Drop in 'progress' level already

[rainydogday]

Year 6 DD. At end of last school year 5, was at expected level and attained age related expectation (ie average) for reading and writing. Now at the Autumn term report it says she is now at less progress than expected for writing and they predict that she will not achieve ARE( age related expectation) by the end of year 6. It is a different teacher and they had a bad offsted last year, but surely in 6 weeks she won’t have dropped so much?! She is a bookworm and loves English but we were really surprised by this report. We have parents evening soon so they may help. Do you think it’s stricter marking by different teacher? Just seems to be so inconsistent! Also any tips to help with year 6 Writing!? Thanks

This is the National Curriculum for English and you will see the Year 5 and Year 6 curriculum is all in one. If the school hasn't identified the criteria for expected standard at year 5 really clearly it can lead to problems. In years 3 - 5 we assess against the statements in the National Curriculum, but then This is what they year 6 teachers have to evidence for their teacher assessments.

There could be various reasons for the difference in information you are getting between year groups, but being a bookworm and loving English doesn't always mean a child is going to evidence ALL the criteria from the assessment framework and that's what is required to reached "Expected". Or the teacher could be using those criteria and just not have taught some of the content yet and so can't say they are "Year 6 Expected". How experienced is the Year 6 teacher? Normally the year six staff are really accurate on assessment (they have to be working in that year group, especially when moderation takes place) so I'd be meeting with them to discuss the data you've been given and ask the questions you've raised here. You could ask which areas of writing are preventing her from being at expected? It could be spelling, or some aspect of grammar, which you can do some additional input on once you know the details.

Thank you so much for reply, it’s really helpful. The current year 6 teacher is very experienced (had of ks2) but last year was a newly qualified teacher. She was very good but it all just seems s little strange. Do you know why or how they can predict now that she won’t be ARE at the end of year 6? Makes me think she must be pretty off the mark if they don’t think we can catch up? Or do you think it’s marking down so they look like they have made massive improvements? Does this really go on in schools?! Also how on earth do I help with English writing at home? I imagine DD not liking me to ask her to write a story st home. Like I said she likes reading, also audio books, etc. We do extra Home Maths but that seems easier to ‘practise’ with than English writing does! Any tips gratefully received!

The progress will be measured compared to the End of KS1 results (year 2), so no real benefit for teacher marketing her down now. If you want fuller details of how progress is measured Primary Accountability shows how this year's was calculated, but be aware the figures changed from 2016 so there is no guarantee it will be the same in 2018.

It does sound more like an issue with the Y5 teacher's judgements. To predict whether the child will reach the magic 100 in tests or expected standard we look at classwork, internal tests and assessments, evidence in their books from last year and identify how many gaps in the assessment criteria there are. Then we reflect on the child and how quickly they master new learning, maturity of the writing and how they are likely to perform under test conditions.

To know how to help writing you need really precise information about what criteria your daughter is missing. To help you won't need to ask her to just write stories, you will need to work on the key issues. Your best bet is to speak to the teacher, they won't mind and will be happy that you want to do some input at home (and that you want it to be the right input).

Last heard of some of our parents used these CGP books and others used Rising Stars Achieve 100. I didn't look closely at either, so I can't recommend one.