Teachers please - normal range of ability in year 3 maths

[sittinginthesun]

Sorry in advance, I hate threads lke this, but my dcs' school gives absolutely no indication of ability/levels. Normally quite a relief, but DS has told me today that he has dropped down a maths group, and I'm just wondering.

In maths, they merge several year groups and make up groups based on ability. The top couple of children in his year 3 class are currently working on age 10/11 work (year 6?).

I'm just wondering if this is normal for the top group of year 3, or just an unusual year. I'm actually trying to think ahead about secondary schools, as most are part selective round here, and it's really hard to work out what he is likely to achieve in the entrance tests if I don't know how he is doing.

Thanks.

It depends on the school and the cohort they have. Could range from working towards level 1 to level 5. But the majority would be somewhere between 2C to 3A.

That sounds perfectly normal to me. I think the top set at dd's school would be roughly working at year 6 level.

Thanks - what level would that be? I have no idea what level 5 is? Sorry...

Hi sittinginthesun:

I stumbled across this website when trying to address a similar problem for my DDs.

The campaign for real education has published curriculum guidance by age/ year for primary and secondary schools and info for primary curriculum can be found here: www.cre.org.uk/primary_contents.html

Just select the appropriate subject you're interested in - in this case maths.

The description of what should be covered in a given year is written in plain english, so very useful to guage what you're child should be doing. However, I should stress that this is an 'ideal world' document, and it is likely that most 'good' [as rated by Ofsted] school will not be working to this level.

Thanks, past. That is interesting. From what I can tell, there are a couple of really bright ones in class, one of whom has been IQ checked, according to her mum, and is off the scale, so it is hard to judge where he would be compared to other schools etc.

"One of whom has been IQchecked, according to her mum, and is off the scale"

Oh I love comments like that from other parents

I teach Year 3 and a typical range in my class would be from around P7 (working around the level of a Reception child but often with significant SEN) up to around 4c, exceptionally up to 4a. Expected level for the end of year 6 = 4b, so it is usual to have a couple of children in Year 3 in a 'normal school' working just below the end of Year 6 level and unusual but quite possible to have some working above.