School report - what could these target codes mean?

[FrayedHem]

Ds2 in Yr5, just got school report and won't have a chance to ask until the new school year. Not had parents evening but have no concerns it's just slightly bugging me.

It has for predictions/Y6 targets
Read: AS
Write: GDS
Maths: AS
Science: AS

These are in a column next to his KS1 results. Writing is something he struggles with.

The accompanying letter says the school has introduced Assertive Mentoring but there are no codes matching the AS or GDS.

Any ideas?

My ds' school had not so proportional average score for writing compared to other scores in 2016 sats results. Other scores are not so great, but writing was above national average. Does that mean school is inflating the score? Is that going to be a major concern?

Is handwriting graded by Teacher Assessment rather than within the SATs? School have said there are extra marks available for handwriting which I took to mean as part of the actual SATs they sit. It's more the handwriting than the content of his written work that is a problem for DS2 - his work is not as neat as some of his classmates (this is his own assessment, not mine, I don't prowl around the classroom).

There 2016 SAT results were well below national average (0% KS1, 36% KS2) and they were carpeted by Ofsted for wildly over-inflated predictions for pupils' progress, so I'd hope they will be heavily moderated for the next couple of years. Though it's not my decision obviously!

This is a Y5 child! He is so far off doing Sats, the school will not know if they are to be moderated or not in 2 years time. They should be much more concerned about improving progress and reporting progress to parents. What happens with the ins and outs of Y6 Sats will be of less concern at the moment (other than the Y6 children) except that all children will be expected to make good progress. In addition if Ofsted have criticised lack of progress, a number of children will need to catch up - very quickly. Therefore I really do question a school predicting Sats outcomes for a child in Y5. There really are more important things to do!

I would be interested to know if the school has explained anything to parents about Assertive Mentoring and what is the point of giving "information" to parents if no-one really understands it? In the circumstances, and given the need to improve progress, they should have had a parents evening, or at least have one planned fairly soon next term.

No, handwriting is only assessed as part of the writing Teacher assessment, there isn't ( currently!) a writing test so this is the only writing assessment made.
The assessment framework says
Where pupils are physically able to write and meet all of the statements except for being able to produce legible handwriting, they may be awarded the ‘expected standard’ but cannot be awarded the ‘greater depth’ standard. This refers to the final statements within ‘Working towards’and ‘Working at the expected standard’

so, unless there is a physical reason why your child can't write, the "highest" they can achieve-regardless of the quality of the content-is Expected level.

To be fair, I know there's a really good chance I won't be moderated next year, as I know I'm going to be moderated this year... but I didn't realise y5 so fair enough things could be very different then.

Agree with spanieleyes RE writing although who knows what we'll be doing next year. For this years y6 they need fluid joined handwriting to get working above. However this is not a test - it is based on their writing in class.

If writing results are significantly above readings results I'd be questioning it to be honest. I'm absolutely not saying it is always the case but writing is easy to inflate (not always intentionally - there are lots of misunderstandings about what is 'independent writing' and what is not)

Moderation is just for Sats teacher assessments. It is designed to ensure consistency. In my area about 25% of schools had Sats moderated. It appears to be a 4 year cycle. We have found schools that were moderated did less well than similar schools that were not. Teachers were very aware that they needed to be accurate when assessing work knowing their judgements would be moderated.

The Ofsted inspection has possibly found that teacher assessment was too generous throughout the school, culminating in poor Sats results. (The Sats may also have been externally moderated of course). Basically this is the fault of the Head and SLT. This may be why the school has purchased Assertive Mentoring which is all about improving progress and accurate assessment. However, if teachers are not trained to make accurate judgements and cross check with other teachers, this will not be a quick fix. They certainly have their work cut out to improve the KS1 children throughout KS2. In fact, assuming the children were not all at very low attainment levels on entering YR, the KS1 results are dire!

It also begs the question as to what assessment and progress tracking were they doing before Assertive Mentoring was purchased? Many LAs have offered advice on this following the introduction of the new curriculum and schools that were using systems such as Target Tracker continued to use the updated version for the new curriculum. Your school seems to have stuck its head in the sand!

It would also worry me that the MAT, or LA, has not mentored this school or given them a "health check". My LA through its Learning Trust does this for all schools and then uses a traffic light system to put in extra advice and monitoring for "red" and "Amber" schools. It sharpens them up before Ofsted and requires evidence of improvement. I hope your school is not just relying on an off the shelf quick fix - Assertive Mentoring.

Bojoro Looking at the report, the SATs predictions seem to be because he is in yr5 as all other years have a predicted column for the next academic year. I think the lack of SATs codes is an oversight as there is a clear key guide for the school's own system - Stage then emerging, developing, secure, next stage ready.

I'm going to ask in the new year about parents evening and hopefully it's just been because of half the classes having temporary teachers. DS2's class teacher is really active and responsive on the class dojo system, but I don't want to bother him about this stuff as I'm not worried, just curious iykwim.

There is a covering letter explaining they are now using Assertive Mentoring and these reports will come out half-termly to track progress and set targets. So the predictions are a small part of it. Another criticism was not tracking progress across the years - I had no idea of DS2's KS1 SATs until I got the report yesterday. So I think they are trying to give parents more information than previously.

Thanks spanieleyes. I'll ask DS2's teacher in the new year about the handwriting. DS2 has a tendency to be overly-critical of himself so his handwriting may not be as weak as he leads me to believe. From what I've seen it's legible and consistent but at home he favours maths calculations over writing stories, so I haven't seen a huge amount recently.

BetweenTwoLungs thanks for the extra info. I've no idea when the school was last moderated, but I could well believe it was this year due to the 0% for KS1.

bojorojo apparently they were using "gut-feeling" for predicting results (we were told this at a meeting). I've discussed this school on here recently under a n/c but yes there were layers of problems from the top down. This system is part of their improvement plan and they are apparently already seeing progress....

The school is not moderated. It is the teacher assessments for SARS that are moderated. As I said, the Mat or LA should review the quality of the school and be offering ongoing advice if the school had a poor Ofsted.

Gut feeling is a waste of time. These days everything must be evidence based and if they have not tracked progress throughout a child's attendance at the school they are starting from a very low point. With temporary teachers I would doubt very much that progress of the children is now excellent. It is extremely difficult to embed excellent practice in staff that are not permanently attached to the school, but not impossible. I don't believe Assertive Mentoring will be the answer to the problems and I am amazed the school is giving parents progress reports every 6 weeks or so. Schools do monitor progress about this often, but it is internal. Parents would get a summary of this twice a year. Plus one or two parents' evenings.

Also "next stage ready" is very odd terminology. Usually a term equivalent to "working in great depth" on a topic is used. There is an expectation of whole class teaching now so what happens to children who are "next stage ready"?

Sats .

I think I have been a bit mean re Assertive Mentoring. I can see it is used successfully elsewhere so I hope your school can introduce it successfully. Some schools do only see parents once a term and schools do teach in great depth even though it is described as "next stage ready". Hope it all works out!

This is the first of the progress reports we've had. They were also criticised for poor communication with parents (and telling parents their child was on target when they actually weren't) so it's probably part to appease parents and part evidence for Ofsted when they have their monitoring visits. A lot of parents have understandably lost faith, particularly the now Y3 parents after the KS1 SATs debacle.

DS2 is in one of the 2 classes unaffected by staff changes. His Y4 teacher is the only original teacher left in the school compared to a year ago and she is excellent, so I'm as confident as I can be that her assessments of him would give an accurate starting point. They have said they will be adding historical data to the reports but I guess this will be problematic on the gut-feel assessment!

They slightly set for math at the moment, DS2 goes into Yr6 and DS1 goes into Y5. Apparently it is a straight swap of 8 from each class which I think is weird but can't quite articulate why. DS2's teacher is very strong whereas the temp they had in Y6 was not so much, so they were possibly doing it to give some of the Y6's a much needed boost up. I agree the Next Stage Ready is weird terminology as surely they just keep moving on rather than stopping?

Apparently the new recruits are all very good and aware of the challenge they are taking on, so I'm quietly hopeful the school can pull itself up. But I do want a parents' evening some time in the new year.

Op, in your case, I would rather request a meeting with the teacher than wait for a parents' eve. All the rushed atmosphere and limited time of parents' eve isn't good time to talk in details, I think.

I've had to go a bit official on them recently due to DS1's SEN and statement so I'm trying to keep a low profile. I'm not concerned about DS2 at all, just a bit curious.

So Ofsted are monitoring! I see what you mean now.

They may now have carried out accurate assessments on previous work to put in place the data you mention. However, this could be tricky if children are not taught in their correct age group. Having said that, the most important thing is for the children to catch up and make much better progress. This is definitely what Assertive Mentoring is all about so hopefully they will be able to implement it. As you say, a big part of this is the teacher, the child and the parent meeting to review progress and set targets. The targets must be based on accurate assessment though or they are meaningless. From what I have read (and it is possible to find loads of explanations of how it is used in a whole variety of schools on the web) it seems that parents are very much involved. I think a lot of schools would find this a very time-consuming process and some schools are meeting parents 6 times a year. It does tick the parent information box but does more in that it actively encourages parents to be part of the learning process and really understand the curriculum. We know that children who are well supported at home do better than those who are not.

I think parents have lost faith for a very good reason. No-one wants to see an Ofsted report that says their child could and should have done better.

From what I know of the new curriculum, you are not allowed to teach maths from the curriculum of another year group. They are probably wrong to move your children into higher age groups because they almost certainly have missed the curriculum for their correct age group. So how can you possibly assess progress correctly? The curriculum has not been taught! This is the whole premise of an age related curriculum and expectations. The school should be fostering and teaching deeper understanding of the curriculum for their age, not moving them up. Even the very brightest do not get moved up. I would ask to see the curriculum for Y5 and ask how it has been taught if he is now being taught in year 6. Think of the curriculum as building blocks. You cannot put on the roof without the walls.

There is no need to keep quiet! You are only interested! It is actually what they want with Assertive Mentoring!

Your post has really got me thinking. DS2 comes across very able in Maths but this has been from watching YouTube and he's learnt an impressive party trick. But that's not going to help in the long-term. I'm thinking gaps in his curriculum knowledge are quite likely as the homework comes from his Yr5 teacher and DS2 needed help as he hadn't been taught some of it.

Not sure how to deal with it though. I'm wondering if I should get him assessed by a maths tutor as he'd love that and then I'd know for sure. We're also in a grammar county but tbh we are too far away from the nearest but he wants to sit the 11+ as that's his idea of fun.

There's space on the form for a parent signature but there's been no parental input beyond reading it. They have asked for parental support in reaching the targets but I don't actually have enough information on actually how to for 3/4 of DS2's. e.g. more breadth and consistency in literacy.

I'll mull it over the Christmas break but perhaps I do need to be more involved.

Thank you all, this has been very helpful.

"gaps in his curriculum knowledge are quite likely"

If you learn ahead using online/ you tube, textbooks/workbooks etc. on your own, it happens. We were told ds has gaps by YR1 teacher. Since then, we use paid website which follows NC to make sure it doesn't happen.
He is allowed to do whatever he fancies on other ones, but this one program, ds has to do it in order of year groups, so he started from reception work and he is now working on YR7 works.(He can't start working on YR8 until he finish all skills of YR7)

I meant the curricum gaps from the school's approach, which is moving the top 8 Yr5's into Yr6 maths as I think they are missing out on some stuff.

I'm happy for DS2 to follow his interest with maths where it takes him at home but it's the jumping ahead at school which doesn't seem right.

If 8 children are working above rest of yr5 children and sent to yr6, I don't think level of yr5 work is very high, maybe?

But then can't do yr5 homework doesn't make sense.
Your ds' school seems in the mess.

I don't know as it's a straight swap with 8 from the Yr6 class . Then there's another group in Yr6 the TA takes who are behind in maths. The school is indeed a mess!

The y5 maths curriculum is the same in every school! It is not a variable choice of topics from school to school. The difference is that children do work according to their ability within the topic that is taught to all. I am familiar with children doing 'hard, harder, hardest and herculean' tasks within the same topic. They very brightest children (we are grammar county with plenty of high achieving children) are given 'in depth' work which explores the topic to a much higher level - but it is still the topic! This can, at times, be really challenging for teachers because they do not always feel secure in their knowkedge. The way the curriculum is structured means that children really do need to understand the 'building blocks' before going into y6. Weaker Children may also be given revision boosters before a new topic. So if you are looking at factors in Y6, a lack of knowledge of times tables would be a problem! So tables are revised prior to the subject. They could also be pupil premium or SeN children.

Do look at the explanations other schools are giving on Assertive Mentoring. You will see what they should be doing regarding meetings and targets. As the school should record progress twice a term the idea is that parents and the child discuss what they should be aiming for during the next period of learning. I do think this will be difficult to implement with too many temporary teachers. Lots of initiatives work better with staff fully committed to the long term.

If their result was so low, were they being taught to the standard of any other state school though.
Most of dcs in YR5 may still be learning YR4 objectives in OP's school.

If the school had horrendous sats results, school maybe sending some children to yr6 to make sure that they get great results on sats to raise the average score? But if they are taught newer skills just to get better score but not to help them understand maths better, school is not doing a favour for children
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Anyway, I am quite surprised that you still expects school to do the right thing. If I have no choice of moving school, I would take my ds' education into my own hands, to make sure there are no gaps.

And I am also surprised that you are saying you don't want individual meeting with school, you just want normal parent' eve.

Anyways, sending group of 8 children to higher year group rather than differentiating within year group rings alarm bells for me..

I don't know if the current switch about with the Yr5/Yr6 is a permanent move as it started after a load of assessments after half-term and the Ofsted of Doom. The temporary Yr6 teacher was really struggling to control the class (lots of bringing the head in, sending children out to other classes and it was generally a bit of a riot..) and their Yr5 teacher was a lovely man but I don't think his teaching was quite as it should have been. So they may have been trying to bridge some gaps in the Yr6 cohort, rather than leap-frogging the Yr5s who had a really good Yr4 and have a solid Yr5 teacher. And as the Yr6's will be doing SATs in May, the pressure for better results is huge.
Obviously this is all pure speculation and I fully intend on finding out the longer term plan in the new year when there will be a permanent teacher for Yr6.

It's not that I expect the school to do the right thing, (though they are under Ofsted monitoring so they have very real pressure and expectations from up high), but I either accept what they tell me (on target for most/slightly ahead in maths) or get him assessed independently then tackle them. Experience tells me I need evidence in my hand before I start trying to tell them I don't they aren't doing their job properly.

DS1 & DS2 were not in KS1 when that pretty much collapsed and both benefited from a strong Yr4 teacher, so they have missed out on the absolute worst of the teaching that was going on. DS2 KS1 SATs results were good, DS1 wasn't at the school for Yr2 as we moved to this school in Yr3.

I've already said I'm going to look into the National Curriculum and try and work out what he should be covering, so rest assured I am not neglecting his education. He's happy and motivated to learn and loves school; he has performed well in the recent assessments, there's just a question mark hanging over their approach to maths at the moment.