discrepancy over attainment levels - KS2 - advice from teacher please?

[curlydolly]

We recently changed schools after moving areas. I just received my yr 6 dds report and I was surprised to see that she has gone down a level in writing since July last year based on the report from her last school. I don't believe this to be the case. Her old teacher was always going on about talented she is at writing and said she was a 5c. Her new school says she is a 4a. I realise I may be guilty of nit picking but if my dd knew this she would be given the impression something has gone wrong and would be working herself up about it. I am going to raise this with her teacher but not sure how to go about it as don't want to be critical of her assessments. I'm just wondering whether she would have made a subjective decision on it. Any advice please? Thanks

Not a teacher but the difference between a 4a and a 5c is only a few little things- it really is within the normal variability of pieces of assessed work. Certainly DH (who does teach) expects a fall of a couple of sub levels between July and September just because the forget stuff over the holidays (and dare I say it the previous years teacher might just be a bit over generous with marking as they have to make sure all children make progress whilst under their "wing" )

I was a TA in a year 6 class not a teacher so am probably wrong but if the previous level of 5c was based on teacher assesment and the 4a was a single assesment piece that could explain it.
It's also worth remembering that the 4A means she more than a secure level 4 and working towards level 5 and the 5c means showing some elements of level 5 work but not yet secure, so maybe they are not that far apart. As I said though I was only a TA so only have a little more understanding than a parent.

Thanks people - I don't really have much of a clue so it's useful to hear there's not much between the 2 levels.

I have several children who ping-pong between 4a and 5c, it depends on the genre they are writing in, the mood they are in, the day of the week and who won the football match the previous night! There really is very little to choose between the levels and much of this is subjective in any case, is there a variety in sentence lengths or some variety in sentence lengths, one is level 5, the other level 4! This is why teachers have long said the SATS writing test was an inaccurate reflection of a child's writing ability, evidence needs to come from a range of pieces of work rather than just one

Not down a level. Down a sub level. From bottom of 5 to top of 4.
If she recently moved schools them the school will have a limited range if evidence. (Is she better at non fiction but they have been doing stories?)
Teachers are human. It's a judgement call.