is this true re: levels at end of KS1

[TiredAndColdMummy]

Helping out in the school I saw a printout in the copier room showing all the assessments for autumn and spring terms for my son's class. I know what my son's level is, but I was interested to see how the class was as a whole. About six of them have a level 3 for literacy. Not knowing a lot about how these levels work I have looked them up and from what I've read:

1. A level 3 at the end of KS1 is considered unusual (three of these were 3a)
2. The expected level is 2b

I think that a 3a might be exceptional but is it true that a level 3, even a 3c, is unusual?

How do these work - I heard that 2b is the average but if that's the level children are expected to attain, then it can't be an average can it?

My son is most certainly not one of the 3s btw. He's working really hard but has a long way to go yet - is on 2a.

Helping out in the school I saw a printout in the copier room showing all the assessments for autumn and spring terms for my son's class. I know what my son's level is, but I was interested to see how the class was as a whole.

The more I hear about parents helping out in schools, the more unhappy I am.

As tempting as it may be to look at this (confidential) information; I think you have too much information. How your DS is doing in compared to where he is expected to be is all you need to know.

I agree with others that say progress may not be linear. I know my DS plateaus and then jumps ahead.

Helping out in the school I saw a printout in the copier room showing all the assessments for autumn and spring terms for my son's class.

How nosey!

Obviously, it shouldn't have been there-but you seem like you spent rather a long time studying it.

I agree with letseatgrandma

And nothing good ever comes from finding out this stuff

I am sorry, but you really shouldn't have read the paper in that detail. The moment you saw what it was, you should have stopped looking.

I agree that it is disgraceful of you to have read this document.

Dd is a high achiever and got 3A in year 2 sats. 4A in year 3 and 5A in years 4, 5 and 6. The school didn't do level 6 papers. I was told 2B was average at the time and some of the children were only getting a 1 but they were very low achievers who couldn't read etc.

Just to add to the chorus...

I work at a school and sometimes you pick up stuff that you shouldn't and don't need to know, it's almost impossible not to, but you don't talk about it,.

Ever.

Anywhere.

Even if you think it's trivial and impossible for anyone to figure out who you are talking about, because you could be wrong.

And I don't care how many people know Teachers who flap their gums, they shouldn't, end of.

When you realise what you are looking at, pick up your paperwork and walk away. The School I am sure talked to you about issues of confidentiality when you joined.

Have you namechanged and will a search on your other posts reveal any identifying information? I'm not going to look, but I bet several people already have.

Yes, this is a HUGE bugbear of mine.

Why didn't you just ask about levels BTW? You didn't need to tell any of us what you'd seen.

Feenie I wasn't condoning what the OP has done merely answering to a small degree whether level 3's are unusual. The small class size and gender split did mean that the report by default gave a very clear idea who were the outliers at both ends. Agree doesn't mean you need to have a playground discussion though.

I didn't think you were condoning it.

Still don't get how you can work out 'who' the 'outliers' were from a statistical report. I wouldn't know in my ds's class - but then I don't know them all so well since I don't pick up/drop off/help in school.

I'm only human, I would have read it. But not been so specific here. What WyrdM last said.
Never any instructions about confidentiality for parent helpers at our school.

Why don't you just ask the teacher the exact questions you've asked us?

This kind of thing makes me really very very cross, you are utterly abusing your position as a helper in your son's class. How would you feel if other parents had detailed information about your son's progress that they were not supposed to know. You shouldn't have looked at that information and you certainly shouldn't be posting questions about it online.

Well, I am human! I am also very nosey and probably (if I am being honest) too interested in some of this stuff as I get anxious about my own kids. But I can categorically say that I would not have read it, because I have come across similar when helping and made the choice not to look. Obviously I saw enough to see what it was, but then I turned it over so I didn't read any more. And yes, the paper was calling out "read me, read me, just turn me over and read me" but I didn't do it!

NC Levels are a bell curve
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_function
look at the red line on the link
the highest point is the "expected" that is a 2b
half of all kids are above it
half are below it
a fair chunk are close on either side in the 2a and 2c areas
some are to the left in the 1 area (what are known as SEN knids)
and an equal amount are to the right in the 3 area
a VERY VERY few are in the tails of each end : either very bright or retarded for some reason
AND
that graph is for a whole population
in some areas, whole schools will be skewed up or down by social and economic factors
so the grades for any cohort need to be thought of AT ALL TIMES as extracts from that graph
then it makes sense

I would agree with those that say you certainly shouldn't have read this document. You have obviously spent some time studying it to have gleaned all the info you have. Ok, the teacher in question shouldn't have left it lying around but nevertheless you have seriously breached confidentiality here.
I teach Y1 and I asked a parent helper to stop coming as she used to read with the children for me. She spent most of her time looking through all the children's reading diaries and making comments to the other parents about who was on what level, which children's parents didn't bother to read with them etc and she ALWAYS moved her dd up a level every time she heard her!! To me what you did is a similar thing even if you haven't shared it with other parents. You have come on a public forum to share it.

I helped in school for years
the levels charts were on every classroom wall
no big thing - the kids all knew where they stood anyway

this whole thread shows me how much mindless handwringing goes on nowadays about things you can do NOTHING about
Mums, PLEASE
stop worrying about the OTHER kids until you get to at least year 10
and worry about supporting yours
this MINDLESS competitive by proxy streak does nobody any good