From state to independent Dd grades have fallen

[Akiko]

She moved 7+ from the state sector. Her grades there were above 3, working well above the expected level, with reading age of 9. At her new Prep school, she was initially put in the lowest math's group, and a few weeks later moved up a grade. Still, her first termly report at the new school was not as good as I expected, with grades of 2B in English and Maths. Does that mean, that at the State school, her abilities and achievemts were overestimated? Should I think that at her new school, the level of achievement is much higher? Her teacher was full of praise for her, when I asked these questions. We will have a parent-teacher meeting next week, how can I find out what is Dd's actual level, compared to the rest of the children is?

They may not measure directly against NC levels. By all means ask the context of her "scores" but they may simply be assessignher differently and have built in some leeway to show progress later on.

Are her state school grades from the Y2 SAT's? Many children achieve lower grades in Y3 just because the tests are administered differently, ie lots of help for Y2, exam conditions for Y3.

Why not ask the teacher how she is doing compared to the rest of the class, and what you could help her with at home, if necessary?

... or in some cases the grades are nothing to do with SAT standards at all. In DS's school the letter represents the level of attainment and the number is the effort so 2B would be good for effort and attainment, 3C would be satisfactory in both and A1 would be excellent in both.

does the school even do SATS? My childrens prep school do not do these tests and all assessments are done by the schools own grading system up until yr 6 when they move on to what they expect the pupil to achieve in CE exams in yr8. Ask again at the parents eve how she is being assessed now. Did you not receive a parents handbook or something similar when she joined?
At present at my sons school he is achieving A2 in some subjects which makes him a potential scholar and in others B2 which would make him a higher CE candidate. He is nearly 11 btw.
assessments are very similar to southernsoftie but in the early years a C2 is considered good, the range goes from A-E and 1-5.
Hope Ive helped and not confused you more

A lot of children seem to go down when they move from KS1 to KS2. It is a really common observation among parents.

Does your daughter seem challenged in her work? How do you feel she is doing?

The prep school should be conducting their tests so that they can be compared with national standards. They would fail their ISI inspection miserably if they did not. They don't have to use actual SATs published material though. They may use something like this, for example.

They will probably also do something like PIPS, which can't be fudged by the teachers to make the look good, or to get better added value at a later date.

Additionally my experience of prep schools is that they work a year ahead of state schools, therefore she may be being marked for yr4 work. As others have said ask for clarification from the school.

That doesn't make sense icedgems. If you're talking NC levels, a 2B is a 2B whether you're in Y1, Y4 or Y6.

Sorry for confusion I was following on from the schools having their own grading system some go 5-1 and others 1-5. Sometimes effort is the number and other times the grade and vice versa.