Writing in Y3 - would welcome a teacher's view

[Inkythemouseismypet]

Can any teachers give me their view about this?

DD is 8.1 and in Y3 (so as you can tell, she's one of the oldest in the year).

At the end of Y2 her report said that she had been assessed as level 3 in reading, speaking & listening, numeracy and science, and level 2a for writing.

I also got a letter towards the end of last term from the school's literacy coordinator saying that DD had been identified as being one of the strongest writers in her class, and as such they wanted my permission for her to be part of the school newspaper project this year. There's just 3 of them from each junior class taking part in this.

When I went to parents' evening last week, her teacher told me that she had recently assessed all the children and that DD was still working at a level 2a in writing, and the impression I got was that writing was her weak spot across the board. The teacher was constructive in that she highlighted a number of things DD needs to work into her writing, but that at the moment she couldn't assess her as higher than a 2a.

I feel like I'm getting mixed messages from the school - either she's one of the best writers in the class, or she's an 8 year old still working at year 2 level - which is it?

And how, as a class teacher, would you want a parent to support their child's writing? I'm an English graduate with a job that requires me to write vast reams of material, so I 'get' what she needs to do, but when exactly, with a f/t job and 3 children, am I supposed to do extra literacy work with DD?

Both are true - writing is her weakest subject, because she's so strong in the others, and she's one of the top writers in the class, because there's not many other people who are particularly great at writing.

Writing takes longer for most kids to get a 3 in then everything else.

Y2 expected level is a 2b, so she exceeded national expectations last year. She's had the summer, and now 7 weeks back at school and has maintained her grade.
So did the teacher give you specific targets for her writing? What does she need to improve, grammar, use of more interesting punctuation and adventurous vocabulary? Structure of pieces?
Depending on what she needs to work on, you could do quite a lot through oral language games and some online sites.

Yes, I have a pretty good idea of what she needs to work on.

Her report last year set 'writing from other perspectives' as her target.

Then on parents' evening last week her teacher was talking about putting really more descriptive detail and emotion into her writing, e.g. in a letter to someone, describing how you feel about events, rather than just relating a list of factual things you've done.

Downby, if you have any recommendations of online stuff, I'd really appreciate it.

Didn't realise that expected writing level was a 2b, so thanks for that.

I know I should be very pleased that she's doing well, I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment - only gone back to work F/T since September (worked p/t before that) and struggling to get everything done, keep the house up together, support all the DCs academically, etc etc.

You can't do everything - and you don't need to.

If you do nothing extra at home with your DD she'l still do fine, and probably keep her place as one of the best in the class.

School will teach her.

They're just telling you her weakest area. Everyone, be defn, has a weakest area.

School will teach her. They've done a fab job so far, and they will continue to do so.

It would be unusual really for her to have moved up after only half a term in Year 3, especially following the summer break. Like pps have said, a 2A is above average for the end of Year 2. Most children seem to be better at reading than writing so it's not surprising that her reading was a 3. She seems to be doing really well to me, nothing to worry about!

Thanks again for more input, this is all very useful.

Going off at a slight tangent (but while I have your attention ), what's your view on 'reading age' as a measure of a child's reading ability?

Do you compare the reading age to the child's actual chronological age, or to their school year?

And within a couple of months, how much does it matter?

(Sorry, I know this is hijacking my own thread, but it was another thing I was a bit bemused about following parents' evening, so would welcome any views).

Reading age is a Meaningless measurement. There are loads of different tests and they will all produce a totally different score.

OP Did your DD's class have any level 3 writers in KS1 SAT's? Have you seen the stats for the year group?

I'd second everything Indigo said.

Writing is not getting as high level scores as other areas in literacy - nationally, I believe.

And Elibean next year's year 6 writing SAT will be different.