I don't understand NFER scores

[winkywinkola]

Dd (year 5) has had a spring term report from school that says she doesn't concentrate, is underperforming and needs to apply herself before she sits the 11+ in Sept.

Her NFER scores are:

Maths: 114
Non verbal reasoning: 136
Verbal reasoning: 122
Spelling: 122
Reading: 113

I've no idea what these mean. Can anyone enlighten me, please?

They are scored out of 141 with 100 the standardised norm , above 115 is very good and 130+ excellent. However these scores indicate potential and it may be that her day to day work isn't reflecting this. It is an assumption that she is not applying herself , has she ever had other difficulties with processing, working to time constraints or getting her thoughts down on paper for example. Children with SpLDs often present as underperforming.

Are you putting her in for superselectives or general grammars?

Obviously, for the former, scores need to be consistently higher across the board than for the latter.

We would consider that non verbal score to be very good at my school (comprehensive with above average intake academically). Interesting that the other scores aren't as high - could suggest lots of u tapped potential and non verbal could be viewed as a sign of raw intelligence where as the other scores reflect skills.

In Bucks the average NFER score required to pass the 11+ is 121. Her reading and maths would therefore be below what would be required to pass the 11+ in a highly hypothetical situation of course!!

For some schools the pass mark is even higher I believe.

Thank you for input.

It all just seems weirdly inconsistent.

She can't remember being tested for anything apart from non verbal reasoning.

We'd like her to sit 11+ in September to go to Aylesbury Girls but it's not looking likely she'll pass with those current scores.

School say to us that children should be 120 or higher for grammar but we are not bucks.

Her average is over 120, so I'd have thought she'd be fine for 11+ - just brush up the maths - this is a high potential result. But the school's point presumably is that she isn't performing at this level in class or her work, so you need to get to the bottom of that before parsing too closely for 11+ (which your OP didn't of course actually reference , in case you think I am getting at you!)

So she didn't perform spectacularly (but by no means badly) in a test that she didn't know she was taking and hadn't been prepared for? Be fair!
Get some tutoring and exam practise and see how it goes.

You're right. I just feel that the school should be clearer what these marks mean and what we can do to help her reach her potential.

I feel like I have to chivvy them for insight and tactics for improvement.