New national curriculum levels???

[BlotOnTheLandscape]

I thought that levels and national expectations had gone in the new curriculum?

We had parents evening tonight and the first thing we were shown was the 'individual learning plan' which all children have, complete with the 'national expected level' for the year group and where they expect children to be at the end of the year.

I thought this had all gone with the new curriculum?

Apparently the e is indeed exceeding, I emailed the school.

There are sample SAT test papers available for 2016

My worry about using emerging, meeting, exceeding without any sub categories is that they are very broad. With nc levels you would know that a child is just within a level, sec

Sorry I meant to say securely in a level or nearly exceeding. I imagine there is quite a big difference between a 2c and a 2a but I guess both would come under meeting expectations. Also if I was told my child was emerging or exceeding again I would want to drill down to a more detailed level exceeding could be anything between a bit higher than average to G&T

At the DCs school we got their level and what year groups work they were doing so that's a clue about whether they are just exceeding or just falling short or way above or below expectations.

So by when do they need something in place? I don't see how the school can be tracking progress at all at the moment with nothing there.

DD2 has just started Yr 7 and is being assessed against 'old' style levels. They make sense - assessing her against GCSE criteria at this stage would be just stupid.

Teacher produced a sheet with ds (Y3) current NC levels and then there were explanations for each subject of what he needs to achieve before he reaches the next sub level (this sub level entered in brackets).

When I asked the teacher about the NC levels being scrapped she explained that the school were still using them as a point of reference.

I'm completely flummoxed.

As i've got a list of work ds needs to demonstrate before he reaches the next sub level, I will use this as a guide to assess him at home.

And not boasting, I was told that ds was working at expected levels. He's just entered Y3. He is currently working at level 3 in Math, 3 Reading, 2A writing. So at the school he attends this is the expected level

Ours are entering, developing and secure for every year group and the expected aver age will be the secure category rather than the middle developing category. V confusing after nc levels and apparently these are more rigorous with more rigorous statements to compare against.

Also using the Sheffield system although nowhere near Sheffield! V odd that there is no standardisee gov directive on it. How will ousted judge school to school - hard to get my head round it all.

I'm a governor, feel sorry for all our hard working teachers having to incorporate all this and change paperwork etc. APP and raise etc worked so well, why change it all?

In Somerset they are trying to come up with a county wide system but getting everyone to agree is a nightmare (more than 100 primary heads). By the time they do it the schools will all have their own.

Ofsted not ousted, though I'm sure many would love them ousted...

sunnyrose I think there are going to be a lot of confused parents and bemused governors.

How can below/ exceeding capture the huge differences between being a little below expectations and child with SEN, or one who is a shade above average and a Ruth Lawrence type?

Seems very woolly.

I think you simply move up to the next level. So a child who is working a couple of years ahead would be assessed on the levels for that age.

I think. But may be wrong!

Can't think how us it any different to Lc (below) or La (exceeding) expectations?

I was assuming that a year 3 could only be assessed as above year 3 expectations but if they can be on year 4 or 5 that makes sense MRZ.

Are schools meant to have something in place by now then?

No they could be assessed as secure standard 4 or below standard 5 etc ... The assessment is about the individually child

That sounds quite sensible and I can see that in theory it is less confusing than the old system as you can relate to year groups.
Maybe not ideal for a child who is behind as it will make it clearer they are e.g. in year 4 but only working at year 2 level.

The problem remains though that individual schools can all have different systems and if they don't explain them well, parents can't even go elsewhere for information.

So if a child is in year 3 but working to year 4 standard in maths, do the school just report back to parents as working above year group standard? As parents of children brighter than average we want to know that our children are being fully challenged. Our school has said that children are no longer allowed to be given work above their year, but the teachers are expected to give them more in-depth work, I.e. Number puzzles etc. Also homework and spellings are the same now for all the class, which is ridiculous! In this Country we have a vast difference in parenting which naturally effects a child's ability at school, so I don't understand why this new curriculum seems to be putting all children in the same box!

It's up to the school but we would report it as emerging 4 or secure 4 etc

debskent I think that is a school decision, the top set maths in my DCs year are doing work from the two years above their own years.
The year 6 top set have teachers come in from the local high school to teach some maths lessons.

Can anyone explain how progress will be measured under the new system. For example if a child got level 3s in all their year 2 sats would they now be expected to be exceeding in their year 6 sats?

The whole thing is RIDICULOUS. Debskent's situation where they all get the same spellings and homework regardless of where they are at and what they can do. The idea that it's up to individual schools to come up with their own ways of assessing. What a complete waste of headteacher time when this could be done at a higher level and maybe a little adaptation allowed if schools need a degree of autonomy.

I am afraid that this year at least will be fine in good, well-managed schools and a disaster in those that are not so good.