DS Sats results- such a mixture -help

[christywhisty]

For
Reading 88% a good level 5
writing 52% only just got a level 4 (2% off level 3)

Overall english 69% level 4 1% off level 5

Science he got 96% level 5

Maths level 5 (don't know actual score)

What do they do with children like DS in secondary school who have such a disparity between their writing skills compared to everything else. His vocabulary is very good (got level 5 teachers assessment for speaking and listening.)His problems are with spelling and probably punctuation.

It depends on the secondary school - if he is changing schools in Sept. it's worth phoning the school and asking them. If you can do some extra work with him at home, I can recommend a parent-friendly spelling programme. Spelling is rarely well taught in schools, usually just a weekly word list, tested once and forgotten. (I'm a dyslexia tutor.)

spelling and punctuation require practice - you can do that him - talk to him about it and explain that it will make expressing himself in writing much easier if he can get it to be more natural.

Sounds like maybe he is bright and doesn't like to waste time perfecting "unimportant" things like spelling and punctuation.

that is a classic result for many boys, and exactly what is expected a big difference in reading and writing scores,

They have a lot more writing to do in secondary school so have practice at it.

If a child is getting 96% in the tests why don't more schools aim for level 6

Level 6 covers things not taught in primary schools I think, dot. Also it's a different paper - I think - there's a 3-5 paper for primary and then a 5-7 one for secondary?

And a primary level 5 isn't the same as a secondary level 5 AFAIK.

Those are very good scores, cw. DS1 had terrible handwriting at primary school, also fairly illegible through secondary - his spelling was quite imaginative too - but he did OK.

Thanks veryone

He has had a lot of help with spelling already. The school have done Wordwall and Stareway to Spelling with him and his teacher has seen an improvement.
The school are very laid back and don't like to mention level 6 as they don't want to put pressure on the children.
His teacher thinks that actually getting the 4 for english is better for him as his secondary school will see his problem areas. Apparently the secondary schools don't always ask for the scores.

He has CATS tests tomorrow so not sure if the verbal reasoning test will be a problem for him.
He did VR and NVR for the technical aptitude test to get into his secondary school, but we knew he had to do better in NVR so didn't really practise VR.

christy, I wouldn't worry too much. Our school only gives an overall level result for each subject so you can't see the discrepancies, but I think that they would be there for many children. Especially boys who often seem to gravitate to maths and science. If you want to do some work with him over the holidays on grammar and spelling then it wouldn't hurt, but equally you could leave it until you see if he really does have a problem at his new school, you may find there are a number of them in the same boat and the school will address it.

dayoftomorrow, they don't have level 6 papers at ks2 any more. Teachers can still give a level 6 in their assessment, but as it can't be examined there's no incentive for the schools.

what happens to a child who is at level 5b at the end of year 5, DS was like this two years ago so year 6 was a bit like treading water then a sudden jump when in year 7 (6a in mid year assessment

dayofftomorrow, I know kids that have been assessed as 6 but examined as 5 (due to no extension papers) in year 6, so the school can stretch them if it's so minded even if their offical results don't reflect it. Unfortunately, there's no incentive for schools at all to do this. But the kids that have done this end up treading water in year 7 anyway, so it doesn't make much difference in the long run.

I'm a teacher in year 6. Lots of our writing results have been a bit down on the level 5s this year. Many other schools are complaining of the same thing. See this thread on the Times Educational forum:

www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/thread.aspx?story_id=2405545&path=/primary/&threadP age=6

Also don't forget the test only measures what they can write in 2 really quite short sessions. Marking the writing papers is really quite subjective as well. Therefore they should only been seen as a snapshot of what your child can do.

Thanks

But think the result was probably quite accurate. He makes mistakes words like "over" for "other"
When he was in year 4 his teacher said that his stories were excellent. The way it was written and vocabulary etc she would have expected from a yr 6 child. She said she wanted to gived it a level 4, however the spelling and punctuation brought it down to a level 2.

There is no test for level 6 in the key stage 2 yesys so it is impossible to get.

Hi, waitingforgrandchildren, I've been following this thread with interest, my ds1 is currently being assessed through his school to see if he is dylsexic. Could you please recommend a parent-friendly spelling programme so that I can help him at home. He has been diagnosed as having problems with his narrative skills also, I wonder if you could recommend any games etc that I could do at home with him. Thank you .