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?!

But that it probably how they mark it - not A,B or C but below expectations, meets expectations or exceeds expectations. That is effectively the grade and the result.

And I wouldn’t expect a returned marked exam paper - you don’t get that at GCSE etc!

This isn’t the parents’ fault or problem. It is a statutory right.

But parents should be grown ups, capable of exercising common sense and proportionality. Both of which would be sadly lacking if a DSAR were submitted in this case.

Alternatively the school could just give her the results she asked for initially.

I work at a school and we receive a handful of DSARs a year, most of them are in fact for getting students exam and class results honestly

Exactly, if a school already has good data protection processes then a DSAR is quick

Depending on what a parent wants a SAR can be very time consuming. I sometimes sit on permanent exclusion panels, which won’t include all information on a student but a fair amount. The packs can run to hundreds of pages and will need to be redacted before sharing with a parent

If Primary schools administer the optional Year 2 test papers, the teacher marks them using official national mark schemes.
The complete criteria used by primary schools to determine if a Year 2 child has reached the Expected Standard (EXS) are outlined in the official UK government's 'Non-Statutory teacher assessment frameworks for the end of Key Stage 1'.

The teacher tallies the total correct answers to determine the raw score, which is then is converted using government tables into a scaled score between 80 and 120. Once the teacher combines the test data with day-to-day book marking, they allocate one of three final progress grades for reading, writing, maths and science.

It's not a question of just allocating 'below, meeting or exceeding expectations' by the teacher.
The Statements for the standards in each are specific and detailed. They would provide a very clear evidence and guidance to a parent about the progress their child is making in each subject.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-assessment-frameworks-at-the-end-of-key-stage-1/non-statutory-teacher-assessment-frameworks-at-the-end-of-key-stage-1

I was saying this to my partner a couple of days ago, the reports are all so positive & "copy/paste". There were only a couple of sentences that stood out as being personal to my child, due to their health & support needs, otherwise could have been any other peer! That said, the teachers are brilliant about giving feedback at end of day collection, so I'm aware of most issues as they come up.

I much prefer old-school reports that picked up on specific issues, especially if they had to get creative with the phrases used for particular behaviours 😂

Also... you've just reminded me I need to clarify with my child's teacher whether he is "working towards expectations" or "exceeding expectations" in one particular subject, as both were ticked off!

The test results data will almost certainly be entered onto a school-wide electronic Class Data Tracker, used by teachers and management to monitor sub-levels or flight paths for each child. This is very likely to link to the individual Statements for standards as a measure of progress for each subject.

The class data tracker is subject to disclosure in a Subject Access Request, for the information held on an individual child. It will give a very clear and detailed account of the child's progress - usually half termly, or termly progress.

@LittleWhiteRabbit so OP has final data for the year. She had final data for Y1 in the year report. So can see progress. For a 7yo does a parent really need more info than that? What is she going to do with it? The child is at greater depth

Surely a meeting some time in the new term if OP is concerned is the way forward so can talk about actual things the child is doing (assume they will have a parent evening at some point in that term).

It’s you.

It's a common gatekeeping response from schools, but working at greater depth is not a valid legal reason to withhold data, nor does it invalidate the OP's legal right to be actively involved. The law does not require you to have a complaint or a struggling child to see their records.
She has an absolute right to look under the hood of her child's education to understand their strengths, areas for stretch, and exact trajectory.

I might be in perfect health, but l want the otption to view my medical records - and my GP makes them easily available to me without obfuscation. I see no valid reasons why schools cannot do the same - and they are legally required to do so.

@LittleWhiteRabbit do you work in a school?

The KS1 SATs used to be reported as an actual result. I’m assuming this was when your mum taught. This was before they realised that actually testing children of this age is a very inexact science and teacher assessment is the best way forward. I’ve been a KS1 teacher for 25 years and appreciate the development as well as now not making the SATs nonstatutory. Looking at the papers may allow your mum as a KS1 teacher to spot things to work on but having not taught your child in the classroom will be of minimal help as the way things are taught has changed massively in the past ten years. The score will also only allow you to see if she’s on track or not and you’ll get that from end of year grading. A conversation with the teacher plus an end of year report is the best way to see where to work next.

I usually suggest my y2 parents focus on…

telling the time to the minute
using money and giving change
times tables - 2,5 and 10 then 3 and 4.
practical mass, capacity and length
reading to and with them

The papers aren’t long either, so a slight exaggeration from the DD! They are not GCSEs

I think this post is somewhat disingenuous.

The vast majority of primary schools do complete internal assessment tests at least every term. While the UK government does not legally require it, individual school leadership teams almost always mandate them. They're used internally to track pupil progress, spot learning gaps, and back up broader teacher assessments. They are very much more detailed than the pupil reports to parents.

I understand OP.

OP, I don't think the results will be any help as it will be a number that might not resonate with you. In my experience it is about testing cohorts not children. They are comparing children across schools and also screening for any children who have difficulties but less at Year 2, as they will know your child really well.

I think this would be the wrong hill to die on. You won't get much information from the score, won't know how to help her and all of that information will be on her school report. We are all reporting now on whether a child meets, exceeds or is working towards expectations for their age. I don't think you'll get much else out of school.

Are there some targets on her report? These are often fairly generic. If the cohort as a whole have scored badly on shape for example, that will be taught with some additional focus in Year 3 but the intention is not that you should rectify this at home over the summer. Take her to the library, go for days out, have conversations, write some postcards to friends and family and do some baking where she measures out the ingredients for the recipe. That's the sort of support from parents that makes the difference to children's achievement and I'm sure you do this already.

Sorry @Lmnop22 I did not mean to quote you just then.

The other thing to remember if you do want to do some teaching over the holiday use the methodology the school use, which might not be the methodology you used at school. Also for those who are above age expected level it is not about powering through the curriculum, so moving on to the next topics before their peers. It is about mastery of that topic, understanding questions that might be asked in a different way, using different language, nit using mathematical symbols but that the child can understand what is actually being asked

@Bigtrapeze We are all reporting now on whether a child meets, exceeds or is working towards expectations for their age. I don't think you'll get much else out of school.

Almost all Primary schools use detailed, granular tracking records every term to chart the progress of every child against the assessment criteria in the statements for each subject in maths, english and science. And schools have a legal obligation to share this information with the parent if it is requested.

Mastery of a topic, for those above the expected level in a subject, is a UK governement policy decision for 'Closing the Attainment Gap'.

In subjects like maths, the government heavily funded the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) to roll out East Asian-inspired "Teaching for Mastery". The policy goal is to keep the whole class learning the same topic together to prevent lower-attaining children from being left behind. It is critics frequently argue that the system compromises individual high flyers to elevate the whole class.

The policy is fundamentally designed around the philosophy of equity over acceleration. The OP is not obliged to accept such a philosophy for her individual child in her home learning enviroment.

And I pity the poor 7yo whose parent gets hold of this information and then spends the summer holidays ensuring their child is getting 100% in every assessment criteria they had dropped a few points in

If you have genuine concerns about areas of your DDs learning then I think its fair to ask for more details. Not 'exam results' though. That's surely not the language they are using for 7 year olds?

Sadly I have had to be that parent. Teachers saying DD is fine, but then telling me that a reading assessment scored low. They put it down to being a blip but that 'blip' happened every term, coupled with our horrendous experience at home trying to do reading homework with her ('oh but she's fine in class'). Its now confirmed she has dyslexia. We wouldn't have got to this point if I hadn't kept saying to every teacher "something doesn't add up here".

If there are lots of discrepancies between what you are seeing with your DD at home compared to what the teacher is saying then you definitely need to speak up, but if its just because you want to know if she's top of the class and are going to sit her in front of a maths textbook throughout the school holidays then you just need to chill.