Year 6 levels downgraded due to moderator review

[Cadmum22]

Hi,

My daughter is in year 6. Her attainment levels throughout primary school year on year for reading and writing have been ‘exceeding expected levels’.

She passed the kent test with a score of 360. Maths 112 English 126 Reasoning 122.

Her year end 5 CAT scores were Verbal 116 Quantative 118 Non verbal 132.

i do not yet have her SATS scores.

i received a call from her teacher today to say that they had used her writing work as a sample for moderators and they have downgraded her from ‘exceeding expected levels’ to ‘attained national average’. He said they appealed the decision as they could not believe it but the appeal was overruled and that’s that she will be downgraded. He was unsure if her secondary school will be informed.

My question is does this mean that everyone in the class will be downgraded the same for writing or just my daughter? It seems incredibly unfair that seven years of attainment is completely wiped away. Surely seven sets of teachers can not be wrong? She will be very upset once the report comes out.

if anyone can shed some light on this for me
I would very much appreciate it.
Thank you.

It will depend on what they found with the rest of the samples. If they think that there has been consistent over marking at the top end then they will probably ask for more samples. If they still think this, everyone will be downgraded. If it seems to them to not be part of a pattern, though, then it will only be your child’s.

Each pupil has an electronic school record on a special databse. It has all the their details. The SAT results are input into the system and then the electronic file is sent to the new school..

She won't be upset unless you are.

That's really not true. She's 11. She'll have her own expectations of herself, based on previous results and on having worked hard. Every parent alive will have been calm and reassuring about something, yet their child has still been distressed.

My child would have been gutted, whatever I said to her and however relaxed I was. Because SHE knew what she expected of herself and had worked hard to achieve.

It depends on the school. A lot use FFT but not all

I guarantee if you had a relaxed attitude to test scores your child would. Kids upset over test score are because that's what their parents have instilled. I'm not saying it's wrong to do that but it's true.

She may well be upset, but your job as a parent is to let her feel that then model upbeat, positive behaviour. Not to go in all guns blazing trying to shield her from any disappointment.

No. I completely disagree.

An 11 year old has her own mind, her own work ethic and her own goals. I've seen it both as a parent and a teacher.

My daughter knew exactly what I thought of the SATS. But she wanted to do well for herself.

It would be great if, as parents, we could control how our children feel, and prevent then feeling anxious or upset. But they are their own person, and their emotions are theirs. There's only ever so much we can do.

My daughter knew exactly what I thought of the SATS. But she wanted to do well for herself**

That's a shame, to.put so much pressure on yourself at age 10/11. I wonder where she learnt that from.

i am not the least bit surprised the OP thinks her daughter will be very upset by this

given the girl’s mother appears very concerned about it

Completely agree with you. And I actually think thinking you have this much control over your children's emotions causes real problems because you don't take their feelings into account or help them manage their actual feelings, just the ones you think you've allowed them to have (quite apart from the fact that you teach your children all sorts of things without realising it).

No, if you are subtly giving your child the message that her conditions of worth depend on her being better than her peers, as the OP is doing by making such a fuss about it, then it is you who are controlling her emotions.

Let her be disappointed, sympathise, then give her lots of positive praise and move on.

Learning that mummy sends a load of cross emails if you don't achieve above and beyond is so unbelievably damaging.

Agree. If they are disappointed you just have to praise, sympathise and move on. DD has been GD every year and scored super high on SATs but wasn’t even shortlisted for the topic excellence award at the leavers assembly this week. She was a bit disappointed but I just said in a big school there’s a lot of competition and it doesn’t take away the fact she has done really well in that subject over the years.

I think we're saying the same thing by saying 'let her be disappointed'. You can acknowledge somebody is upset and help them deal with that while understanding that the upset has come from all sorts of places and is a real emotion. Your child experiences lots of things differently from you and out of your zone of influence. She doesn't necessarily put pressure on herself because of her parents. To say her upset doesn't matter or make light of it is not fair even if you think it's unmerited.

I agree that swooping in to solve the cause of the upset isn't the answer.

She doesn't necessarily put pressure on herself because of her parents

I think the vast majority of kids that put a lot of academic pressure on themselves do it because they know the parent values it a lot.

Maybe, but have you been in a school lately?

In my experience it is a real effort to get my kids to put blinkers on about joy in their own learning and satisfaction at their own improvement, not their attainment compared to others. That competitive element isn't coming from me it's coming from school, other kids, and notably other kids' parents (or if it is coming from me subconsciously I am trying very hard to message the opposite).

I think we agree that making your kid feel like they always have to be best and if they're not they are worth less is really shit, but it is quite difficult for them not to feel like that sometimes.

I'm absolutely not suggesting that OP kicks off. But I understand why she's frustrated that her child is being hurt by something that's gone wrong, either with the marking or the moderation, and makes no sense.

Yes she needs to be relaxed with her DD, but to say that if OP is, then DD won't be upset, and that if D is upset it will be her mother's fault, is denying that an 11 year old can have her own aims and emotions.

Junior schools can’t "overstate" maths, reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation results. They are all tested by the National SATs tests and marked externally, to strict criteria.

I just wanted to echo this. I really hate the narrative that primaries somehow inflate children's grades beyond what they should be achieving, as if secondaries aren't also trying to get the best grades for their students at GCSE and A Level that they can. The children sit the tests; if they are not capable of meeting the standard, they won't get the grade.

Yes and no. Tbh the SATS are pretty good indicators- in English they’re quite tough and generally quite rigorous (although the primary curriculum in general is a bit too prescriptive imo - I honestly couldn’t care less if a kid knows what onomatopoeia is or how to spell it at the start of year 7 - I just want them to be able to write in complex sentences and paragraph properly) However, the writing isn’t marked externally and there absolutely are hugely inflated views from some parents and pupils on their capabilities when they enter year 7. This is why moderation is essential. CATS also aren’t great indicators of kids’ abilities. This is why, when I’ve worked in grammar and private schools, internal exams have been given in literally the first week of year 7 and setting decided by that.

Not true.

I have 3 dc.

One always knows exactly what she expects to get, and works hard and would be upset not to get the score she felt she was capable of getting.
One doesn't care at all.
One likes to beat his friends, but otherwise isn't bothered.

That was just as true at A-levels as at year 2 SATS.

That's a massive Y6 cohort -wow! So roughly 13% were graded at GD for Writing (I presume that was verified through moderation, not 'just' teacher assessment)? I think that's probably at the higher end of the national picture, but within the expected range. When I said 'rare', I do think this is representative; 3 or 4 out of a class of 30.

GD grades are more common in some schools, in some areas. I return teacher assessments for GD for Writing approximately at a rate of one per class ‐last year not a single one. One of my partner schools regularly submits four times that number, quite rightly. Their demographic is an entirely different mix. For the majority of my pupils, getting EXS (expected standard) is an unbelievable achievement, given that most are still getting on top of simple structured sentences in upper KS2.
Because high index of deprivation, natch.

Not sure if it was moderated or teacher assessed, is there a way of knowing?

National average for exceeding in writing last year was 13% so roughly 4 in a class of 30. If moderated and one was downgraded, the moderators would look at the rest too. Our moderators generally look at 4-5 across the range, one greater depth, two expected and one working towards, unless there was a general weakness spotted which would result in more samples being studied. If there was just one element from the TAFs missing ( not a specific weakness) there is often time to resubmit with additional evidence. It depends on how close to final submission the moderation was conducted. But if there were a range of omissions, across a range of genres, there probably wouldn't be sufficient time and scope to provide additional evidence of meeting the greater depth standard.

Yes the appropriate sections of the cohort will be downgraded as the school has simply not adhered to the marking guidelines and is deemed to have overmarked them. Moderation is done using a high end student, a medium student and a lower end student. If they have overmarked each category then they will all be downgraded.