first term of year 1 levelled as 2b in reading

[AnxiousElephant]

I'm just having a proud mum moment

Although why I posted here I'm not sure ! Sure someone will be along shortly to show me the way to the primary section

oops forgot my hat

What ORT colour is that?

Well done to your dc! :) You are allowed a proud mum moment!

Enjoy your proud mummy moment. It's lovely to know they're doing well isn't it?

she is at the end of the purple range at school but can read The Twits/ James and the Giant Peach at home
It is nice to be able to be proud

Welldone to minianxiouselephant .

Quite right too, but purple doesn't equate to 2b directly; has she done a comprehension test?

oo well done mini elephant. that is quite hard because it is more than what they can read, it is all the talking and understanding. dd was reading white band books (at home) at the end of last term but would not have got whatever the rough equivalent nc level was because she does not have enough of the other skills required. i have stopped giving her anything harder to work on those skills so know there is a lot to getting a level 2 at school! well done!

Well done to your child!
One of my children was also a fantastic reader in Y1 and it is just such a joy seeing them enjoy all sorts of books and see their confidence grow!
I remember chuckling to myself as he is summer born and I remember at the beg of reception overhearing a conversation of a group of girls' mums saying that "it's a shame these younger boys are in the same class as our girls as they will really drag them behind!"..

That's awful ....""it's a shame these younger boys are in the same class as our girls as they will really drag them behind!"..

DD's the youngest in her year and I'm secretly v proud of the fact that she's one of the brightest. I know people expected her to be wetting herself and crying for the first 3 months (I too overheard a comment!)

Congratulations to your little girl though can I hijack just a tad and ask if they explain what these things mean to you? DD's only in reception atm so I don't think they grade them in any way. When it comes to year 1 am I going to get a garbled list of numbers/letters home or will they speak very slowly and clearly to me. Things have moved on somewhat since I was at school I'm afraid.

I have my own method of assessing her reading atm. She CAN recognise the rude graffiti in the public toilets. I think that's rather worrying brilliant.

Show of hands, a brief guide to levels.

Foundation - assessed using eyfs points 1-9 (no sub levels). They take a base reading on entry to school & expect dcs to make 4 points progress in the year. Haven't got it to hand at the mo but I think the expected level at the end of the yr is 7,(anyone else remember for sure?) which roughly equates to 1c (national curriculum level; which is the levels they use from yr1 on,) although they don't use the same criteria. Eyfs, assesses lots of different things, inluding art, social development, literacy, etc.

Ks1 (yr1 & 2). The national curriculum focuses on reading, writing & maths, (I've never actually had any info on my dcs levels in any other subjects). 2b is the expected level at the end of yr2, and 1b at the end of yr1. Each level is split in three (thirds). C- just working at that level, b- working securely within that level & a - working at the top of that level & close to the next. They do SATS (exams) at the end of yr 2, but gradings are mostly based on teacher assessment.

Ks2 - (yr3-6). Progress is expected to be a bit slower (2 levels over the 4 yes) & the national expectation is 4b at the end of yr6. Compulsory SATS are at the end of yr6.

Hope that helps a little. For info on the types of targets within each level, have a look at blackeyedsusan/santas useful websites thread.

Btw - dc1 & dc2 are both among eldest in the class, but I have never assumed the younger ones would 'hold them back!' tbh, I'd have quite happily let ds be 1 of the younger ones in the year above, as he was well ready for school & only missed out by a few weeks. Dd1, missed being in the year above by days rather than weeks, but am so pleased, although academically she'd have coped, emotionally she wasn't ready. Dd2, will be 1 of the younger 1s but I know she'll be fine, (could probably cope next September tbh)! Just trying to prove a point - they're all individual & quite why someone would assume younger one would hold theirs back is crazy.

Btw - top group in ds's class are all BOYS, (and shock horror, some of them werent born in the first half of the academic year)!

Thanks teamdamon, glad to help! Remember the first parents evening in yr1 & ds's teacher, said oh yes ds is doing really well he's a 1a (or whatever,) didn't have a clue!

I wish i knew where she was in school- I would like to know what they know and how well she is doing there compared to here. it would also be useful to know what she needs to work on.

Joyn, fantastic explanation!
Santa, do the school not tell you what level DC is at parents evening? I thought they were all supposed to tell us what level they are currently working at and what the expected level at the end of the year is? If they don't do it as routine, I think it would be a perfectly reasonable question to be asking. At DD's parents evening I was given details of all the above, which did help me to think they may be doing a little bit to meet her abilities (although the holiday homework that came back yesterday showed otherwise!!)
Anxiouselephant, you're absolutely right to be proud, and DD should be proud of herself too. We should all take a leaf and share the celebration of our fab children's achievements - why should they be brushed aside so no-one else's sensibilities are bruised?

Rant over x

Joyn, that's brilliant thank you.

I know nothing beyond dd can read and chooses books to bring home from the library. They didn't mention anything about levels at parents evening. I know she's doing well because she's gone from basic decoding and some whole word recognition when she started to being able to read anything in one term but in terms of levels haven't the foggiest. I credit the brilliant teacher with this massive leap. She's fabulous and her key focus is always always always on how to encourage a love of books. She's certainly managing it.

we have a parents evening in february, i think. I wwill ask then if they haven't said anything. I really want to know what she can't do so we can practise it. dd is adding two 2 digit numbers together and can subtract numbers counting back past 0 at home but had difficulty adding a single digit number to a number in the teens at school. it is surprising how much difference the distraction of school makes.

we weren't told anything concrete at the october parents evening. i do know that the teacher has access to the app grids for reading and writing, but am not sure how she uses these.

the teacher was not very enthusiastic about getting dd to write more than one sentence at school as a lot of the children don't like writing. the thing is dd would be very happy to only provide one sentence but needs to practice writing 2 or 3 sentences. she can manage it in the solitude of her room, but the distractions of school are too distracting I suppose for her to do more. it is very frustrating. I have no clue where she is with reggards to writing at school. i am hoping that the bribary of a treat if she writes well at school will help... a lovely special day out to the cafe and toy shop.

she was reading over my shoulder

Really pleased that everyone can just share their childs achievements here . Its more difficult in real life .
I have only recently understood the levels as well .
DD1 -somebody said about level 2b meaning they have to understand as well as read........ bizarrely dd actually understands far above the level she reads at! She reads level 2b but understands much more complex information than that................i.e. how believing in life after death is a belief of Hindu/ Spiritualism etc and is very interested in life after death (although she hasn't experienced it like her younger sister has!).
Some of the young childrens maths ability is amazing to me

maths and writing were 1b btw which which I am led to believe is the expected end of year 1.

thats is an awful comment about summer born boys dragging them down though! Although that is how the myth goes!

I know, I felt my son was unlucky to be in that class as there was a real clique of a few mums of girls who had a really bad attitude towards boys in general.

Unfortunately this reflected on the girls' view of the boys in the class - in his first month at school my son kept coming back home saying "I am rubbish at everything" - when enquiring further it went "some girls say that boys are rubbish at everything".

Luckily this was heavily diluted by the end of the reception year, especially as the children realised that actually boys can be good at lots of things! - however he still says he wants to be in a class "without girls" whilst my other children haven't had any such experiences, so I believe it was bad luck.