Year 4 SATs results - advice please

[Nell51]

I'd really appreciate your advice on our daughter's SATs results just received. She is incoming to the end of year 4.

At the end of year 3 her results were:

Numeracy 3c
Writing 3b
Reading 4c

She has just received the following results for year 4:

Numeracy 3b
Writing 3a (high)
Reading 4c (high)

The teacher has written high next to the grade.

My (basic) understanding (from googling) is that a child should should progress 2 sub levels so if I'm interpreting this correctly then she hasn't.

I feel very disappointed particularly as the reading score looks like it has hardly changed.

Am I interpreting this right? I'm going to speak to the teacher but wondered what your views are first and if there is anything in particular I should be asking.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Out of interest what were her Yr2 results?

My dd up 5 sub levels from Yr 1 to Yr 2 by Yr 3 she only went up 1 sub level or remained the same - therefore over she averaged out 3 sub levels over 2 years.

Although 2 sub levels a years is the expectation, children tend to progress in fits and starts.

It's one to two sub levels per year isn't it?
Still not huge progress I can see...

I don't have that to hand but will look it up. Thanks for your response.

I'd agree its not huge progress. We had hoped she might be 11+ material but I'm really unsure and wouldn't want to push her too hard into something that she couldn't cope with. Maths was my favourite & strongest subject so just a bit disappointed.

The expected progress in KS2 is 2 whole levels (6 sub levels in 4 years)

I would query her levels- a 4c to a 4c is the same. There is no high. She has not made much progress and I would be asking why. 2 sub levels a year is expected progress, 1 sub level is sometimes ok if there are good reasons but no progress at all is unacceptable.

The whole idea of nice linear progress is a joke. Children do not learn and develop that way, which is why expected progress is measured over a whole key stage not just one year.

The jump to level 4 is quite a big one. She may well be showing elements of the higher levels but not being consistent enough.
If you are concerned then request a meeting with her teacher and try to get a better idea of what she is not quite doing do push her from a high level 3a to a 4c.
With these levels she could still achieve level 5 in literacy.
With some work she could well be 11+ material.

Did she make any progress in year 3?

Is there a possibility that she was poorly assessed at the end of yr 3 and the levels she was given were too high?

I agree it isn't enough progress. They are expected to make at least 3 sub levels from the beginning of Yr 3 to the end of Yr 4 (to get 2 whole levels by the end of Yr 6) and that kind of lack of progress would certainly have been picked up and dealt with in DS2's school (he is also in Yr 4)

I would want to know what they are going to do about it personally.

Thank you all. I'm feeling more deflated reading your comments but really appreciate them.

Level 4 is the expected level in Y6

If you can be bothered to wade through it look here

webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110809101133/nsonline.org.uk/node/20683

You might get an idea of where you think she needs some help.
As has been said level 4 is expected in yr 6. She is doing ok but her progress does seem to have slowed.

I would think she has made a fairly 'meteoric' rise in a previous year, and has hit a bit of a plateau this year.

I wouldn't be too concerned as she is still doing very well overall.

The Year 3 teacher overmarked and the Year 4 teacher marked correctly?

Personally, and I say this as a teacher, I wouldn't be overly concerned!

Plus the Year 4 Sats are optional SATs and are there more for the teacher's benefit imo (to check that the kids are on track)

If your child had a growth spurt last year and grew 9 inches, but has levelled off since, would you be marching in to the doctor's surgery to ask what s/he was going to do about it? No, because children grow (and develop) in fits and starts, not in neat linear fashion on a graph. There are many variables which can affect a child's "progress" at school, not least of which is some of the subjective nature of the assessments.

I am frantically looking for year 2 sats! They are only given out if asked for & last years were on a post it note from the teacher. Our daughter didn't do as well in year 2 as expected as she was frightened of the teacher and got shouted at if she put up her hand. Therefore she didn't ask if she didn't understand and went on to copy other children's work. The teacher was unaware of any of this until our daughter told us and I went to see her so I recall year 2 results weren't as predicted but can't recall what they were! I do recall she was due to sit level 3 paper but this was changed.

They are only given out if asked for

In a state school, they must be reported as a statutory requirement.

2 sub levels a year is expected progress

No, theimpossiblegirl, that would be good progress, not expected.

So compared to national expectations maths is average, writing a bit above, reading above. I wouldn't query that with the school, as has been said progress isn't linear. Plateau on the reading which is prob due to comprehension skills, requires maturity to go through the 4s, as long as she is positive and working hard i wouldn't worry. At my school we split sublevels into higher or lower too, mainly for teacher purposes ie tracking kids and picking up needs, wouldn't normally share this with the parent sounds like they're trying to say she has made progress just not as much as hoped.
And yes, some teachers are better at levelling. Shouldn't be the case... But depends how good the schoolbare at moderating their owm scores.

If your child was level 2 in Y2 (presume so since you say they didn't do the level 3 tests although Ta is reported) then they have already made 2 full levels progress in reading and a full level in maths and writing which is demonstrates expected progress has been made. They are on track to exceed targets in Y6.

I would wait and see what the tea her assessed levels are, as apposed to the SATs levels, that said I would be asking for the teacher to look at the paper to see if there were any particular areas your dc has not done so well on - type if question? Certain area in maths, aspects missing from her writing - as these things can be worked on (if needed) if the teacher assessment us as expected, less to be concerned about

It's not a precise science OP, I think you are making way too much out of micro-details.

Her reading is excellent (IMO) which is great. Do you still get her to read out loud to you? If not, start that again and chat about the passage with her. What you liked; what the passage adds to the story line, or character development. My DD is Yr4 and we all got a shock when a letter came out from the teacher telling us we should all be listening to our children read (most of us had abandoned listening to them in yr 2!).

With maths it may be one area that's holding her back...eg mental maths or fractions which might be easily dealt with.
You need to find out if there are particular areas to work on or if she's broadly not making the level of progress you'd hoped for.

Frankly I don't think you should worry - if you want to go the selective route then I think you've a good shot if you relax, and target the areas she needs help on. She'll probably fly with a bit of help.

So is it that the bottom half of each target is considered average, and the top half above average? So , for example, in year 3 2a would be average and 3c above average?

Targets in Y3 are arbitrary and will vary from school to school ... the only "standard" NC targets are in Y2, Y6 and Y9

Were they results from optional SATs or teacher assessed? DS's teacher assessed results are often higher than his "from a test" ones.