3 sub-levels in less than a school year?!

[sweetteamum]

DS is Year 5. I recently found out that he didn't progress at all in Year 4 and is currently a 2a in literacy.

I have been told he needs to be a 3a at the end of this school year. I am very confused how a child who got 2c in year 2, hasn't progressed much since, is actually expected to make that type of progress.

Am I being unreasonable or could the school do more - they say he's been on various interventions, yet still only moved up 2 sub-levels since year 2?

Its perfectly possible to move up more then 2 sublevels a year. With some children, things just click and then they race ahead.

DD, who was on a 1c for Maths at the end of Y1 ( Jul 2012 ), was a 2b by Nov 2012. One half term, 4 sublevels. This was because I intervened at home and put her on the Maths Factor, but its perfectly possible to do.

It might be useful to look at what is required for a level 3a and work out where the gaps are for your DS, then do some extra work at home with him tailored to his specific needs?

Thanks taffeta I don't know where to start working out where the gaps are. It's been a bit of a shock finding this out tbh.

I've never been told he's struggling and have only found out after a private report flagged up issues. Then suddenly the school flag it up once the see private report.

Thanks beertricks

I would love to know what interventions have been put in place and how far back they actually go. Am I being reasonable to ask them to show me how much progress has been made - would progress of even been recorded?

I feel out of my depth and don't know where to start.

My son is the same age, with the same grades. I have however been aware that he's been slipping since he finished yr 3.

He is having interventions starting this term (I have little hope since he's had interventions in yr 3 and 4 and I've yet to see progress)

I have now employed a tutor for him once a week to help with his sentence structure. (His imagination is good, so the ideas are there). He is a very poor speller, so we're working our way through the apples and pears spelling scheme at home.

Both his class teacher and head are new to the school this year (outstanding juniors according to ofsted), and I have emailed the head with my concerns, and also met the new teacher within the first couple of weeks to explain my concerns. Just so he doesn't slip under the radar .

The school seem to think he'll leave with a level 4 in literacy (probably a low 4 I imagine though) Reading and maths is projected to be a 5.

Expected progress between years 2 and 4 is one whole level, or three sub levels. Your ds made two sub level's progress, which is not as much as expected progress but only by one sub level. Is there a reason why his progress might have been slower?

I think it's perfectly reasonable to have an ambitious target for him this year if he hasn't made expected progress and there's no reason for it.

Incidentally, year 6 sats targets are based on year 2 results, so his target will be 4c. As that's borderline the magic level 4, he will be a target kid. From the school's point of view, they'll want to ensure he is a secure 4 so their data looks better.

Depending on the school, they may be able to track his progress (or lack of it) through ks2 but if they could then they would have done already, surely? In my school we submit data electronically every term (and every half term for writing) so if a child is not progressing then it should be flagged up very quickly.