Year 1 school report

[Megan74]

ahve just got DDs school report back for the end of yr 1. All seems OK but the school have their own grading system. DD was sitting in thr middle band for most. However, I keep hearing about 1d 2bs etc. I assume this is the NC grading - Should the school provide me with this information as well?

No, they don't have to in Y1. Only on Y2 and Y6.

I can't understand why schools do this at all because from the ages of 6,7,8 etc they will change a huge amount from there to GCSE.

Thanks Indigo.

DD got SATS levels for Year 1 which came as a bit of a shock to be quite honest. DW was disappointed with them 2C for English and the same for Maths but I think DD could potentially still be on target to get Level 3s in KS1 SATS, especially as she is having a very inspiring teacher next year.

you are disappointed with a 2c at the end of year 1 .

That was DW! But she did admit she wasn't really sure about the levels as she was not expecting them

perceptionreality, I can't understand your post at all!

You're right Badgercub - it makes no sense at all, sorry. I am very bunged up today - clearly it's affecting my thinking.

I think what I was trying to say is I don't understand why schools now have to do national curriculum assessments at such a young age when a child of 7 will change so much by the age of say 14. And you cannot always tell who will turn out to be very academic and who won't in the junior school. Surely the teachers know if they're doing ok or not?

So she didn't understand the results- but knew she was disappointed?

"Surely the teachers know if they're doing ok or not?"

That's what the levels are for. Assessments aren't an exercise in paperwork, they're an integral part of the job, whether the results are collected and reported or not.

I assess my children after every single piece of work they do, according to whether they have achieved the learning objective, and this data informs my plans for the next lesson. If a child is struggling in that particular lesson I'll know to work with them in the next lesson.

The problem comes when media/government/parents start misinterpreting what assessments mean. Asking why teachers do assessments is a bit like asking why the police solve crimes. It's arguably the most important part of the job! You can't teach children adequately if you don't know what level they're working at and what they need help with.

If a parent is interested I will tell them what level their child is working at, but otherwise I wouldn't bother to include it in a report unless the school asked me to.

Yes but there is not only one way to assess is there? And I personally feel that these NC levels are not much help in establishing exactly what a child may be struggling with within a subject iyswim (and therefore the levels are particularly unhelpful for parents to have on the reports).

When I was at school we were assessed via the use of grades for effort and achievement (eg, A2) and this was then explained in the report in more detail. More useful than NC level 3A etc imo.

Not to mention that at the age of 7 a child's results are more likely to be altered by an argument they had with their friend at break time. Older children learn to cope with the demands of specific assessments, and also the importance of them and what they are for and where they will lead (to GCSEs etc). In a younger child I would expect the teacher to be able to get an overall picture from the academic year and be assess for themselves the child's acheivements and where they need help.

With respect, perceptionreality, I don't think you really understand the NC levels and teacher assessments at all.

"these NC levels are not much help in establishing exactly what a child may be struggling with within a subject "

You are wrong, that's their exact purpose. An APP tracker grid in writing can for example tell me whether a child can:

structure sentences
use connectives
use the appropriate tense
sequence ideas
punctuate
construct paragraphs
ETC.

"at the age of 7 a child's results are more likely to be altered by an argument they had with their friend at break time."

No, not with appropriate ongoing formative assessment. I think you are confusing the idea of assessments with tests. They are not the same thing.

"In a younger child I would expect the teacher to be able to get an overall picture from the academic year and be assess for themselves the child's acheivements and where they need help."

That is exactly what the NC levels mean and what assessments are for...and 99% of the time children don't even know they're being assessed so it's irrelevant to talk about "coping" with assessments.

Testing and assessments are not the same thing.

Well, I disagree with you and I'm not the only person I know who feels SATS for 7 year old are not necessary. The fact I'm not a teacher doesn't mean my opinion is any less valid than yours - I have teacher friends who feel a child's mood on the day of assessment may affect the overall level they achieve.

And one of my points is precisely that putting the NC levels on reports is confusing for parents - of course WE don't understand them. So why don't the teachers just refer to them for their own information?

dd1 is in year 1. She was graded, but does this mean where she's at now in relation to KS1 SATs which will be assessed in year 2, or is she being graded within her year?

oh and what do the reading levels mean? She was assessed and told a particular numerical number

And I meant to say, I realise that teachers can use the assessments to know if the child can or cannot 'use connectives' for example, but as parents only get the level they can't work on anything that maybe needs help iyswim. So it's really less than half a picture to them.

I think the children do know they're being assessed when they come out of school saying they are doing assessments.

I have teacher friends who feel a child's mood on the day of assessment may affect the overall level they achieve.

Then you have teacher friends who aren't assessing correctly if they are in Y2.

The assessment in Y2 is made up from many pieces of evidence, and the tests are just a very small part. Many LEAs won't even look at the test results in their moderation conversation - they want to be sure that the teacher has built assessment into every day classroom activity. See Building a Picture of What a Child Can Do for a fuller picture of how we assess in Y2.

In a younger child I would expect the teacher to be able to get an overall picture from the academic year and be assess for themselves the child's acheivements and where they need help.

Yes - that's exactly what teacher assessment is!

Perhaps some schools (private schools?) don't use the assessments as they are intended by the government then?

Private schools don't have to use statutory assessments, no. It's entirely possible that they might use the tests and that's it. The rest of the country ditched testing only assessment for 7 year olds in 2005. So you can stop worrying about them all

Right, so in state schools they obviously use the assessments far more broadly and therefore the child won't notice. Yes, I do think my dd's school uses the tests only.

The assessment takes place over the year, as in any other year group.

The fact I'm not a teacher doesn't mean my opinion is any less valid than yours

Um, yes it does. Do you have a masters degree in Education? Have you taught children for years and years?

Your opinion on education IS less valid than mine, just as my opinions on surgery are less valid than a surgeon's! I couldn't have a valid opinion on the different parts of a surgeon's job because I don't know enough about it!!!

Honestly I don't mean to be rude but you have demonstrated that you don't understand the education system. Do you even know what an APP tracker grid is? You seem to have ignored what I said about it.

"SATS for 7 year old are not necessary."

You mentioned nothing about SATs in your earlier posts. I was not talking about SATs. NC levels and SATs are not actually the same thing.

"I have teacher friends who feel a child's mood on the day of assessment may affect the overall level they achieve."

As I said above, tests and assessments are NOT the same thing.

And your teacher friends must be shockingly poor teachers then, because assessments are done over the course of the year...not on one day. Your teacher friends are not assessing correctly.

"I think the children do know they're being assessed when they come out of school saying they are doing assessments."

URGH. Assessments and tests are NOT THE SAME THING.

"Yes, I do think my dd's school uses the tests only."

Your dd's school WILL also use formative assessment along the way too, but you won't hear about it unless they tell you. It's an integral part of a teacher's job and informs lesson plans (unless they're a very poor teacher).