Reception score things again - this seems a bit stupid

[runoutofnameideas]

I'm not worried about this but am a bit perplexed.

Reception dd has been reading turquoise book band (average for start year 2?) books from school, reads them very well and guess what she got in her literacy score.....8.

She is very able at maths, more than her reading I have been told by the teacher. She only got an 8 in that too.

What do you have to do to get a 9 then in her class?

Could it be because she's at the older end for the year (November bday?)

I reckon Einstein would not have got a 9 in her class.

You would think so wouldn't you ... they are only 5 after all

It must be an amazing amount of work for the teachers. As well as a very full report we received our children's learning diaries which are whole scrapbooks crammed full of examples of their work and post-its of conversations or observations as well as photographs. I can only imagine the huge amount of time this must take to create for 30 children. I am very grateful to dd's teacher for it, but can't help but think there must be a better way to use their time more effectively.

I didn't know Reception classes give out Learning Diaries. Dd2's pre-school have them (they call them Learning Journals) and I was quite pleased with it. It's more like a memento of that period of the child's life rather than anything actually useful tbh, I've stored it away with the photo albums and am sure will look at it often through the years.

What does getting a 9 for both Maths and Numeracy mean? Same thing isn't it? DD1 got a 9 for Numeracy at Reception but I didn't know that it means that they apply their Maths knowledge off their own initiative. When I asked the teacher she said it means that she is working at Year 1 level?

In reception it is called Problem Solving Reasoning and Numeracy and has 3 separate strands - Numbers for labels and counting - Calculation - Shape Space and Measure megapixels with 9 points for each so 27 points in all.

My DD2 got an 8 score. She has only just moved up from the bottom level reading books and quite frankly I have to tie her down to a chair to get her to read!

Not sure what the scores stand for?

I send my children to school to learn not sit on the carpet all day playing with lego!
I would also rather a teacher spent their time teaching the children rather than sticking photos in a book!

Oh thanks mrz. It's been awhile so don't remember exactly. She must have got the 9 for one of those sections then.

runoutofideas - my dd does a lot of the work herself. they are told when they can get their learning journals out and stick stuff in.

6 is supposed to be the 'good' level ie. average (53% get 6 - it's more complicated but roughly).

9 is 'working beyond the early learning goals'.

i didn't get the levels though, I am curious but feel I'd be seen as too pushy if I asked.

It's all so confusing. I've taken an interest in education for a long time, but I take it all with a big pinch of salt as I know it'll change a billion more times before my own DCs get to that stage!

It's not that confusing, just long. It is not well explained to parents. And this probably won't help....

the eyfs sets out that practice should be about half child-led (child choses what to do), half adult-led (adult suggests to child what to do).

eg. child chooses to play on scooters later adult says it's now story time.

of the half child-led (where child has chosen what to do) about half should be adult-supported (adult steps in - 'how many ducks have you put in the water?') and half 'free play'.

the scales are 1-9.
1,2,3 are basic steps.
4,5,6,7,8 aren't linear so you could get 5 without 4.
9 is 'beyond'. so you need 1-8 to get 9.

thanks that's a very good explanation!

that's not what I meant was confusing though

what I meant was (probably didn't word it very well) the way education policies - all through the school years - seem to change so much.

it's hard to keep up with as an interested parent, can't imagine what it's like to keep up with it as a teacher (which I hope to be one day!)

Actually notimetoshop EYFS states there should be a balance between Child initiated play and adult led but then the latest guidance ...

HOW MUCH TIME TO PLAY?

Sue Ellis of the National Strategies is keen to dispel the myth that children must now spend 80 per cent of their time playing.

The idea arose from the EYFS assessment document, which states that evidence should come 80 per cent from child-initiated and 20 per cent from adult-led activities. But there is no such rule.

Basically, one-third of the day should be spent on adult-initiated and two-thirds on child-initiated activities, half of which is spent playing alongside adults.

It's OK MMM the new government have announced a review of the EYFS so no doubt things will change again...

Let's hope they do MRZ as although there are some good aspects to it, there are some ridiculous ones too.

I have a reception aged child and have no idea what this thread is about. Ds3 didn't get any scores for anything just a written thing saying where he was with regard to each target. Attained, above what's expected or in the case of PE making progress. And then a description of things he's been doing.

Actual number scores are fairly meaningless surely?

We have his learning journeys folder which is lovely. From what i've seen of it I quite like the new curriculum. Seems a gentler introduction to school and he has really benefitted from a year's worth of weekly forest school.

notimetoshop thank you for your post it was really useful, my DD's nursery has given them "scores" alongside the narratives for each area and DH and I were stuck as to what they related to - however I can now see how they relate to what she will be doing next year in reception. Many thanks

We were not informed of our dd's scores- in some ways I am glad but I would also be curious to know.

Ronsar- I would be happy for my dd to play all day with Lego- (and similar activities) she would probably learn loads.

Of course it's useful to know whether a child is at an expected level (although perhaps far more useful to know when they're not) but I'm not sure a score as such helps or provides further useful information- especially for such young children who are about to enter the quite different environment of years 1 & 2.

Mind you I couldn't tell you what ds2's SAT scores were last year or what p level ds1 is working on. I've had 5 years to make sense of those and have to google every year to remind myself whether p1 is higher than p5 or vice versa. I do however know that ds1 is progressing and that ds2 is on target to sit the 11+ - which is to me more useful than a number.

I found the bits of ds3's reception report that described particular activities very helpful. He appears to be meeting the early learning goals which actually isn't all that useful as I have some concerns about his reading for various reasons which isn't being picked up under the reception assessment system. According to that he'd reached every target.