End or yr 4 report below expected levels

[MrsC24]

My DS report quite concerning with a 2a in Writing, RE and Science and 3b for Reading and Maths. He is below in all other subjects except PE where he is above! He is the youngest in his year (31st Aug) and has fine motor skills problems. I paid for an OT assessment at the start of yr 3 and he didn't have a very good teacher in yr 3 and didn't progress as much as I would have hoped now the school knew what his problems were, but this year his writing has progressed significantly. (Still not great but is generally legible and in the cursive script). Looking at the levels he is unlikely to get the expected levels at the end of year 6. Should the school be putting interventions in place for yr 5 in addition to the agreed IPP hand writing practice or would his yr 5 teacher be expected to just teach him at the level he is to just go up the standard 2 sub levels? He only went up one sub level in yr 3. Any teachers out there can offer any help be greatly appreciated.

How many sub-levels has he gone up this year?

He has gone up 2 levels and 1 in science. I have had meetings with his teacher who is also the SENCO throughout the year and as he only went up 1 level last year he needed to catch up. His teacher at the meetings just said he is progressing the same as the other children which is good. Just want to know if additional help should be in place as he is not on target?

A child is only likely to make more than 2 sub-levels progress in a year if they previously moved slowly if there was an underlying reason for the previous slow movement, such as illness. Your DC has moved a full level in two years which puts him completely on track to make the expected progress between KS1 and KS2. Also, moving 1 sub-level in Year 3 is common - a lot changes between the two key stages and Year 3 is a year for consolidation and laying groundwork for more independent work and greater quantities of formal lessons/work.
Having said that, he is working at a below average level for his age, so I would expect that he would, probably alongside other children working at a similar level, have some targeted interventions next year to try to boost him in his key areas of weakness.
The school will have be very motivated to get him to level 4 by year 6 if it is possible.

A 2a is likely to mean that he will be included in an intervention during Year 5. In addition, however, his teacher will (or should) make sure that work in class is appropriate and challenges him. It's not great,...but it's not the end of the world, either.
It would be lovely to have children, who make their 2 sublevels per year, every year. Unfortunately, they aren't quite built that way. Progress can be unsteady...for one reason or another. A lot of the time, it depends on the child. Writing in particular usually requires some level of maturity, experience and exposure.
One of mine arrived in September on a 2c...and will be moving into Y6 on a 3c. Child 2 arrived on a 3c, but won't make it past a shaky 3b (I wouldn't have assessed as a 3c to begin with, either,...but I can understand the pressure the Y4 teacher was under). Child 3 came up on a 3b,...and is currently on a 4a. All three of them had the same teacher this year (me...I don't jobshare), but their progress has been very different.
In Y5, I put a lot of responsibility back onto the kids in my class. If they don't want to, aren't ready or cannot be bothered, then their progress will be slower. Sometimes, they just need to grow up a little bit more...at other times, they need a proper push. You should know which one your DS requires.

Mrs C24:

first off have a look at Mumsnet pages of expected progress for the 'notional typical child' through NC Levels here: www.mumsnet.com/learning/assessment/progress-through-national-curriculum-levels -

So they have as END Y4 achievement at 3b - which is in fact where your son is for Reading & Maths. So he's about where he should be. He's a little below where he should be for writing.

With writing - there's kind of a progression of aspects that teachers are looking for - and these VCOP pyramids really help to lay out that sequence of development for vocabulary/ connectives/ openers (ways to start a sentence) and punctuation: displays.tpet.co.uk/?resource=387#/ViewResource/id387 - these are laid out so that items at the top of the pyramid are basic skills and things at the bottom of the pyramid are more advanced skills.

How you can encourage writing over the summer and get in that bit of practice:

postcards - have your DC send postcards from places you visit (even if only an outing into town).

Thank you cards - have your DC send thank you notes for presents/ treats/ nice days out (maybe make some for his teacher/ TA now!)

Fan letters: Write to your favourite author/ tv show. Some books have prizes if you write in. DD1 did this in Y3 when she was mad about Rainbow Magic Fairies - the prize draw was already over but the lovely people there sent her tons of stuff - a T-shirt, pencils, stickers, bag, letter from the fairy, etc... She was over the moon. [She'd written to say this was the first chapter book she'd ever read in a very sweet little letter full of punctuation/ spelling errors I let go - I wrote to them afterward and thanked them for encouraging her].

Cartoons: encourage your DC to make a cartoon and fill in speech bubbles.

Keep a diary: Admittedly this may be more popular with girls - but buy a nice notebook & pen and encourage them to write stories/ poems/ journal.

With maths - take an inventory. Does your DS know his times tables to x 12 - I mean really know them if you turned to him right now and said what is 8 x 7 could he answer instantly and then if you fired at him what is 72 divided by 8 would he know it was 9. If he is not totally secure on that summer is a great chance to secure those skills and there are lots of free games on-line to use:

I'd start with Woodlands Junior School Maths Zone: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/ - just select multiplication or division.

Mumsnet advertised Maths Champs at some point - the games are laid out by age 5- 7 / 7 - 9/ 9 - 11 - which isn't ideal as the times tables are spread across all 3 - but the games are really good: www.mathschamps.co.uk/#home

There are a lot of games/ resources on multiplication dot com: www.multiplication.com/ - my DD1 liked Sketch's World and Ping Pong the Panda - but there's tons to choose from.

If your school belongs to My Maths there are tons of games on there - try snaky sums to improve multiplication skills (low stress - no issues if you get it wrong - but the game speeds up).

If you child likes a bit of stress - try Timez Attack (you can download a free version with 2 platforms - dungeon/ castle - which we found was fine for us). The programme will test your child and start from where they're at. You're cast as an ogre and run through the dungeon/ castle solving multiplication problems which are presented as traditional adding up - 3 x 4 is counted up 4/ 8/ 12 and then the vertical problem is presented and you type in 12. Every few of these a medium-sized ogre quizzes you on what you've been doing. And after so many 'levels' you are quizzed by a giant ogre. Things you get consistently wrong appear again on the next levels. There also is a division version. www.bigbrainz.com/

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For reading well I would advise that you just keep him reading over the summer. It doesn't necessarily have to be 'proper books' - magazines/ comic books are fine too. But encourage him to read to you a few times a week so that you're hearing how well he's sounding out words, discussing words you feel he might not understand and discussing the story (why do you think that character might be lying?/ who do you think stole that object? etc...).

Many libraries have activities - including awards for reading so many books over the summer - which may be fun for him to join. Get him to read a book before seeing the film this year. Cressida Cowell's How to Train your Dragon books are great - don't just watch the cartoons/ movies.

Read one book that is a childhood favourite with your son. DH has read The Hobbit and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen to our girls. I've read Pippi Longstockings & Charlotte's Web to them (a bit earlier - and admittedly a bit girly). But something like Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island or Kidnapped - are great stories and listening to you read and just absorbing the language/ discussing new vocabulary is really beneficial.

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Your son is doing o.k. - not great, but o.k. So it's up to you of course - you may feel strongly this is fine or you may feel he should be doing better (as you said Year 3 wasn't very productive) but during the summer holiday if you just do a little each day - 15 minutes reading/ 15 minutes maths computer games and maybe now and then sending a letter. We sacrifice a bit of tv watching for this kind of thing and do a bit while one or the other is having their bath in the evening - but otherwise enjoy our summer fully.

Thanks for all the info. Realised my typo (too many levels going round in my head!) and he is 3c for Reading and Maths. He basically didn't have a great couple of first years in school. 1. because of his young age and not really being ready for formal education. 2. As I have since found out that writing actually hurt him and he was being rushed through the cursive script when he couldn't even form his letters or numbers correctly. He has also only had 2 days off sick since he started school so absence isn't a factor. So this year I had hoped his progress would be accelerated to catch up on some of the lost ground. He hates reading and says it's boring even the Frank Lampard books or anything else he is interested in and it is a constant battle to get him to read but I do make him as he will not be aloud out if he doesn't! The school are signed up to Sum Dog so will use that over the summer and last summer he had to write a diary most days which did help and will do the same this summer.(along with the tantrums!) He does suffer from low confidence and self esteem in his class as there are quite a lot of high achievers but this has got better this year. Unfortunately he is not a very determined child and gets frustrated when he can't do something or finds it difficult. Just trying to find a balance of helping him progress and still enjoying 'non school' time and doing what he does enjoy and not having a constant battle of me nagging and him stropping! Just concerned he may end up in the bottom sets when he goes to secondary school where I know some of the more disruptive behaviour can be and he is easily distracted and may be drawn to those boys. Thanks for all the websites as will have a look for ideas.

My son was the same levels as yours at the end of yr 4. I employed a TA at the school for an hour a week to work on his writing and we also went through the Apples and pears scheme for his spelling. He is now finishing Yr6, and although we haven't had his Sats back yet, he was on track for 5c in writing (beyond my wildest dreams 2 years ago) and a 5a in maths.

So do not despair, but you do need to be proactive in this. My son hated writing at home, but really enjoyed it with his tutor, so it may be something for you to consider.

Thanks derektheladyhampster great to hear a success story so it's not all doom and gloom! I had a tutor for English from Oct to May this year for 1 hr a week and was a struggle to get him to go but was fine most of the time when he got there. I am going to look for a maths tutor from Sept as he does enjoy maths. I know his writing will always be below due to his fine motor skills problem and am trying to get him to do Nessy touch typing program most days at home as they will allow him to type longer pieces of work at school.

Try a different tutor for Literacy, He'll click with one. My DS seems to have forgotton how to hold a pen, which really doesn't help and his handwriting looks like a spider has danced over the paper. I also chose books with cartoon pictures in or graphic novels in order for him to start enjoying books again. Wimpy kid, Tom Gates and a series of graphic novels by scholastic, The bone books, went down well.

He is now reading the Cherub books (no pictures) albeit quite slowly

My son got pretty much the same levels, but I think it's a very good school with high expections so my son isn't doing very well compared to the majority of his cohort which is demorilizing for him I think.

His writing lets him down and according to his end of year report, his punctuation and grammer holds back any level he might achieve.
sooooo I have asked him to keep a diary over the summer, starting from 2 days ago just to keep him writing...I know that otherwise he will go the entire 6 weeks without even picking up a pen....I want him to feel free to write what he likes and he's actually enjoying it so far....but then how will this help improve his writing/punctuation? Or should this be separate? I've just read what he's written and he's spelt things like "we've" as "weave"....I dont' want to correct him and I'm glad he's writing but I want to direct as well......x

Thanks bubblebath1, my sons school sounds very similar to yours with high standards and he is in a very intelligent class so he feels a failure compared to his peers. Just worries me the school have already written him off as the 10% that won't make the national average as controversial as it sounds. Will arrange a meeting with his teacher next week to see if any interventions are in place for next yr and will also persevere with writing and maths in the holls.