Report for Year 1

[BeaLola]

We have Parents Evening next week for our 6 year old. This time last year when he was in reception we received a report with marks on certain areas that were either Exceeding, Expected or Developing.

Earlier this year we had parents evening preceded by a narrative report split into subjects - no marks/grades.

Im told that we receive nothing before this parents evening just a brief chat about him. Is this correct ?

Any experienced parents/teachers what are the key things I need to ask ?

Schools are required to report levels at the end of reception, then again at the end of key stage one (year 2) and key stage 2 (year 6), so I assume last year's data was end of reception, hence it is totally normal to not get any this year? You can, however expect to receive the results of the Phonics Screening Check, if you child is now Year 1. Also, they are required to provide a written report once a year (the narrative you received earlier in the year). Some schools write the reports for June/July, others write them earlier in the year.

So, yes, this is correct.

At my school we get a detailed report but no PE in summer term

we get parents evening mid autumn term and mid spring term but a written report at very end of summer term.

BeaLola:

I'd e-mail the school (so you have a copy of the request) and state that at the parent/ teacher meeting you'd like to be informed whether your child is performing below/ at / above nationally expected level end of Y1. Express your disappointment that such basic information about your child's performance was missing from their end of Year report.

(MN info on progress through NC Levels is here: www.mumsnet.com/learning/assessment/progress-through-national-curriculum-levels - table at the bottom tells you notional typical performance at end of given school year.

At the start of Y2, my advice is to ask the teacher outright what targets your child is working to in Reading/ Writing/ Maths. Ostensibly OFSTED are looking to see that children understand what they are working toward - so with a 6/7 year old I think you are well within your rights to ask for this information as most 6/ 7 year olds often can't communicate this effectively to parents.

But be prepared for several things:

Teachers do 'game' the NC Level system becuase they need to show at least two sub-levels progress for each child to meet performance pay targets.

The NC level system is going and schools are now allowed to have their own system - so whatever system your school adopts make sure you understand what it means against national criteria - becuase it's all well and good for the school to tell you 'golden unicorn' level is fantastic - but if that's working at NC L1 in Y3 - it's a disaster. So push for a translation = as frankly I think this push to drop NC Levels is because parents have finally come to grips with what it means and are now asking searching questions when they see little improvement between years.

Express your disappointment that such basic information about your child's performance was missing from their end of Year report.

But it wasn't an end of year report if it came out earlier this year.

Speaking as a Year 1 teacher, sending my end-of-year reports home next Friday... I think you'd be completely okay asking if your child was in line with age-related expectations.
On my reports this year, I have 3 categories:
Exceeding expectations
Achieving expectations
Below expectations

There is a tick in the appropriate box. And there are the actual national curriculum levels for Reading, Writing & Maths.