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Primary education

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year 2 report

12 replies

hettie · 04/07/2014 16:53

Come and talk some sense into me....DC has had a great report on many levels... Enthusiasm and effort highly praised. But whilst it's clear that DC are working hard the attainment levels are noted as 'achieving' against national levels but below against school expectations. The school takes pride in a high percentage of its yr 6 children getting level 5s so it has a highish expectation I suppose..
I feel a bit worried (and sad) that DC is not doing that well. Both dh and I are smart and would be considered to have done academically well. I hate the thought of DC struggling. Additionally I worry about dyslexia (I'm dyslexic, slightly atypical profile and it didn't get picked up until post-grad) and whether the gap between achievement and effort is a reflection of this... ( few other signs too). Or do I need to accept academic achievements are not where it's at for DC and bloody well get over myself

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StealthPolarBear · 04/07/2014 16:55

I think theyre too young to worry about thw detail of this. Can she read and write? Is shr getting on with maths? Does she commprehend stories?
Ds got all level 2s and im very proud :o

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 04/07/2014 17:29

How do you mean achieving against national levels but not against school expectations?

If they're achieving against national expectations then I don't think that's a sign of not doing well, SEN, a gap between achievement and attainment or a sign that academic achievements are not where it's at for them?

PastSellByDate · 04/07/2014 17:30

Hettie:

I think you have to decide what matters for you as a parent.

When DD1 was in late Y2 it really bothered me that my child couldn't add 2 digit numbers or subtract (even 1 from 10). I got the 'she's at expected level' for all subjects on every report card up to late Y2. In fact she wasn't as she scored straight NC L1 for KS1 SATs (obviously Teacher Assessed/ but backed up by testing), which is below nationally expected attainment at end Y2.

So my advice would be not to 'get over yourself' but to determine several things:

What do you expect your child to be capable of doing (this may require a bit of research to determine what is notionally achievable at a given age - but there are some pretty good indications from the new national curriculum programmes of study: www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum - just scroll down to programmes of study by area of curriculum

or have a look at Campaign for Real Education's primary curriculum statements here: www.cre.org.uk/primary_contents.html -

both are laid out by school year and give you a strong indication of what notionally your child should be covering and preferably mastering at a given age. Campaign for Real Education is more of an 'ideal world' concept - than probably is practiced in most schools - but it does give you the ability to conceive what is possible in ideal circumstances (great teachers, excellent support/ facilities, etc...).

My view is this - at primary age (as you say you are well educated) it is very easy to do more at home or to explore where there may be sticking points (e.g. sounding out longer words, skipping words that are tricky or new, avoiding finding out meaning of words, problems carrying numbers, difficulty remembering times tables, etc...). There are all sorts of stumbling blocks along the way and in reality there is no one way to learn or teach this stuff. Schools get very precious about how you have to follow their system or you'll confuse the poor dears - but they rather forget that sometimes the teacher themselves isn't particularly well trained/ talented in that area of the curriculum and sometimes working quietly at home (maybe using old fashioned methods) can work. Let alone the fact that a lot of well behaved, quiet children just simply get overlooked and slip through the cracks.

I get that dyslexia is a niggle - but don't jump to conclusions yet. However, if your husband is dyslexic as well - then the there is good genetic grounds for that worry (for girls it has to be in both mother & father's family) - but it doesn't necessarily mean it will come to pass. Sometimes it's about just being ready to learn this stuff (and that can be about being able to sit still and concentrate, being able to conceive what someone is describing, being ready to think in more complicated ways, being ready to settle down to work, etc...).

Y2 in the UK = 1st Grade in the US. Many arrive at age 6 unable to read and maybe only able to count out loud in US. Many leave 1st grade still struggling to read and not very good at maths there but go on to do very well indeed - and in fact looking at PISA results I'm not particularly clear that 2 extra years of schooling in the UK is reaping many benefits.

HTH

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 04/07/2014 17:43

Any child not reading well or barely doing maths leaving the 1st grade class not very good at maths in the school board where I taught was unlikely to leave the 1st grade class. They'd be up for retention or in rare cases would be targeted for additional 1:1 help out of class in 2nd grade. End of grade expectations were similar to those for the end of year 2, particularly in maths.

hettie · 04/07/2014 17:52

Reading seems fine (fairly fluent at the level of famous five type stories). Writing harder, letter formation a bit iffy sometimes and spelling not so great. Hard to know regarding maths...

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HarveySchlumpfenburger · 04/07/2014 18:12

Is he state of private? Did they give you the NC level in the report?

hettie · 04/07/2014 18:35

Thank you pastsellbydate that's really helpful. I need to explore some of those links.... This far I've been very relaxed about stuff (we are an anomoly on this in DC class) and not done anything extra other than required homework and some extra writing stuff that the school put in place. Mostly because I take the view that the early years until 7 shouldn't be as structured/focused on formal learning. As others point out many countries are far more relaxed and seem to do very well overall.

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hettie · 04/07/2014 18:42

State... No Nc level as such just whether they were achieving at expected/below/above against national levels and schools expectations.. I arsine the school has higher expectations ( well the year 6 SATs would seem to suggest this) and that many parents what to know where their child is against the standard in the school/class. It's a very middle class/highly educated area (think close to great teaching hospital and Russell group university). Parental expectations are h and IMHO not helpful... Too much pushing too soon...

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IsItFridayYetPlease · 04/07/2014 19:06

If your child is in Year 2 you should have been given their End of Key Stage One National Curriculum levels. If not, contact the school and ask when they will be providing them. It is statutory to provide levels at end of Reception, Year 2 and Year 6.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 04/07/2014 19:07

That's odd. By law they are required to report the NC level at the end of year 2. Would be odd not to put it in a report that comes out this close to the end of the year.

I could be that the 'expected level' is a target set using the level he was at at the beginning of year 1 rather than a level that the school expects every child to reach. It is difficult to draw any conclusions with out them giving you the level he's working at and the level they are expecting because there's no way of seeing how high their expectations are and how much he's missed that by.

If he's working at national expectations and you don't have any specific concerns about him, I wouldn't worry just yet. There's no reason he couldn't go on to be achieving above national expectations by the end of year 6.

PastSellByDate · 05/07/2014 00:06

Rafa:

I take your point about US system (and perhaps you are currently teaching there). I think 'holding back' struggling pupils was in place when I was in school in the 1970s with probably

hettie · 05/07/2014 11:27

Thanks that's good to know. I will try and find out exactly what is going on.. Maybe they aim to tell us at the end of term?

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