School refusing access to exam results

[Rainbowstarssunlight]

My daughter is just about to finish year 2. A few weeks ago, she started coming home from school saying that they were doing exams. This went on for about two weeks and she told us that for four out of the five days they were doing exams and then having a rest on the fifth day. Obviously, I don’t know if this is true as kids can be unreliable when it comes to time!

I have asked the School for the results of these exams. I’ve been told that they are for internal monitoring only and not to be shared with parents.

I feel a little bit miffed about this. She seemed to spend a considerable time doing them without the School informing us and I don’t really see what the point was if we can’t use the results to help to support her learning at home.

I’ve always had a good relationship with the school and don’t want to upset the apple cart but I do feel that they’re being a little bit unreasonable. Do you agree or is it me?!

YANBU. Reports in primary school are useless. They were so much more informative and detailed when DD1 started school in 2010. A few years later after DD2 started it changed to the bland, broad brush nonsense we have now.

Don't understand. If you've got all the books, then why can't you look through those and come to your own judgement about what you want to do with your DD.

The thing is though, even if she knew the score that doesn't help know which areas are weakest (which is what she apparently wants to know). If she found out the child got 20/25 that is no different than what she already knows (working at greater depth for example).

Looking through the books that have been sent home will be the most useful if she wants to know what was tricky. The child's work should show mistakes and where it has been corrected. She could even just use this to talk to the child in general (like the time for example).

I don’t know why OP has had quite such a pile on.

I agree she doesn’t need to know. But I don’t think she’s some nightmare parent for asking, she’s just trying to be engaged with her child’s education.

When you did y2 SATs it was statutory that they were reported. That’s no longer the case and thankfully not even statutory to do the tests.

KS1 tests ought to be so low key that the children barely know they’re being assessed. I’m very surprised that this school called them ‘exams’ and I think that might be what has caused all the concern. They are not equivalent in assessment value to KS2 SATs by a long way as the children are so young.

Doing assessments in secret is a provocative way to describe a bit of unreported learning 😂. It really isn’t strange at all, teachers do it all the time - because the vast majority of assessment isn’t done by a test, it’s done using teacher judgement as you work with and observe a child. Tests are just a snapshot and one more bit of information to add to the myriad of information you’ve gleaned from a range of sources.

Even if the school had reported the marks of the tests there is no way they would have given parents the marked test papers which is what OP is actually wanting. Because then there’s a public discussion on the WhatsApp group about how qu7 wasn’t fairly worded and how little Johnny got all the decimals correct, did anyone else’s child? Etc, etc. Teachers just don’t need the hassle. And if you’re not getting the test papers then the actual test result is fairly useless. You have the teacher’s assessment for the year on the school report (the part she is deeming wishy washy) which takes into consideration the test result but other things too. That’s really all you need.

The children do assessments every term. To monitor progress. As others have said, to write reports and see where children need help. These assessments get marked and then they are shredded. You really don’t need to know about every single assessment. If you did, you would be informed.

You will find out in the next report

also you csn just test your daughter from tests on line etc sndcfind out what she can do or not

or just relax and enjoy the summer if something was seriously wrong you would be told

They constantly do assessments right throughout school. It’s a Goveism. I can’t imagine asking for the results to be honest, why do you need to know? If the teachers have concerns, they’ll let you know.

So your mum remembers a time when more emphasis was placed on these tests. They've moved away from that approach on purpose. Your child has still completed them, but to your child, the school has been careful not to make a big deal of the results or the exams at all. That's good!

They may be used to double check end of year results. Is what they are seeing on the exam matching what they are seeing from your child in class each day? If not, why not? Is there something that everyone seems to be getting wrong? Therefore, possible a gap in their teaching that they can address now and at the start of next year? These are questions for the school to reflect on themselves and not something for you, your child or your mother to worry about (and I say this as someone who taught for over 40 years and know to keep my beak out with grandchildren).

Your mum should know this, but the best thing you could do over the holidays is talk to your child, include them in things you are doing, read to them and have them read to you (every day if you can). These will be very different books as you can give them a richness of language that they can't read for themselves yet. Visit museums, zoos or even just the shops, there's plenty to see, do and learn around every corner. Play, indulge in imaginative play and don't forget to let them get bored too. as for maths, cut fruit, vegetable and even garlic bread into halves and quarters. Talk about them, how many halves or quarters are there? If I eat one, how much is left.

There should be no sitting down to revise or do school work each morning, it should just come through opportunities in the world around you during the holidays.

Why can't you use that to help? If your child is meeting or exceeding expectations, she doesn't need help anyway. Give her a chance to relax.

It really isn't (odd, I mean). There is such a wide window, meets expectations isn't wishywashy, it tells you all that you need to know, she is broadly where she should be for her age and if there are concerns they will flag them. Do you have particular concerns as you do sound a little anxious?

@Rainbowstarssunlight you could buy a KS1 workbook from Waterstones or Amazon and work through over the summer, you’ll soon see the areas your DD needs support in.

Essentially you are entitled to the data.

I would call again and follow up with an email. It it’ll have to be today and they may drag their feet

ask specifically for the exam papers as part of a subject access request - but make it clear to them if you have copies of the papers (and don’t expect originals) then you don’t need the SAR to be completed in full.

id frankly fall over myself not to have to do the admin of the sar!!

I think that’s very odd from the school…surely they will share this with you maybe as a report? I would want to know about my child and their exams to support them at home. I would put extra effort into the bits they are struggling with. Isn’t that part of being a normal concerned supportive parent?

I would absolutely insist, and would be That Mother with absolutely zero shame as much as I saw fit.

With the greatest of respect, my dd was diagnosed with ADHD aged 16. Looking back all the signs were there but because she performed highly, no teacher ever noticed. If the results had been monitored, the slip from early stellar may have been picked up.

The minute she started an independent 6th form, the difficulty with writing was nailed and she was allowed to work and do exams on a laptop. We raised the issues repeatedly throughout primary and secondary. Because she was above the norm nobody helped her. She always knew she wasn't performing to her ability hence why the cutting, o'dosing and decline into anxiety and depressuon arose aged 15.

Once diagnosed (privately, because CAMHS didn't give a flying) she turned round.

Because we are talking about a child who got 5A/A and 6B's at GCSE, she wasn't the school's priority. However, her intellectual ability should have delivered 11A/A. Once medicated and supported with therapy, she got 3A* A'Levels, dropping only about 10 UMS points and went on to take a first from Cambridge.

In my opinion it is therefore very imporyant to statistically track progress on the basis of all assessments because state schools teach to sats and normarive GCSE results rather than holistically and in accirdance with the potential of each child.

Why would it take any longer than the time it takes to mark? Every test my children have done in primary school has been marked then sent home for me to look at. Parents then have to sign them to show they've looked at them and the child returns them to the teacher. Quite helpful as I can see what questions my children get wrong and help them understand those kinds of questions better.

My daughter is likely dyslexic and behind on a few areas. The school were very slow at picking this up and I didn’t realise the extent of the problem until Y2. I really regret not keeping a closer eye in reception and Y1.

The school have never given me test results - but when I have asked me how I can support her they have told me things I can do with her at home. Like spelling high frequency words, and learning her 12 times table.

Also the CGP books are pretty good in my experience - I was able to gauge my daughter’s level and we have used them to support her English. She is still “working towards” but I think the gap is closing.

I agree with you that leaving your child’s academics just to the school isn’t always the best approach. There is lots you can do at home though. I do think the test results are a bit meaningless though, and I agree the “working towards/meeting expectations” is very vague. I largely just let the school get on with it/ support where they mention it and do my own thing with her at home. I think if I hadn’t done stuff with her at home she wouldn’t have made such good progress. However I do think the school are trying to help and every little helps!

They’re not ‘exams’ in Year 2, you fanny. Calm down 🤣

This is a year 2 child, right? So 7 years old? I'm a bit surprised at the school using the word exam at this age. Is that really what they called them?

You’ve got her workbooks, look through them and see what she’s struggling with if you want to help her over summer.

I only found out about the Y2 tests by chance - was walking home after drop off and another parent mentioned them (she has an older child too). The school seems to have handled them really well and

I'm glad they didn't share the exact results with us. My 7yo daughter did a dance exam earlier this year and they were all given a sheet with their results. I saw how they compared the numbers and upset some of them were at getting even slightly lower marks than their friends.

When our LB started in reception they did some assessments to establish a starting position and these weren’t shared with parents - I think it forms a basis for the progress scores for each kid. I assume the tests you are talking about are the same thing and they do them every year. Given it’s a way to assess the school rather than the kids I imagine they think it’s easier not to share the results. If they did there’d be a lot of interaction around it and that would take up lots of time. I can see where they are coming but on a more general point I share your frustration because I have found it difficult to get a much quantitive information from our LB’s primary school. I assume it’s because they are young but I get lots of vague ‘he’s doing well’. Given facts seem to be in short supply it’s a bit frustrating that they don’t share the results which would give you more insight into how she is doing.

We got the not meeting/meeting/exceeding in our school reports

I was still that parent and asked for the scores which the teacher gave me no problem. Maybe they think I'm that parent though! But this is the second child with the same teacher who gave me the scores at parents evening for my first child without asking.

I do think it's very easy to go through school thinking your child is doing well because they are so positively encouraging that it's really hard to get a clear idea of how they are doing. I also think it's really strange that people think their child's education should be entirely left to the teachers. They have 30 children in one room trying to get through a huge curriculum with very little TA support and often send children with no additional or not enough support.

Your DD will have done other assessments in the year. These are just end of year ones. A few years ago KS1 SATS were statutory tests like the phonics test, now they are voluntary. You will get the marks for KS2 SATS at the end of Y6.

You won’t have been told about them to try and make sure you don’t see them as a big deal and put pressure on your DC. They are just another data drop for schools

Let your DD have a break over the summer. Carry on reading with them