Schol won't tell me scores/grades my child has acheived

[JellyBelly10]

My DS1 started in Year 1 in September. At the end of Reception we were given an end of Reception report which was interesting but all qualitative, ie it made no mention at all of the EYFS scores for each of the Learning Goals. So I have no idea how my child did really in Reception other than the chatty, positive comments in this report. So last week we had his Year 1 parent evening and I asked the teacher whether she could give me some quantitative information as well as her comments, I specifically asked whether she could tell me what his end of Foundation Stage score was as I am really interested in tracking his progress year by year, and am also really keen to support his learning at home appropriately. I also asked if she was able to tell me how she had graded him in the recent Year 1 assessments (ie the NC levels of 1c, 1b etc etc) but she said no, she could not tell me either of these things as it wasn't school policy. So I e-mailed the Head Teacher and explained that whilst I knew it wasn't school policy to give out these figures routinely, but as I am a parent asking for them, and fully understood them and am just really interested to have this information about my own child that I assumed the school would tell me. But she won't tell me! She says she has concerns giving this information out to parents. Does anyone know whether I have a right to know this information? It seems ludicrous to me that the school do these assessments and hold this data on my child but won't tell me even though I have specifically asked for it!

As parent to a child with mild SN I found it useful to see DS' EYFS scores, as reassurance that he was meeting an acceptable standard (i.e. at least 6s in all area), so was within some form of normal range, and because it was mapped against the EYFS scores on entry to the nursery, so I could see how far he had come in 18 months. If you are confident your child is doing well that I don't see why you would need the exact breakdown, but I feel that the OP should receive it on request if it is available.

Agree with GP too. When all?s said and done, it isn?t actually any of the school?s business why the OP wants the scores ? it is, or should be, sufficient that she does and has politely asked for them.

The school is neither legally nor morally entitled to withhold such information in light of a specific request.

GiddyPickle honestly the scores don't tell the full (or any fraction) of the picture. Visit any primary teacher forum and read the many posts from Y1 teachers saying how pointless and how they don't even look at them ...

OP, why don't you arrange to see the head face-to-face and be all friendly and positive and understanding about school policy but within this context, drive home your desire to know your DCs scores and let the head know that you are fully able to contextualise these as only part of a whole, rounded opinion on your child's progress.

Tell her your really curious to know why any school might withhold info. they have on a child. Call on her better nature to understand that this can actually CAUSE parents to worry rather than allay any fears and suggest that, if she puts herself in your shoes (does the head have children of her own) you're sure she'll understand where you're coming from.

All of this within a very upbeat, positive friendly atmosphere.

It's worth a try and perhaps might elicit a less bland 'denial response' than email?

Perhaps I'm just odd then because even as a reception teacher it never occurred to me to want to know numbers for my daughter (my son was pre profile)I was only really concerned that she was happy and did her best

What would you do with these scores if you got them?

I suspect they don't give out scores because half the parents would go into a tizzy and create more work than the children.

I just want DD to be happy and she is, so that's ok with me.

I don't think it's "pushy" to want to know scores or "good" not to see them as a priority My point is that as a parent and someone who uses the profile scores on a day to day basis (so considered to be an "expert" by my LA) I didn't feel they told me anything useful about my child

Jellybelly, I think you really need to stick to your guns on this one.

It's no one else's business why you want to see them. Giddy's posts are excellent.

I requested my DS's scores at the end of reception and was met with outright shock that a) I knew such a thing existed and b) I would have any idea what they meant.

DS's teacher gave me his total score so I then had to ask for a breakdown. But I didn't have to jump through hoops to get them.

I do find quantitative measures easier to use as a snapshot than ploughing through 4 pages of qualitative waffle.

I did find it useful information to have if only to note where his strengths and weaknesses were.

One local school here do provide parents with scores alongside the average for their child's class!

The attitude your child's school is displaying is one that would have me hopping mad and making a mental note that if they don't cooperate then it's governors, LEA etc.

Good luck.

Well it doesn't look like it will be with us much longer so it shouldn't be worrying parents in the future.
and no I didn't ask ...

Although I'm not an EY teacher, I am the assessment co-ordinator at my school (which DD attends) and it hadn't crossed my mind to ask about/look up DD's 'scores'! I have a pretty good understanding of what they represent but can honestly say it doesn't bother me that the LA have access to a collection of numbers that supposedly tell them how my DD is performing at the age of 5.

I don't view my DD (or any of the children I teach) as a data point; I consider children to be children. They progress and develop at different rates and as far as I'm aware the definitive predictor/fancy logarithm that takes account of this has yet to be invented.

It's a shame that parents seem determined to buy into the Government's desire to reduce every child to a meaningless statistic - surely you could ask your child's teacher for an overview of their strengths etc. without having the numbers?

I agree whole-heartedly SE13Mummy.

When I read threads like this it makes me very glad that my DC and I are in Scotland!

Children are so much more than a number,score or statistic.

if you have a child with SN though, then all these tedious developmental checklists and figures and centiles can be quite important though (not of course that seems to be the case with the OP),

SN's a completely different ball-game; I'm more than happy to track/chart etc. etc. if it will secure additional help/input/referrals for a child. I've yet to hear of a child whose SN have been identified as the result of their parent knowing the EYFS 'scores' .

Put your request in writing and send it to the HT pointing out legal obligations
'The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005 require maintained schools ( to keep a curricular record for each pupil and disclose on request a pupil's educational record to their parent.

It is because the information given by many teachers is meaningless drivel.

You are referring to profile scores I assume in this statement????

To be honest I think that the school should willingly provide any such data it holds on the child - and this is the law anyway, whether one agrees with the sentiment or not.

Whether the parent puts it to good use or not, surely this is for the parent to decide.

Have been watching closely and I agree, OP should have access.

I'm the OP, so just thought I'd update you. Got called in to see the HT to get a bit of a lecture about how uncomfortable she was about telling parents these sort of scores. She told me that parents tend to "try to do the school's job by trying to teach their own children but unfortunately a lot of it then has to be un-taught as it's not right" . She went on to say that a score in isolation was no use to anyone, that once one person knows then everyone would be asking blah blah blah and that parents in an "area like ours" tend to be competitive and will just be interested in comparing with each other rather than putting the score into context and understanding what it means etc etc......So I calmly explained to her that I found it quite sad that she has such a poor opinion of all parents and rather patronising that I had to be hauled in to her office and given this lecture simply because I had asked politely for some information that I had every right to ask for about my own child. I explained that, like many parents, I had a well-rounded understanding of my child's progress at school because I take the time and interest to talk to him about what he has been doing, because I attend all parent evenings and other opportunities to talk with teachers, because I spend a reasonable amount of time in the school helping out, because I can see the sort of work he does and can simply see that he is happy and engaged and enjoying school. So the fact that I wanted the final layer of information about the time he had spent in Foundation Stage by asking for his final assessment score should not prompt an inquisition about what my motives for wanting that information were and that I hoped she wouldn't make any other parent who asked for such information jump through hoops to get it when it was a perfectly reasonable request. She told me his score.
So thanks to all of you for all your comments, but particularly mrz and GiddyPickle as your contrasting views gave me lots of food for thought.

JellyBelly, My goodness it seems ridiculous that you have had to go through this. I find this type of attitude from schools incredibly arrogant.

I think you've shown great tenacity and well done you on the way you handled it. Very measured and calm.

I'm fascinated by your claims about 'most school reports' and about my attitudes as a teacher!

I am not a FS teacher so don't have to face any dilemmas about passing on EYFS information. I happily tell parents how their children are doing and how that relates to national expectations (I produce a written summary of this with a visual 'ladder' of the NC levels so parents can see what the expected level is, their own child's level and also mark on it the progress made in the past half-term - they get one of these per term, more if they ask for an update).

Oh, and I have never used any computer generated package to write reports.