KS3 banding/predicted grades

[okydokethen]

Can I check I’m answering DD correctly…

DD year 8 school report today is lovely, outstanding progress etc. She is unhappy that her banding for all subjects is grades 5 or 6 - which she thinks is her predicted grade for GCSE, even though her most recent grades have been higher.

I think they set a base line grade, that she is expected to meet at least 5 or 6 but doesn’t mean this is what she will achieve.

is that right?

It’s not possible to know without asking the school but at my dd’s school the grades are on a curve from y7 to y11 where a 5+/6- in year 8 would be equivalent to a high 7 at GCSE in year 11.

The exception is languages which have a different curve for some reason. Does the school publish documents on their website about what the grades mean?

Urgh! Whatever your school means, I hate any mention of GCSE grades until Y10 (end of Y9 tops) What a way to stress children out for more years than necessary!

Our school has a model of “if you took the gcse today what would you get”, my child has similar. So those scores are good and she should get a range (in old money) b and c’c at gcse.

but even that is a purely pinch of salt - hormones, further attitudes to studying all have a part to play, I would just try to encourage her to always try her best and then she can always be proud no matter her results

At my DCs school predicted grades in KS3 are based in SATs results from Y6. I think they use different data for KS4.

You definitely need to ask the school, or look on the website for an explanation. My kids school works on the presumption of 1 grade improvement per year. They get the "target" based on SATs, the working at grade, then the predicted grade for GCSE.

Every school is different.

Ours has some mad own school devised tracker system that is fine if you are doing fantastically at everything or utterly failing everything and otherwise leave everyone totally confused.

I didn't get a realistic handle on probable GCSE grades until Y11 November mocks.

Talking to teachers is generally easier to get a real picture.

That banding avoids the prospect of FFT aspirational grades sending everybody into a tailspin, especially if they use FFT5 (which means progress seen in the top 5% of schools in the country) and therefore have nothing for anyone who hasn't got KS2 data in Reading and Maths.

To have an FFT5 of Grade 9 for subjects they've not even started learning or ones where there are requirements other than reading and maths skills, such as PE, Art, Music or Food & Nutrition, can cause all manner of panic - and it's not fair on the high achievers to have absolute perfection as a minimum standard/10 x Grade 8s as a failure (as that's how some parents would interpret it) any more than it is to have a 'no chance of a 4' for a kid who didn't even speak English until they entered the UK at age 10 or was undergoing treatment for a life threatening disease.

It's a good thing and a reasonable banding, as a 5 to 6 at Y8 could very reasonably end up with 7s, 8s and some 9s in particular subjects.

Thanks, this is really helpful, the school info isn’t detailed just quite vague and I wouldn’t want to bother her form tutor - there’s no problem, staff are overloaded, so I would only ask really necessary questions.

@DublinLaLaLa unfortunately it’s very much a hot topic of conversation as they have just chosen their GCSE options, are waiting to hear the groups they will be in and will start these in year 9. There seems to be frequent testing as well which makes it all quite grade focused. DD is studious and wants to understand why if she gets an 8 in a test, her banding is 5 for example.