Y2 achieving teacher’s low expectations

[Hotcrosscakes]

In Y1, my DS was very good at writing - content, structure, punctuation, exciting language... the lot (except poor handwriting).

At Nov parents evening in Y2, I was not overly impressed with the work I saw in his English book. Instead of mentioning directly (my bad!), I asked the teacher if he was on track to get ‘exceeding expectations’ again this year. She confirmed he was, but I felt she was slightly wrong-footed by the question and almost guessed the answer.

His report card in Dec had his year end target at ‘achieving expectations’ and when I queried, she said he was downgraded at moderation and needed to concentrate on handwriting (and when pushed also mentioned punctuation). For what it’s worth, I’d be very surprised / concerned if she took it to moderation as EE, as his current work is clearly not of that standard - and is worse than he was doing this time last year!!!

He recently did some writing for me at home and it was poor (compared with his work last year) - minimal punctuation, no wow words etc.

So - my concern is that the teacher thinks this is what he is capable of - and is probably praising him for this level of work rather than pushing him to what he is capable of.

So...

Should I raise it again with the teacher now or leave to Feb parent teacher conference?

Should I show her his books from last year to explain - or would a teacher find that annoying and patronising?

What can I do with him at home to help get him back on track?

Any thoughts please????

[Ginmummy1]

It's good news that your DS can see the difference for himself: this sounds like a great motivator. Good luck to you both - let us know how it goes, if you remember!

[Norestformrz]

As I said Bubblesbuddy schools are free to make up their own assessments for Y1,3,4 and 5 but in Y2 and Y6 they must use the National Curriculum assessment and terms. The official term in Y2 and Y6 is working at greater depth within the expected standard

[BubblesBuddy]

It must confuse parents though when the terminology changes for Y2 and Y6! I was just wondering why so many people refer to it as EE.

[Hotcrosscakes]

Yes it is a bit confusing. Our teachers refer to it a EE when talking to parents (across the board) but I noticed on maths ‘checkpoints’ they called extra questions ‘greater depth’.

[Norestformrz]

Basically there isn't EE or GD in years 1,3,4 or 5 whatever schools tell parents.

[user789653241]

Maths is quite easy to determine GD, there are set examples of what they should be able to do.

www.ncetm.org.uk/public/files/25627338/Mastery_Assessment_Yr2_Low_Res.pdf

[brilliotic]

Whereas schools are obliged to use the prescribed terminology and assessment criteria in Y2 and Y6, they can always choose to ALSO use their own internal terminology and criteria. So they can give the same terminology in Y2 as in Y1, and then ALSO state what that means (where the child is at) in terms of SATS/national expectations.

So a child in Y2 might get an internal result of EE but will also always have to be told if they're working at expected standard/at greater depth within expected, according to NC. The two need not necessarily 'match' as school internal assessments might be completely different; though a school would have to be a bit unusual to tell parents 'Well according to our internal assessment criteria your child is exceeding, but in SATS terms their abilities translate to 'working within' (or vice versa).

I don't know which is more confusing - to have different terminology in different years, or to have the same terminology throughout but then two sets of assessment results in Y2 and Y6. Most straightforward would perhaps be if schools used the same terminology as prescribed for Y2 and Y6 in other years as well.

[Norestformrz]

These are standards for Greater Depth

[Greensleeves]

Primary schools don't use Exceeds Expectations. That's Hogwarts you're thinking of

[user789653241]

I think some school use them. Our school did. It seems to be changing every year how to grade children.
I think only year group needs to use national standard term is YR2 and YR6.

[Norestformrz]

The National terminology hasn't changed since levels were scrapped.

[Hotcrosscakes]

GinMummy - you asked for an update - so here it goes...

We had parents evening in Feb and the work in his workbooks looked massively better to me. Much better vocabulary, presentation and grammar. Teacher confirmed he was now towards the top end of AE. The main thing they said needed to improve now was his presentation.

Continued to do 2 - 5 mins work with him each morning - sometimes handwriting, sometimes sentences, spelling etc. Just random things from my mind or internet. He also LOVES reading and has great vocabulary - so no need to push on that. I also keep encouraging him to check, check and check his work!

Anyway, report cards at the end of term the other day - his year end target is now EE, and is showing as on target to meet that - albeit he stil gets extra handwriting support.

So - thanks all for your help! Even if he doesn’t end the year on EE, I’m happy that the work he is doing now has progressed since last year and is (usually) the best he can do!

Smiles all round.

[LetItGoToRuin]

What a great update! Well done to him and to you!