If your child's primary got it's worst SATS in years & plummeted down the league tables would you expect a letter from the Head?

[Artichohohohokes]

Our primary got awful Y6 SATS. Worst ever. It went from near the top of the Borough to near the bottom. I only know this from the news, there has been no communication with parents although I know it was discussed at the recent Govenors meeting.

AIBU to think the Head would have done well to write to all existing parents acknowledging what has happened and reassuring us investigations are under way to try and ensure this is a one off blip? No communication on the issue is odd. Isn't the Head scared that parents will panic & consider other options?

Round here SATs are no help at all. Small schools who either just under or just over the reporting limit. One or two pupils make a huge difference if you only have 11 in the year.
You can't even look over a period of time because, DDs year will be published but the year before and the year after won't.

So to answer the ops question. I think a letter would be very difficult because the local gossips would know who'd moved and speculate at who'd done better or worse than expected. They do this any way!

As a parent I wouldn't use them at all in looking for a school. I only use the Ofsted as a guide. Nothing beats the visit, seeing the school on a normal working day and asking questions.
I would be very surprised if the Head wrote a letter, I think that it would be very insensitive to write that last year's year 6s were not as good as the the ones of the year before, but not to worry because next year yr6 will be back on form!
If it is a small school parents would be able to work who had 'let them down'-if that is the way you want to view it.

Thanks everyone.

I wasn't really suggesting a later outling the problems of year 6. Just a letter saying "we got bad SATS, we are working with the Govenors to see if there is anything we could have done better, it's notable we had a high churn last year, we underline the challenges this puts on any school, we especially discourage parents choosing us a pre-prep then moving kids at 7+".

The school is huge, it's in London, there are parents from many backgrounds, local gossip doesn't really exist. I think the school has to communicate more proactively than a small school in a close knit community. I would love to see it taking more steps to create a community of parents all pulling together to support the school.

Exotic, funnily enough, i used them when looking for a school - but as an indication of the type of intake a school had (not knowing the area at all) rather than as any indication at all of the quality of the school! (My very bright DS was extremely isolated in the school he was in before we moved, leading to a variety of issues including selective mutism, so I was actively looking for a school where he would find at least a small 'like' peer group).

I used CVA / Ofsted as a 'second level' of screening - as there are too many primaries in the area I was looking at to visit them all - and then visited i think 5 in all. The school both my DCs are now at has a consistently high CVA, varying 'absolute' SATs levels and a 'Good' Ofsted, whereas other schools I rejected (and am now, being more familiar with the area, very pleased that I did) had much lower CVA but higher 'absolute' SATs levels and Outstanding Ofsteds.

As others have said, I would ask to see the minutes of the governors' meeting. These are public documents - officially once they're approved at the next meeting, but very often they're made available as soon as the Chair has approved them for circulation to the other governors.

Some of the governors will be parent governors, and you could find one of them to ask.

Or, quite frankly, if it was me, I'd make an appointment with the head and ask the question direct. If one parent is worrying, then others may be. The head is fairly new and so won't have everything sussed yet about how they manage the parent body etc. For sure, it would be wrong to circulate a letter saying the cohort was a poor one etc. The governing body is there to ensure the school is being well managed and they should be asking the questions - the concern for me, then, would be the competence of the governing body.

If a school has a lot of movement - especially in year 6 - it is nigh on impossible for the school to have much control over the performance of the children. I'm not sure the statistics exist at the moment to report on the level of each child when they come into the school so even the value-added score might not help then.

I used the league tables when choosing a house to buy - as an indication of how middle class the area was :)

Next year's stats are going to exclude kids who haven't been in the school for at least 2 years (as well as it currently does excluding the kids who haven't been in the country for at least 2 years)

I have just checked and value add is 80%. Is that good or bad?

bad

I used the league tables when choosing a house to buy - as an indication of how middle class the area was

I would use it for that-it is a very reliable indication. If I was going to move to a city that I didn't know it would immediately tell me where the 'desirable' housing areas were. However I don't think that is the purpose of the SATs.

I can't see Value Added in this years tables. There is 'Progress in English' which 87 and 'Progress in Maths' which is 89. What does that mean?

Overall 67% of kids got to the expected level in English & Maths. Down from 89% last year (& 91% the year before that). Big drop.

That means 87% of kids made 2 levels of progress in English.

VA is there it's a number near 100.

Look under the heading Value Added measures on the school's page.

Nope. No value added on the BBC website tables. Last year the school was 101 and the year before it was 101.1 but it's not there for this year.

This is where to find the league tables.

TRY

Great. Thanks. Value Added was 100.8. Is that good?

Have a linky on CVA.

anything over 100 is good so results suggest it was a low attaining cohort who have progressed well but had a low starting point

Value added target is 100 and its accuracy (boundaries) very fuzzy, anything between about 99-101 is effectively the same result, for instance.

Ah, what I expected, not truly awful results, would be about typical SATs for our school. Just about average rather than the lots above average you've had for last few years.

100.8 is pretty good CVA. Almost all schools get between 99 and 101. 100.8 would certainly put your school near the top of my borough.

I work in a small school with average Year 6 cohorts of around 9-11 pupils, so each child is roughly 10%. Last year was a high achieving cohort, no EAl, No SEN, 50% passed the 11+ and 100% achieved level 4 for English and Maths. This year I have 2 EAL ( both of whom will have been in the country for just over the magic 2 year limit so will count in the statistics), 2 dyslexics and one girl with a statement. I will be lucky to achieve 50% level 4 with them! My teaching hasn't suddenly deteriorated, the school hasn't suddenly become a poor performing one but our results and league table place will plummet! However our VA is good, ( except the two EAL children have no KS1 results to measure from!) over 100 and improving all the time! Statistics can be used to prove, or disprove just about anything!

Very sorry to hear that your dyslexic children have been failed so badly that they're leaving primary school unable to read and write properly.

Your teaching hasn't got better or worse - but those kids have still been failed. By everyone. For the last 7 years.

OUr school league table results are the pits - literally!

With a L4 in English and Maths result in the low 30s we are the worst school in the LA and one of the worst 100 schools in the country.

Having said that, barring a few frustrations about lack of high level teaching, I am happy to send my children to a wonderfully inclusive school with a high number of very committed staff (we have had little staff turnover to this point, amazingly). My DD will at least achieve the high L5 expected and MAY have the chance at a L6, although this area of teaching is still sadly lacking.
My DS is making amazing progress with a fabulous young male teacher and although we have schools 5 minutes away that are scoring in the high 90s and even 100 in one case, I will not be moving my children.

There is so much more to school than SATs!