and with the help of a spellcheck! I also know what you mean about parental guilt, I’m constantly watching my 3 and looking for signs 😕 I don’t know why but I have only recently started to be more open about it because I am reasonably clever people would get cross when I said I was dyslexic because you can’t be dyslexic and clever apparently

I would definitely move him if I were you, OP, but please don't panic.

This is fairly typical of an intensely - or even fairly - academic independent school. They manage out the lower, average ability children to keep their stats high. They will then cream off the best of the state school crop at 11+ to keep their stats high. It is all about keeping their stats high. At teacher level, of course they also want the children to be happy and thriving (and to be fair highly academic children can genuinely thrive and be happy in a highly pressurised academic environment), but the results are how the schools keep their businesses going, and they have to protect them at all costs.

We are in SW London and I would absolutely agree with comments about the competitiveness and parental ambition displayed by many - not all, sure, but many - parents at these schools. Of course there are lots of rational sensible parents BUT some of the stuff I've heard about in the London/home counties area is insane.

But none of this means that your DS can be 'written off' in Y5! Neither is he 'condemned' to 'just' getting Cs. Not that there's anything wrong with Cs, but it is really, really common for DC with additional needs to come out with lower scores around this age, and it doesn't mean that any "predictions" will automatically hold. With the right support, DC can make amazing progress in secondary.

My DS1 is on the autistic spectrum and has severe attention deficit disorder. He didn't do CAT scores as was at state school but I can totally imagine him being briskly managed out had we gone down the prep route. Instead he went to our local state secondary and eventually came out with all 7s, 8s and 9s at GCSE - way above Y6 predictions. As did many of his friends who have similar SEN diagnoses. They really hit their stride - with the right support - around y8/9.

What you are being told is that the school your DS is in is not the right school for him, which is probably true, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to flourish somewhere else.

My DS scored very low in his Y6 SATS. We were told he would go into lowest sets at secondary school and might even struggle to cope. He scored 88 in Maths and 81 in English In his SATS. His expected grades for GCSE this year are 6 maybe 7 in Maths and 5 in English. With the other grades 5s or 6s too. He has had learning support throughout his secondary school but his learning difficulties have not been identified as dyslexia etc. He has a problem with formal lessons, the format doesn’t suit him. He says everything goes over his head. Whereasif he is in an informal, chatty lesson - he does really well. He also learns well from videos and powerpoints, but just can’t cope with text books. Understanding this, and fortunately having small class sizes, he has begun to do much better. Your prep school sounds too results focussed and so is probably not the best place for him. Look for somewhere where they take pride in every single pupil achieving their best outcome.
DS definitely wants and expects to go to uni or into a degree apprenticeship.

Terrible attitude from the teacher! My dd got really low sat test results in year 2 and 6 and got A's and a*'s at a level! Some kids are later developers especially those with dyslexia. She's at university and won a scholarship

I really don't understand these predictions!

My DD achieved very basic GCSEs (mainly 4s) when the GCSE's were changed in 2018 and achieved basic sats too.

She's just achieved AAA* in A-level!

Although she only achieved basic GCSE this will not limit her in terms of university.

Good luck op