Do all schools mark their reception reports in the same way? - feeling a bit deflated!

[averywoomummy]

I got DDs reception report today and feel a little bit deflated. She got all expected except one which was emergent. I wouldn't expect her to get exceeding in everything but one or two would have been lovely especially in communication and understanding which I think have always been really strong points with her (and in fact her teachers said at open evening that she was working at a year 1 level in these).

I'm a bit more bemused because a friend with a DD at a different school says her child got every category as exceeds. I know the DD well and would have said that her and my DD are fairly equal development wise so was wondering how much consistency there is across the schools in terms of deciding on grades?

My head says I am being silly and that I should be pleased that she is where she should be...but my heart wishes there had been just one exceeds!

most kids know who is reading well, especially if they are friends with them and sit in the same literacy or guided reading group.

I also don't see what is wrong with wanting some sort of baseline - doesn't matter WHICH children but just some sort of idea. it is a new system, it is different to before, it is seemingly harder so for many people it would be nice to have some idea of how it is working out in practice and whether our children are actually doing ok, are they doing well, are they doing well but not being marked as such etc.

A lot of the kids in yr3 (admittedly I am taking the word of a 7 yr old) seem to know their NC levels as their parents tell them...

My DD#2 got expected in everything apart from reading and maths, which she got emergent.

I am really unconcerned. She's 5 FGS. She's not about to sit her A Levels. Why get so hung up on it?

[huge sigh] Well, I began reading this thread yesterday, and was starting to fret - we had only 6 school days left and no sign of my DD's report.

Today it turned up in her book bag, and now I am .

She hasn't been given any 'marks' at all. Not a hint of an 'emerging' 'expected' or 'exceeding' to be seen. Just lots of (admittedly lovely) waffle and vague comments under each of the areas covered.

I guess all schools interpret the report requirements differently ??

"it would be nice to know if our children are actually doing ok..." Well presumably if they are 'expected' then they are doing ok! I really don't see what good knowing the levels of other children would do. If you have concerns, speak to the teacher.

As a TA (KS2) I can say that in my experience the levels will vary massively from class to class. I have previously been in a Y3 class where levels ranged from 1A to 4B. In my current class, the kids are mainly quite evenly matched. So finding out how they compare to others in the class really doesn't mean anything. A child who would be top of the class one year could be middle to bottom if they had been in a different year.

we have no levels either MephistophelesSister. I was completely thrown. the waffle in ours though is obviously taken from the EYFS requirements from the way it is worded.

I think the requirements are that they report to the parents, ideally in a personalised format of the achievements and that they make the actual levels available if someone wants to see their child's. So some schools are doing that, some are sending home a tick sheet with comments as well, some seem to be doing just a tick sheet with very little other info.

Intheshed - I don't think it is about in-class comparisons (though I see nothing wrong with knowing what the class average point score is) it is about school A v school B or LA C v LA D and whether their assessments are similar - an exceeding given for a 1a v a 1b fine, but 1b v 2c seems a significant disparity ... perhaps I'm a lone voice in that, but I thought not

Periwinkle - that makes a lot of sense. The waffle does sound v. formulaic, so coming straight from EYFS seems highly likely.

I suppose that leaves me with two options if I want to find her actusl levels

1. Interrogate her teacher.
2. Trawl online and pinpoint the level appropriate to the wording that has been used in relatipn to EYFS.

I can't see that option 1) will win me any friends, and may well have me marked down as a tiger-mum. Option 2) sounds too much like hard work (plus atad obsessive), and I am far too lazy.

Given that DD is bright, attentive (and most importantly) happy, I really can't be bothered. Add to this the conflicting interpretations of the levels anyway... But those poor teachers - hours of work writing reports, which at the end of the day are fairly useless to parents .

exactly tiredbutnotweary. I think it is the inconsistencies, or implied inconsistencies, between schools even when they are all supposed to have been moderated.

How can some schools award exceeding for something when another isn't? the dreaded reading levels are the more obvious example for comparisons which I think is why they are referred to by people. If a child reading (and understanding) chapter books and above book band 9/10/11 is just expected in some schools but another who is on book band 4 in a different school is exceeding then something isn't being moderated properly is it?

and ok so it doesn't map their future and it won't matter but we all still want to feel our children's abilities are recognised and recorded don't we? perhaps it is just me and I am strange but my disappointment in the system wasn't disappointment in my child but disappointment FOR her. ok so she has no idea, I just told her the teachers said she was delightful and beautifully behaved and tried hard and we were very proud of her but I did feel a bit miffed on her behalf. silly probably but I did.

But you're not going to know whether the assessments are similar, unless you ask your child's teacher to talk you through in detail the nature of each assessment they have done with each child throughout the year and explain exactly why they awarded a particular mark and not another.

That's what moderation is for.

I know - the effort that must have gone in to combining the right bits of info for each child and then changing names etc and for me to look at it and think 'well that was a waste of a bit of paper'. The language used just reads like an official document rather than a teacher's observations.

I would have preferred a sheet of what the expected levels involve and a tick or cross next to it and then just 2 or 3 sentences saying something about her.

I have identified 2 sentences in the whole thing that I think really are her and really are her teacher and they are very nice. just wish I hadn't had to read waffle about weighing and estimating etc to find them. I almost felt they ought to have been highlighted.

The other thing is to wait until all the results have been printed Nationally and compare LEAs and schools (the teachers to do this I mean) but by then the assessments have already been done and given to the parents of this years reception children.

I guess what I was trying to say is as long as you feel that YOUR child is doing well and is supported in their learning, what does it matter how a different school or LEA awarded their exceeding/expected levels? At the end of the day, the only people who know or who are ever going to care about DD's report are me, DH and her teacher. And once she starts Y1 all the EYFS levels will be out of the window anyway.

I could understand if it was GCSEs, but at this level it really doesn't matter.

Two 'real' sentences sounds about what we have too.

Definitely would have found Periwinkles's tick-sheet far more useful.

On the plus side, the headmaster has added a line about how delightful she is and how she always has a smile. [Just so long as they remember to teach her to read and write, I'm happy ]

ah thats nice to have the head's bit too.

Do you not have a HT bit then peri??

It doesn't matter, I completely agree, but (and there always is a but!) we don't have consistency between our classes in the one school, let alone between schools! Children on the same reading level in one class all were given Exceeding, children in our class given expected.

Someone (who read the accompanying note!) said exceeding meant they were working at 7yr old level (ie. above year 1 standard), which my child's reading level is not. So yes, he should be given expected. But can't say I leap with joy that children in the other class on the same reading level are getting Exceeding, possibly having all glowing Exceeding reports.

But hey, I sleep well and haven't complained (or even chatted IRL about it). But you'd think there'd be some guideline they follow (or even proof read each others reports!).

I do yes Simpson - it makes a comment about a good start to learning.
don't envy heads sitting writing on over 400 reports...

No I agree.

Last year DD's teacher had to do 70 reports for nursery!! Although nursery don't have HT comments on them.

Assessment in EYFS is by continuous observation of the child throughout the year not by a series of assessments. The teacher makes judgements based on what she/he sees ... I'm afraid it has always been very subjective and one teachers exceeding may be another's emerging In the pilot studies most children fell into the emerging category (similar to achieving 6 points on the old profile) ...

it will be interesting to see if the pilot study results are reflected by this year's results. Will they be published in the autumn or not until sometime next year Mrz. Do you know?

Normally around November

thanks. my other daughter will be in reception by then so will have to see how identical her report is to this years....

We could have something different by then ... formal test for five year olds anyone

I got DD's book home last week with all her assessments in and how she has been assessed (as you say mrz it's all continuous - sticky labels, pieces of work, what she said in show and tell etc)

It was quite sweet to read and I got more out of that than her school report.