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

Ghastly school. My DS was really poor at Primary and at the end of Secondary he had one of the best value added scores in the school.
Find a school that will believe in him OP.

Move him. Don’t let him be written off like that.
One of my DC was below average at primary, got very low CAT scores at secondary - below average and a lot below average in everything- yet managed nine good GCSEs, all at B and A and A*, very good A levels and is at an RG university en route for a first.

Sounds like a crap school that only cares about one thing. Those kind of predictions at that age is pure bollocks.

Ha ha, of course they want him to stay another year, it's another year of fees. I'd be moving him quick smart tbh.

I really don't think they can predict with any accuracy at that age. Children progress at different paces. My dd was decidedly average in year five, she was described as a "plodder" yet went on to get four A levels grade B and a first in her degree.

Maybe suggest to the teacher she needs to have more of a "growth mindset"

I can't tell you CAT scores because Ds1 only did them at a normal state secondary in year 7, but I can tell you his flight path predictions based on SATs in year 6.

Ds had a 4b (average) for English which would suggest a C grade or at best a 5 on the new grade system and a 5c for Maths which would mean a B or 6 on the new system.

He sat his GCSEs in 2019 and achieved an 8 in English and a 9 in Maths, take that flight path predictions he achieved a lot of 9s in fact.

Children don't learn on a linear scale. The whole we are happy to take your money for the next 2 years is awful. Your son is more than a CAT score. He can achieve a lot with the right teachers and support.

Change schools definitely but also report the school to Ofsted. Getting rid of pupils to keep their stats average is appalling and if they're not capable of nurturing a wide variety of pupils that's concerning.

What scores did your son get when he was diagnosed with dyslexia?

I have a DD with severe dyslexia - when I got her to try 11+ papers, the VR was a complete nightmare... all the questions where you need to work out the missing letters... DD probably couldn't read or spell it with all the letters there! And yet she scored almost very highly for NVR and VR at both dyslexia assessments she had.

I did ask the last Ed Psych how come she had a such high VR score and yet the 11+ verbal reasoning score was so awful, and she explained they had a totally different way of testing.

So it could be purely down to the test he sat and nothing to do with any innate potential or abilities.

To be honest, whatever the case with your son's CAT score, he's definitely in the wrong school so I would move him as soon as you can.

Look for schools that are used to working with children with dyslexia and can think outside the box a bit. DD is now at a very large secondary with a great SEN department. She's working almost entirely on a laptop now, everyone is ignoring her spelling and focusing on her actual content - and she's happy, engaged and getting really good grades in all subjects.

We were turned down for a place by one private school who said that they didn't think DD would thrive in an academic environment (and this was a school that doesn't claim to be more than minimally selective), so I know exactly what a nasty surprise it can be hearing something like this. From what I have heard since, I suspect it was more the case that the school had neither the will nor the resources to bothered catering for a child with any kind of SEN if they didn't have to.

Move him . High achieving schools near me clear out children who might affect their results . Appalling attitude. Your child deserves better .

@omgitcantbetrue

Yes CAT is Cognitive ability test. I think average is 100, but have no idea. Teacher said DS scored below national average. I’m researching online but not managed to understand much.... i want to take him and move asap, but teacher pointed out that it might be easier socially for him to move in year 7, when many other children would also be moving.

Moving at a natural break point will be a lot easier socially, but I think you have to ask yourself whether it will be wasted time academically because it sounds like they are writing him off. How much attention or adaption are his needs going to get if they know he’s leaving at the end of year 6?

If he gets a lot out of the school on a non-academic level (friendships, sport etc.) and the money isn’t too difficult to find, it may be worth keeping him there and paying for tutoring. But I would also start talking to other schools immediately to see if there is a better fit for him both for year 7 and now.

If he isn't staying there and using their feeder scho, where will he be going in year 7? Which is the feeder school to there?

I'd look into that and moving him there, so he then moves up with his cohort, rather than being a random kid starting in yr 7

Given that grade C at GCSE no longer exists (and hasn't done for a couple of years) I'd say this school is a little out of order. I imagine they are concerned to keep their grades high to attract fee paying parents. If this is the way they treat their pupils I'd certainly be looking for somewhere better. You cannot predict grades so far in advance.

I don't think ofsted inspect private schools @Redwinestillfine.

@Jigglypuffler

Not advice as such, but I went to a grammar school and there was a girl in my class who was dyslexic. It wasn't a good place for her; rather than getting the support she needed, she got in trouble for low marks - detentions etc. We all saw it was unfair, even as her peers, and it makes me feel very sad for her looking back. I really think it would have been fairer on her to go to a school that had a lower benchmark of expectations - make her less of a tiny fish in a big pond and broaden her opportunities, so to speak.

My point is, if a school is that way inclined to be so focused on grades and its reputation off the back of that, then having the opportunity now to seek out a secondary school that will be more supportive and nurturing may end up being a real blessing in disguise when you look back on this as your DS is moving through his education.

Would it not actually have been fairer if the school had provided the support the girl needed to teach her full potential, rather than sending her off somewhere else with suitably low aspirations? People with dyslexia go to uni, work in a whole variety of careers and can't be judged entirely on a learning difference! It's not the 1970s.

Discusting behaviour, is your son happy and progressing there? I would really be thinking of moving him sooner. They are obviously not willing to support him. I would be tempted to report the school (not sure to who?).

Good grief. Some people are late developers. Some people reach their academic peak aged 11 (grammars have this problem).
My DS was not academic until age 15. Then he was very academic indeed. To the extent that the school didn't have the procedures in place to ensure he was in the correct sets and had the correct predicted grades etc.
Nearly everyone who is academically gifted in my family (not all are) were late developers.
It is wrong how much importance schools place on year 6 SATS, CATS, even the 11+ is flawed.
Being good at primary school doesn't mean you will be good at GCSEs, and even then if you are good at GCSEs it doesn't mean you will be good at A'levels.
Most important thing is not to peak too soon!

I would find a more enlightened school and make it clear it is your decision not theirs.

The teacher gently informed me this means he'll not manage to achieve above a C grade in any subject at GCSE.
Complete nonsense. CAT's are a general indicator, but any number of things can affect the results (bad day, raced through them, misunderstood a question etc). I have taught students with low CAT's who did extremely well at GCSE, and students with very high CAT's who did badly.

Lots of you seem to be saying that 92 score isn't that low, which is making me feel quite indignant on his behalf

It wouldn't be low for a comprehensive school, but prep schools are a different kettle of fish. I would move him sooner and not carry on giving them your money!

Cognitive Ability Tests give a standardised score. A standardised score compares a child wiith other children of the same age. Between 85-115 is average. So she's within the average range.

This pisses me off so much. Dh has severe dyslexia and had an awful time at his private primary school. He went to a state high school and they were hugely supportive. With the schools support he did very well in his GCSE’s and A-levels and went on to get a degree in physics.

That's pretty much par for the course for some schools who advertise high academic achievement as their main ethos. The reason they have such high achievers, is of course anyone who it's thought will not reach the school's levels of attainment are weeded out.

It does seem to be being done at a very young age though, perhaps his processing speed is very low, or he has language comprehension difficulties.
This is meant kindly, maybe because you are dyslexic too, you haven't seen his difficulties as pronounced as the school are seeing them, because to you, they are ordinary. . It also may be that his dyslexia is co-morbid with another condition which is becoming more obvious now.

It's my guess that the school are absolutely not prepared to make any interventions and provisions for him and what they are actually saying is 'if we leave him to his own devices, he'll not do well and we have one method of teaching and if he can't keep up, tough. But we still want your money for not educating him to the best of his ability until Year 7.

Does your son have an EHCP and diagnostic reports outlining his strengths and weaknesses? If so, I'd seriously consider moving schools asap.

You may find a suitable school on this list @omgitcantbetrue crested.org.uk/
"The majority of schools on the register are mainstream schools that are also able to give excellent help to pupils with SpLD: dyslexia and also – when combined with dyslexia – dyscalculia, dyspraxia, ADD, and pragmatic and semantic language difficulties. In addition we include teaching centres where children can find additional support outside of and /or in addition to their day to day schooling."

Sorry he's!

The CAT scores have a normal distribution with a mean of around 15 so if he scored 92 he would be at the 30th percentile. So to put that in perspective if he was in an average classroom of 30 kids he would either be smarter than 9 kids in the room.

Now that assumes that the CAT is given a proper assessment of his ability and potential. There are lots of reasons why this might not be the case - he may well have underperformed because he hasn't had enough support or enough time to learn to cope with his dyslexia. He may just be a late developer. A single day's performance will be affected by what he had for breakfast, how he slept the night before, whether he needed the loo etc.

It sounds like the school is failing him massively.

I moved Dd from one state primary to another state primary as the first wasn’t supporting her. She’s dyslexic as well. She went from been a year behind where she should have been to passing her eleven plus (just). She wasn’t tutored for the eleven plus either.

The new primary helped massively and she also did kip mcgrath for a bit in year 3/4 to get her back up to speed.

She did fine in secondary with good GCSEs and got 4x unconditional offers for uni.

He might need more support either from school, possibly a new one and possibly tutoring as well prior to GCSEs.

But getting Cs (equivalent) at gcse does not mean they need writing off at all. Plenty of other options apart from uni such as good training schemes. Maybe A levels won’t be for him (or they might be) so he could look at other stuff like BTECS, etc and still go to uni?