another report thread... sorry!

[houseofboys]

DC (year one) has been ticked as within national expectations for everything on report (rather than exceeding or below). Fine I know. But he was levelled at recent parents evening at 2 in everything, 2a in reading (he's reading lime). Aren't all those results above national expectations for year one child or am I out of touch?
Also, irkingly, though narrative says he is exceptionally hard working and keen to move on to extension work, etc etc, he is marked at good for effort (rather than very good or outstanding, with poor only category below). Again doesn't matter really but his brother is showing off about his outstanding effort (when in reality doesn't try half so hard) and putting DC down. (they'd read their reports and each others before I'd picked them up from school or would have not allowed swapping)

I share your pain. The narrative on DS's report yesterday said that he worked 'superbly' and had a 'fantastic work ethic' and 'could not be more diligent' yet the effort boxes were all ticked to say that his effort was 'good' rather than 'excellent' - he was a bit miffed, but there's nothing you can do without looking like a nutter.

It's better than last year where they referred to him as a 'she' throughout, said he'd 'particularly enjoyed the school trip' when he didn't go on it AND talked about his dedication to the choir when he isn't actually in the choir.

Yes it does make you think they haven't actually noticed them all year -that or am I being too conspiratorial in thinking they like to grade them lower in yr one so not so much pressure to push in yr 2? We have same teacher yr 1/yr2....

I would talk to the teacher about this, there could have been a mistake, although saying that DS1 is achieving high level 2's/low 3's but his effort is not always marked as particularly high.

He finds the academic stuff comes quite naturally and will often not push himself to the next level as he does realise he is doing well enough. This is often commented on by the teachers and his reports although academically excellent they don't always leave me feeling great about it.

On balance I think that I would talk to the teacher about this too, if only to clarify that L2s is indeed above national expectations for his age. I think 2b is the expected level at the end of Y2 so your DS is doing really well, so why not say that on his report? I sometimes think that teachers tie themselves in knots to make sure no-one starts thinking that they might actually be a bit clever.