KS1 SATS results - don't know what to do next

[meggiesmummie]

Sorry if this is a bit long but would appreciate everyone's thoughts.
DD2 is just 7 and has just finished Yr2, she is a happy, bright little girl who loves school and has lots of friends so I don't think there are any concerns socially.
However, she really struggles academically and has done really since Yr R. We have spoken to the school on a number of occasions and have always been told not to worry too much. She has had an IEP for a couple of terms and whilst her reading and writing and maths are improved, we are conscious that she is still behing where she should be.
Wehave just had the her report and sats results and are thoughts were confirmed as she got a 1a for reading and writing. From what I gather only 4% of girls were in this bracket so she is in the bottom 2 girls for KS1 (despite being told she was by no means at the bottom!.)
We have also been assured that her IEP will be picked up next year, but I guess the real issue is that I am losing confidence in the school, or maybe I expect too much.
Although she has the IEP, the targets she has are very limited and even if she achieves them they don't seem to update them more than once a term unless nagged. We had a meeting with the SENCO at the beginning of this term but she disappeared shortly after and doesn't appear to have been replaced.
DD has a notebook where teachers and parents make comments re reading which we dutifully write in. As at the middle of July an adult at school had not written in it since 26th May. I wrote to the school to complain and was told they had stopped bothering with writing in the books because it takes too much time. To make it worse she constantly forgets to change her reading book despite constant reminders from us. Her teacher says they want them to be independent which I support but that doesn't work when she daydreams! I have spoken to the school repeatedly about this over the last 2 years with little success.
I'm really starting to worry that when she moves to Yr3 in September she is just going to get further behind and don't know what to do next. We are seriously considering private school now but for a child who finds change really hard it will be a really big step fo her to move so don't want to take that decision lightly.
We have spoken to headteacher twice who seems to take in what you say but doesn't seem to really follow through. (and I know this is petty but all her communications are full of spelling and grammatical errors which doesn't make me feel any better about her!).
The school are really reluctant to consider dyslexia although I think she shows signs of this - should I be pushing them to assess her?
I'd really appreciate your thoughts............

meggiesmummie,

I am an English teacher and have spent some time in year 2. If your DD was in one of my classes this is what I'd say to you.

The SAT scores that your daughter came home with are usually calculated from a test paper. The test paper asks the child to answer questions (many of them do not require a lot of writing) ABOUT the fiction and non fiction texts in the booklet. Children often fall down because, although they can decode the text, they don't understand what they have read. Furthermore they are unused to answering questions about a text.

So here's the 'secret' - When you are 'reading' rather than listening to her read ask her to read by herself for 15 minutes and then get your Meggie to tell you all about the story she has read. Ask her questions about the text such as: 'What did Little Bear say to Big Bear?'; 'OOOh How do you think he feels'; 'Why do you think that?'; 'What did he say/do that makes you think he feels like that?'. It's just a nice chat really. You can be cooking at the time or whatever you need to be doing. It's nice to be sitting down together but you can have the chat over family dinner if you need to. Ask her to retell the story.
Go to the library and let her choose and read simple, 'real' books.

Writing a diary for the summer will hugely improve her performance and there are some great pink hardback books in the WH Smith Sale. Let her draw in the diary and write captions too. You can ask her to write parts of the day-to-day writing around the house such as notes for people, even bits of your shopping list.

Letters and postcards over the summer are always a winner. Children are very motivated if they have a reason for writing.

Does she like drawing? Can she draw? Drawing and colouring in help to develop fine motor control. So does playing with construction toys.

What makes you think that she is dyslexic?

If she does have problems with synthetic phonics then 'team read' with her and model the decoding strategies.

Good Luck.

I forgot to say the main bit.

Relax. I hated reading school reading books with my children too - so I didn't, we read comics and went to the library instead.

Children develop at very different rates you know. A 1a now can easily translate into a 4 at the end of KS2. Children can sometimes even go backwards in Year 3 as they get used to the Juniors. It might well be that your DD has problems but, if I were you, I would try some of these ideas over the summer and see what happens.

alicatte - some very good advice there.

But The SAT scores that your daughter came home with are usually calculated from a test paper is no longer true. The 1A is calculated by teacher assesment throughout the year.

MeggiesMum - if your DD can actually read independently like alicatte has suggested then you have nothing to worry about. My experience of being given an 1 is that it means my child can't read.

If you, her Mum, have a feeling there is something blocking her progress, I'd guess you are probably right.

Dyslexia Action (a charity) will have an ed psych look at her for you (for a fee) and help you forward. They have a website and branches all over the country. I took my daugher to Dr Sue Fowler who runs the Dyslexia Research Trust (also a charitable foundation) at Oxford University, together with Professor Stein. They also have an office in Reading if that is accessible to you. They ask for a voluntary fee but might be able to waive or reduce it.

I did this because I was living overseas at the time and good diagnosticians were not available. Once I had an idea where her learning strengths and weaknesses lay I and the school had more idea how to target help efficiently. The ed psych will provide guidance, whether she has dyslexia or some other difficulty.

Not every school has a dylexia expert (I'd say few do) and it seems to me that it can take a long time to get much done. Too often, the expertise just isn't available. It's not a case of "going private" - you might just need to access expert professional help at this one point in your child's life.

She is still young, of course and has time to develop, especially if she is in the younger half of the year but by the time a child is 7, the way they read tends to be a good indicator of future performance.

Look at the websites of the above charitable institutions and they will tell you that the key to helping your child cope is early intervention. Being behind ones peers is no fun and the earlier you give support, with luck, the less intervention you will need.

I hope I am not out of order suggesting this but sometimes lack of progress is down to one very simple thing. For me, it was important to be doing something, rather than waiting to see how things turned out. I had a long chat on the phone with one of the staff from the Bristol office which alone made me feel much better.

It is 'teacher assessment' (has been for years) - but the assessment is usually done using an 'old' paper or task. This is largely because it provides an accurate and defined way to score. You get examples of responses to help you judge the AF levels. You can do it from the Literacy AF example tables given within the Literacy Strategy but its a lot harder.

If you would like to look at the Strategy Reading AFs here's a link:

nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/153537?uc=force_uj

Have a little wander round the site if you like - it can help to get an idea of what the standards actually are.

I really like Comics - The Beano was invaluable to me. I do stand by the simultaneous Reading/Writing approach - they do support each other.

I'm sure I'm not the only Y2 teacher who disagrees with alicatte's statement that SAT scores /levels will have been calculated from a test paper/s.

Sorry I didn't mean to offend - probably things have moved on in lots of places but that's just what happens where I am and what my friends in other schools do.

I don't work at this level now.

My dc's Sats level was calculated on the KS1 Paper. I was told by the teacher that he was a 2A till he did his test paper, where he came up as a 3C.

ScoobyHaventAClue if a child is working consistently at 2A the school shouldn't award a 3C from the test. Some schools won't award a level 3 unless the child has reached a 3B (a secure level 3 rather than a low /borderline)

Hi there. I am a private tutor and trained teacher. I would really recommend you try getting additional tutoring in the first instance. (Though of course I would say that wouldn't I!! .I'm fully booked at the moment so not directly touting for custom - honest!!) You need to choose carefully - Ideally someone who has special needs/learning difficulties experience or experience of teaching dyslexic children to read. Good tutors should also be able to develop a good relationship with your child and be able to make the lessons fun and age appropriate.

The reason I say get a tutor in the first instance, is because it is cheaper than private schooling and because private schooling doesn't necessarily improve things- it really depends on the school. Some can be worse than some state schools, especially where learning difficulties are concerned.

I second the comment about "Toe by Toe". It really does work wonders BUT you do need to do it regularly and follow the rules/instructions carefully.

From what you have said it doesn't sound as if the school are as on top of the situation as they might be, but I would follow a 2 pronged approach - chase things with the school but also try and get some private tuition in place too. Don't feel too bad about not being able to help her yourself too much. Some children respond brilliantly to "working with mum" but others hate it and would much rather have a neutral outsider.

Meanwhile, try and play some good literacy experiences into the summer. Hear her read of course but also experiment with book tapes, reading stories too her and talking about books too.

Another tip. Experiment with the way you give praise. Try praising for effort eg "I really liked the way you tried to sound out that word." or "Well done for concentrating so well" rather than achievement. It can work wonders.

I hope some of this helps!

meggiesmummie - hi. What area of the country are you? My son is having tutoring over the summer to help him with his writing as he scored low in his SATS for that.

As a Y3 teacher I would say go straight in to see your new teacher to discuss your child. I wouldn't leave it even a week.if the teacher is worth their salt they won't mind in the least and would prefer to have the imput.The school sound very lax with their communication. We also do 'Toe-by Toe' as a home/school programme not just for those who struggle with reading but those who are good readers but atrocious spellers!! We don't start it until Y3 so don't worry that your child has missed out. I also think that children can make enormous strides in Y3.As far as a diagnosis is concerned, it's just important to realise that nothing magical will happen with it, but as a parent I think it feels like a relief to know iykwim.
Make sure you keep the lines of communicatin open in a positive way with your new teacher and take a view at Christmas.

So much more to think about! Have been looking at the website for dyslexia action today which has been interesting.Think I might give them a ring for a chat tomorrow. I can accept that there will be no magic solution if she is dyslexic but I think I just need to know. I don't think the school are going to be keen to assess her - apparently its not the done thing in Hampshire or certainly hasn't been in the recent past.
Allicate/sarahfreck - thanks for the ideas of things to do over the summer. She has been given a note book to write in over the summer with some pictures to encourage her to write sentences but think we will try and use it a bit more like a diary so she can stick things in etc.
Have arranged appointment at school for 10 days in to term with her yr2 teacher, new yr3 teacher and 'inclusion leader' - is that the same as SENCO?
Had very painful conversation with headteacher (also have some complaint with them about the class she has been put in next term, separated from all her friends)who tells me it is impossible for the teachers to have time to make sure the children all change their reading books so she is going to make a year 6 responsible for making sure DD does next year -apparently this helps the Yr6 child earn points towards their citizenship?? I can't help but feel that its called passing the buck!

Inclusion leader is same as SENCO.

Year 6 reading buddy can work really well....

meggiesmummy: I am in Salford, Greater Manchester

To add to mrz's confirmation that Y2 teacher assessment is certainly not calculated purely from test scores, here is the document which introduced the concept - the aptly titled Building a picture of what children can do (published way back in 2005 - why do some schools still not get this, and how do they get through Ofsted/Lea moderation?)

meggiesmummy:

If you can't get to see a specialist would entrance tests to a good local prep help? Not necessarily with the aim of definately going there, but they will always discuss the results with you and may give you some idea as to what might be wrong! Some preps take lots of children with learning needs and have some fantastic specialist help they can tap into - obviously a particularly academic/selective school would not be able to help in this way.