Year 6 report disappointment

[HelplessProcrastinator]

My DD came home so disappointed in her year 6 report today. As expected in attainment for every subject and B for effort in most things including the 3 core subjects. I think she has done really well with two parents working through lock downs and a late August birthday. She was behind in English and reading but had closed the gap due to sheer hard graft on her part. The written part of the report was absolutely glowing about her effort and improvement but effort grades don’t reflect that. Any ideas on how to boost her self esteem before the move to secondary?

B for effort is really shitty on their part, especially if she's the youngest in the year and has caught up.

You could always do what I did with one of my dc's reports. I tore it into shreds and threw it away.

Our school don't grade things like that, is it a state school?

I've never let my DC read their reports, just told them they're doing well and we're proud of them. Can you just say that the teacher doesn't know them as well as you and you know how hard she has worked and would award her an A+ - then do a special treat/trip/meal as a reward for the sheer grit she's shown in getting through this academic year?

I don't set a lot in store by grades and focus much more on whether my DC have been kind and done their best. Just big those things up too?

Pick out one of the best phrases, make a motivational style graphic of it (try Canva), print, frame, put on her bedside table. Along with flowers/chocolates and a well done card.

She read the report on the way home so I had no control over that. I think she was expecting better and was excited. She a good girl and tries to please. I think she is overlooked in school as she isn’t the top 2-3 academically but isn’t a problem either. She has little if any help with reading and spelling that have been a massive challenge (glue ear and poor eyesight). I will certainly be making a huge fuss of her. I hope she gets a chance to shine a bit in secondary.

It's a bit hard to judge without the school's description behind their effort grades. Our effort scale is 1 to 10, but school puts a proviso on 9/10 that this represents extraordinary engagement and to make sure their work is balanced alongside other interests. 7 = highly engaged, 6 = meeting expectations. Some teachers also have reputations for being far more generous with effort grades than others.

So it depends whether most kids are given B or C for effort at your school and A is a rare occurrence, or whether most kids are given As or Bs. Most schools I know give numbers rather than grades for effort to avoid the presumptions that attach to A/B/Cs etc. Hopefully your daughter will still feel pleased and motivated by her report.

Sorry to hear this. I thought glue ear was treatable?
Was she given special compensation for her “disadvantages”

lop124 She isn’t pleased and motivated by her report which is why I posted. It’s parents evening next week so I will try and get some context from the teacher. Whenever I try and get feedback on what more DD can be doing to improve I get a vague ‘she’s doing fine’. They don’t seem that bothered about her.

In my experience they get a lot more opportunities to shine in senior school. She should have a more varied curriculum, clubs/ activities etc.. Joining some clubs will help boost her self esteem. For her reading and spelling there might well be clubs that are designed to help with these.

My ds year 6 report last year was also disappointing (his primary school never really "got" him). His year 7 report however is glowing!! He's had a fantastic first year at senior school - it just suits him so much better than primary.

tell her to look forward not backwards.

SummasMumma The glue ear resolved in year1/2 but she always struggled with spelling and it felt like she had missed some building blocks with reading. She has made great leaps with both in the last 15 months. Reading huge amounts in lockdown 1 helped.

It sounds as though your daughter is doing really well, HopelessProcrastinator. Just stress that to her.

That's a nice attitude from you, OP. I tutor overseas children. Today an 8 year old girl told me she had got in the 90s in all her end of year exams. She was in the top 5 in the class for everything. Her mother is apparently very angry with her because of her terrible exam results and is threatening to remove her from the school.

I would just tell you you are pleased with what she has achieved and just move on. It has been a hard year for everyone. Don t dwell on it.

This year, my school reported on attainment in terms of ‘ready to progress’. We used to colour code attainment but have done away with it to avoid situations like the one you describe. Reporting to parents is different to reporting to the next teacher and I believe should only be positive. Saying what the next steps are instead of saying what the child can’t do is far better for their self esteem.
I always write reports keeping in mind that the child may read it.

Sounds to me that she's doing ok, is no trouble and is kind of overlooked. Similar happened to a friend of DD's (except she'd apparently not made the progress she should - still didn't notice her). Secondary wasn't a lot better but she's just graduated with a First. As another poster said I'd check what the criteria mean and then ask more direct and searching questions.

It depends on the B whether it's fair for her to be disappointed or not.
If it's B out of A, B, C and almost everyone gets an A, or B out of A-E and very few get an A and most get a C.

The issue you have is without asking round the others in her form, you may know whether it's A-C or A-E, but it's up to the individual teacher how they interpret the levels. I remember dc being upset with a B once then finding most people got a C-D which changed it a bit. Most other teachers gave B to the majority, a fair number got A and C or below was almost never.

On the glue ear, do keep an eye on it. Ds had glue ear badly. Yes it is treatable, but it's not easy or permanent. Ds had grommets 3 times, last time when he was 6yo, but he was 12yo before they signed him off from ENT, and he still gets blocked ears during the winter a couple of years later.

I would just ignore effort marks. School have no idea how much effort dc put in at home for homework etc. It's a pointless and irrelevant measure.
My dc1 loves to read and is 3yrs ahead. She outs effort into it timewise but it is no effort.
Dc2 struggles more and will need to put more effort in to achieve the same.

It's only really relevant if a dc is doing badly only because they arent bothering. But most could do better with more effort.
I would expect less effort will have been put in in primary y6 this year as there are no sats - unless there is teacher assessed?
Certainly with no y4 times tables they dont seem to have practised

Two things stand out for me:

Spelling - there could be an underlying learning difficulty particularly if you and she feel she is working really hard, but school don't seem to feel the same. Both my DD and I had glue ear, both poor speakers, both labelled at primary school as not seeming to want to push for that too effort despite us feeling we worked hard - both have visual processing disorders. Once adjustments were made both got top grades.

Secondary v. Primary school - it was my constant gripe at primary that if you weren't the fastest runner or the best speller you were never really valued. This is turned on it's head a secondary spelling is barely acknowledged, yes being sporty is valued, but so is being a great actor, singer, history buff, etc.

This is a great moment for her moving to somewhere who values more than just the ability to spell. Encourage her to try as many new things as possible. My DD had always enjoyed singing, dancing and acting, but in primary this was of no particular value. Suddenly at secondary she blossomed as there were heads of department who really valued what she had to offer. They encouraged and nurtured her to great effect.

Sorry Spell correct both DD and I were and still are poor spellers - struggle to proof read as see what we meant to put.

Early last year I was seriously considering a private assessment for dyslexia but the waits were very long. Since then DD has really turned things around with reading and spelling. I guess she knows what progress she has made and was surprised this wasn't acknowledged in her efforts grades. Grades are A-C in her school.

Moving forwards we are proud of her good attitude and willingness to learn and she is really excited about secondary. She could have gone to a large, extremely popular school with high attainment but she has chosen our small local school with a diverse catchment and big extra curricular offer. I think it is the right decision for her. My older daughter has absolutely blossomed at secondary and I hope DD2 has the same experience.

Some helpful comments above, much appreciated.