year 5 assessment

[santy]

My daughter has just had some assessments she is is year 5 and achieved a 6c in her reading/literacy test. Am I right in thinking this is a year 8 grade?

Children at the end of KS3(age 14) are expected to achieve level 5/6

thank you :)

Thank you. That makes sense. I am proud of her :)

tiggytape the OPs child isn't on level 8 she's on level 6C

Tiggy, are you working on the idea that children are expected to go up 1 level per year?

It doesn't work like that - it's 2 levels over the 4 years of KS2, for example. I suspect it's probably 2 levels over KS3 - there are others who would know better than me.

So DS, who entered Year 7 on 5s and 6s, has targets of 7s and 8s for the end of KS3, which would indicate 2 levels of progress over the 3 years of the Key Stage IYSWIM?

(However - doubting self now - as expected levels for the end of KS3 are given as 5/6, it may be that 1.5 levels is 'expected', as if it were to be 2, then the expected level at the end of KS3 would simply be 6...)

So between 1/2 and 2/3 of a level per year seems to be expected in KS3 - so e.g. from 6c to 6a might be expected progress within a single year, or from 6c to 7c over 2 years.

Yes it is 2 levels in each Key Stage
so level 2 at the end of KS1 age 7
level 4 at the end of KS2 age 11
and level 5/6 at the end of KS3 age 14

www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/overview

But mrz - if 2 levels, why 5/6 at the end of KS3 not just 6? That was what confused me...

It all seems slightly mad with the DfE push for level 6s in Y6

Sorry I was confused by your post which I thought was saying there aren't many Y7 children on level 8 which of course the OPs child is unlikely to be although it seems likely that will be her target for Y10

Obviously there are those clever 10 year olds who are more than capable of achieving a GCSE 6 years early.

Which is presumably why the Government is now harping on about the failure of secondary schools to support high achieving children in maintaining their early progress
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21535055

We are expected to ensure AT least 30% of our children achieve level 5 in maths and 10% level 6. ( We were given similar targets for English last year and everyone simply laughed!)

A grade C at GCSE is in theory the equivalent to a level 7 on the NC levels, so yes, a level 5 would "fail dismally" but level 6 children could have a jolly good go! Has anyone looked at the maths GCSE paper recently? The foundation paper, which covers up to grade C, is well within the capabilities of good level 6 candidates. ( In fact I might give it to my top group next week to see how they get on!)

DS took a Maths GCSE foundation paper as his first termly assessment in Year 7....he was level 6 on leaving primary, and is a high 6 bordering on 7 now, so that seems entirely sensible.

I think a child that is genuinely a level 6 in Y6 and not just scrapping it to meet targets is quite capable of the GCSE foundation paper.

Well done Santy's DD
I have a year 5 in my class who is level 6 in Maths (sadly for me also level 1a children in same class maths group) and they are the first level 6 I have taught.

The first question on the foundation paper is "draw the line of symmetry"

In actual fact, the level 6 paper is probably consistently harder than the FoundationGCSE as ALL the questions on it are level 6. The GCSE paper covers grades from G upwards so the first few questions are ridiculously easy!

I doubt they could manage a foundation science paper straight off though, because the syllabus content at KS4 is different to KS3. If taught it, then yes they could if you see what I mean.

We do start Ks4 in year 9. No student would actually sit the exam until the end of year 10 earliest because, as has been said up thread, they are not emotionally ready for the exam.

However, we have found that the students are ready for the level of work they are expected to do.

Shipwrecked, I would agree that in some subjects the 'factual content' element would prevent even the most able younger children being able to take foundation papers straight off.

Maths, tbh, is probably the subject in which it is most possible IYSWIM. English probably requires a level of 'emotional intelligence / maturity' that is hard for a younger child to dsiplay, and most other subjects require significant 'factual content'. Perhaps languages might be another example, if very well taught at primary level?

Yes, I would agree with that, although I know less about teaching those subjects

tiggy my D is in Yr7 and is certainly doing Pythagoras and quadratic equations - she'a solid L6 at the moment, so that stuff is being taught at age 11/12. She wasn't quite there in Yr6 though, but then was 'only' a 5a at the time. I think she'd certainly have a decent shot at the GCSE foundation paper.