Help understanding Year 9 grades and what they mean

[Graspingatwetleaves]

Question for British Mumsnetters — I came from the U.S., my husband came here from Germany, we’ve been in London nearly two decades and my son is in Year 9 of secondary school. He’s done well, happy, good progress, good feedback, we’re lucky to be at an amazing state secondary. Just trying to understand what his end of year grades mean. I have no basis for comparison from my own schooling. He’s getting mostly 5Es, one 4A, one 4E, a few 4S, & one 5S. In his chosen subjects for GCSE’s he’s gotten 5Es & 4Ss. I am thinking this is normal, good, but ….maybe not spectacular? The guidance with the report says grades range from 1-9. It’s a relative world, a sliding scale, I’m just trying to understand what this would mean in terms of prospects for uni, etc. and GCSE & A levels.

Literally impossible to tell, only that particular school will know their grading system.
Before the actual GCSE results all schools do things differently.

Agree.

Each school has their own grading system for years 7-9

some schools use gcse grades but those don’t look like gcse grades,

in general there is a grade for behaviour and one for academic attainment.

you need to ask the school

I have been through this twice with my kids! Educated here all my life and I am still baffled. Some subjects might be limited by a top attainment level - eg you cannot get higher than a 4 in Year 9. Others might based on previous progress (ie progress from SATs at 11).

Do they supply you with a "flightpath" chart? This was the only thing that helped us. The whole report grading thing has become so muddled as to render them almost meaningless.

It does become clearer in Year 10 where they use the GCSE grading system more comprehensively and the kids may be streamed. But if he has chosen his subjects for GCSE and is approved to take them, then I wouldn't worry for now. Your assessment seems about right - he is doing really well across the board, but not outstandingly (which is absolutely great for this age/year).

Do you know what the letters S, E and A stand for? The numbers appear to be GCSE 1 to 9 grades, but the letters aren't part of a GCSE grade. They might be describing effort? Or maybe how secure they are in the grade, eg Secure, Emerging, A??

These are questions to ask the Head of Year 9 or whoever similar at your child's school and they should be able to explain them to you.

For the GCSE grades, a 4 is the minimum grade that would allow you to continue studying at the next level up. It's a "standard pass", a 5 is a strong pass.

There should be some sort of comparison to what he is expected to be achieving based on his previous attainment and test scores. Is there anything like that on the report?

Thank you!! Mumsnet is a gold mine, this has reassured me no end, in a sense, as you say, it’s all relative, it’s a system in which the convergence between his school and an objective national standard is in progress but not evident until we actually are on the GCSE track, which begins next year. Thank you so much, your feedback helps put it in perspective.

All excellent points — yes, A is advanced, S is secure, E is emerging, that is all pretty well explained. There is a “target” grade, an exam grade, and a final grade. So that is explained as well. They do a very good job of benchmarking your child’s performance. I’m just wondering — big picture — where that leaves him, if you zoom out to the U.K. as a whole. When I was at school in the US in the nineties we had standardised tests and you could literally see where you fell on the curve of some hundred million people all sitting the same exam. I know when we get to GCSEs that will be more like the comparison case.

Honestly I don’t think even the schools really know what they mean

My DD was told they wouldn’t grade above a five in year 9 but then got a 9 in Spanish (after she had been learning it for five minutes)

so the only conclusion I could come to is that my daughter is actually Spanish

;-D ….Duolingo!!! Though funnily enough my son’s German teacher raves about him as he spent three years at a German school, his father is German, and his grade in German is a solid 4S. So. The school has its own method, he’s not getting a 9!

According to Ofqual, who regulate qualifications, examinations and assessments in England, about 67% of GCSE grades were grade 4 or higher in 2025. Around 22% of GCSE grades were at grade 7 or higher.

The idea of placing a child at a point on a standardised curve doesn't really exist in the UK in the way you describe it in the US system.

What might be useful is to look at what he thinks he might like to do post GCSEs and look at the grade requirements to get onto those courses at the place(s) he might like to study at. He might need a grade higher than a 5 for some specific subjects.

Also note a 5 in y9 could mean any of:
. Currently working at a 5
. Currently working such that we think they will be at a 5 at the end of y11
. On our non gcse system he is at a 5
. Teacher has graded the class on a curve and he is in the middle

Similarly a 'target' of 5 for end y11 could mean
. His y6 sats are such the government target is a 5
. We have given him a target of a 5
. We are predicting him a 5 if he works hard
. We are predicting a 5 based on current work ethic

That is an excellent idea. Thank you!!

This sounds different to our son's school where they are graded 1-9 like GCSEs based on the current stuff they've learnt and where they are now. Ideally they score 6-9. But maybe your school is basing it on how much of the GCSE paper they can already answer? It's anyone's guess.. you need to ask.

This looks like a similar system to my dc school. The grades are the GCSE grades they would likely achieve if they wrote their GCSE's now. The level they are currently working at. These grades should improve over y10 and 11 as they cover the syllabus and learn more.

A ( Advanced) - They are at the top of that grade and could possibly move to the next grade.
S ( Secure) - They are securely working at / would achieve this grade.
E(Emerging) - They are working at the bottom end of that grade and could possibly slip to the grade below.

So I asked my son about this and what he told me is that his school imposes a ceiling on grades, so, the highest you can get in Year 7 is a 3, in year 8 it’s a 4, and in Year 9 it’s a 5. Then Year 10 they go up to 7 (I’m having flashbacks of Spinal Tap, “these go up to 11”), and in Year 11 — the GCSE year — they go up to 9. I honnestly don’t know if he’s making it up or imagining it. So yeah I think I just need to ask the school what their method is.

From the point of view of “next steps” my dd has just done GCSEs and has an offer from a nearby good state school to do A levels. (Which is the traditional and probably most academic option.)

To go she needs:-

5 GCSEs in grades 9 - 4
At least 3 at grade 5 or above
And then most subjects also ask for at least a 6 in that subject. Maths asks for at least a 7 and further maths “prefers” an 8 or 9.
You also need at least a 5 in maths for all the sciences and a 6 for Physics and Chemistry.
For humanities subjects they mainly want a 6 in English.

This isn’t universal - some schools ask for more than others (and some private schools are very picky) but this is a good school that gets good results so it should give you an idea.

Ultimately in y9 if they sat a GCSE paper for most subjects they would fail as they haven't done the syllabus. The exception would be maths. Even Eng Lang is very 'exam technique' specific.

Plus, thinking they can sub divide a grade 6 say into 3 sub levels is .... optimistic.

Seconding working backwards from what he would need to get into/take his preferred subjects at the sixth forms of his choice. That's all that matters really in terms of progression.

Also, this is for teachers really but you might like it. You can compare any GCSE subject for any board and see recent actual results. You can even filter them by boys and girls. It's new this year and in beta testing so there might be blips. It's made using publicly available data, but exam boards are not noted for their easy to read data!

sims.tutor2u.net/examresults#t=overview&l=G&y=2025

All schools do it differently, which is why OP should ask school.

I agree the phrasing I used is not 100% accurate.

My dc has already started with his GCSE curriculum in Y9 and was tested with GCSE equivalent papers on what they have covered so far. I suspect it is more about meeting criteria rather than comprehensive GCSE knowledge.

Ours is completely different as on a 7 for maths but thats not you would get that now, its keep working this way. Actually i would say she would get a 5.

Its rubbish anyway as shes top sets mfl and only a 5 and shes easily goibg to get 7-8.