Exceeding in Reception, Expected in Y1

[Heckythump1]

My DD is just finishing Y1, got her end of year report to day and she is working at the expected level for Maths and English, but last year in Reception she was exceeding in all areas.

Should I be concerned? Does this mean she hasn't made enough progress? My gut feeling is, it isn't an issue, but I'm not sure!

We also have Parents' Evening next week, is there anything I should ask her teacher about this?

Many thanks!

I thought I remembered reading somewhere that exceeding is no longer being used as a grade? I might be wrong though.

Nah, no need to be concerned. In my experience, exceeding in reception is very different to being exceeding in year 1.

You're entering the game now where teachers try to undo inflated grades. It's all perception at the end of the day.

She's fine. You don't want her flying ahead otherwise boredom and behaviour can become an issue. There's also the chance that maturity can play a part as she gets older and gaps open up between older and younger children in the year. She's doing grand.

Nope. Learning isn’t linear. Kids go through sudden leap but find some things more difficult.

Bit rude to assume reception teacher inflated grades...

However I'm a reception teacher and exceeding is no longer used as a judgement. Throughout school it is "greater depth" rather that exceeding.

Also the old reception ELGs and Year 1 objectives didn't follow in a linear pattern last year (some if the ELGs were harder than year 1 expectations for the start of term etc).

Your daughter is working where she should be.. she's fine. Is she happy? Has friends?

Don't overthink.

The curriculums are different and no one thought that it might help to actually align them- it’s not unusual to see a bit of confusion in reception to year one. Some schools stop a lot of learning through play in year one (and wonder why the 5 year olds don’t learn as well).

I really wouldn’t worry OP. Kids adapt to different targets at different rates and sometimes the way they ‘assess’ doesn’t reflect what she is actually capable of. She is really little still!
If it’s any consolation, I moved schools in year 6. The ex head teacher spitefully said to my mum ‘she will probably be in the special needs group there’. Well I went on to get 10 A*s at GCSE, a first class degree and a PHD. We still giggle at that. So I really wouldn’t worry 🤣 your child’s future isn’t determined by what someone says about her in Early Years. As long as she is enjoying school and learning that’s the main thing.

I think its a good question for parents evening, otherwise its difficult to know what to ask the teacher.

My DD is in year 1. In her Reception report last year, they didn't use 'exceeding' at all, so it might be a change for all.

Reception is really just nursery by another name so I wouldn't put too much stock in her reception report. Working at the expected level is great and as a previous poster said,, she'll probably go up and down through the years as she matures. No need to worry.

Thanks all. as I said I'm not concerned although I'm starting to think being 'exceeding in all areas' in Reception, piles on the pressure a bit!

She absolutely loves school and has a really lovely circle of friends.... everything else is a bonus! I know she's made amazing progress this year :)

My oldest was exceeding all areas in reception. Year 1 was all over the place - working towards maths in the first term (which doesn't make sense if she'd already exceeded reception by meeting Y1 targets, as the school explained it..) She finished Y1 exceeding (greater depth) in some but not all areas. Similar uneven progress ever since (she's currently in year 3).
My youngest finished reception meeting expectations except for writing which was exceeding; and is now exceeding at the end of Y1 in all areas except writing...
It's taken me years to understand that the reported grades are about evidence for very specific targets - and in our school's case, literally based on the test scores each term apart from writing - and so not really an indication of how able or secure your child is in knowledge. They can be a great writer who forgets random capital letters, for instance, or decent at maths but panicky on tests, which will improve with time. Plus progress is not linear and evenly-plotted.

Like pp said our reception last year was only met or not met.
To exceed in all 17 is pretty rare like under 5%.
But often it is also the oldest in the yeargroup.
I have no idea how my y1 will do this year. Im thinking
Reading not met - met (so predict met)
Writing met -exceeding (predict met)
Maths met -exceeding (predict met)
Our school dont give exceeding easily. And although they said earlier in the year that dc maths was good imo she's not great with numbers above 20. (But is very fkuent with say number bonds).
Her writing is very neat but spelling and content not amazing. And reading only band 5-6 so honestly thats probably not met and isnt that fluent.
My eldest is y5 and though i thought was very.bright before reception age she has only every exceeded in reading.
It cant help but be affected by the cohort they are in/whole school

Why would you be concerned that she's working at expected level 🙄

This.

I'm not concerned that she's at expected level... I was wondering if I should be concerned that she was exceeding last year but expected this year... as in has she not made 'enough' progress.
But I now know that Reception and Year 1 are assessed completely differently and the two don't marry up.
I also know she's made absolutely heaps of progress this year and i'm hugely proud of her!

So long as she's happy and is at least at an expected level, I wouldn't worry. It is worth mentioning to the teacher though, just in case it's anything specific. I have one child in my class who was GD (greater depth/exceeding) in maths in Reception and expected in everything else, she is now expected in maths and GD in everything else. I would imagine it's not uncommon - it's only really a worry if they're not meeting the expected standard.

I'm going against the grain here, I wouldn't panic but I would be raising with Y2 teacher. We had this with my son. I think the school initially thought I was a bit of a tiger Mum, but they do progress tests each year and when I asked for the scores there was a noticeable drop in his English. He went on to be diagnosed with dyslexia.

So while I wouldn't panic I also wouldn't go along with the "as long as they are happy", because particularly in children who are bright and ND they can actually be learning to cope rather than fulfilling their full potential.

It is a shame if your school just base their result on test scores. Fine to use them but there should also be an element of teacher judgement. Some kids underperform in a test situation.

I'd be bothered. One year's results can form the next year's baseline. So a teacher takes in a child with "at expected" and is happy if they then make expected progress, coming out "at expected" the next year (caveat, not all teachers).

This was what happened to my DD for part of year 1. She had missed a term of reception because of lockdown, so I was fine with her getting "at expected" in reception. After the second lockdown and a few weeks at school in year 1, we had parents evening and was told she's working at the expected level in year 1 and her teachers were fine with that and saw her as an average kid. It was only because we'd had to home school during lockdown that we questioned what she'd need to be doing to get "greater depth", at least in maths, as she'd done all of the different levels of maths at home. It turned out she was coasting and putting in close to no effort at school, but her teachers didn't know to expect more of her. That was sorted between us and she's on a different trajectory as a result. It makes me wonder whether unchallenged low expectations are holding other children back.

It's the reading/writing that concerns me, she is a 'free reader' having finished RWI, and her writing is incredible. Her spelling is really good, she gets 9 or 10 out of 10 every week on the spelling tests and she's got the most beautiful joined up handwriting. Her report says how wonderful and imaginative her writing is. I just wonder what more she needs to do to get greater depth!
I guess that's what I need to ask at parents' evening!

To be exceeding at writing in Y1 she needs to be using a wide variety of conjunctions, using the correct tense, correctly using capital letters/full stops, and have the correct letter formation. If you have any pictures of her work, I'd be happy to look at it from a Y1 teacher's perspective.

Seriously, stop.

We all hear you - you have a child you think is very clever. But education is a long game, and you won't make her even cleverer by getting her grades increased in year 1.

Honestly from what you’ve just said in your post just now you really don’t have any reason to be concerned. She eats freely, is imaginative, spells correctly, writes well, great handwriting….seriously why are you concerned?

The expectations are higher of course. She can’t demonstrate that she understands full stops by writing a couple of short sentences like she could in reception, she now has to include a full stop, capital letter, a connective and an adjective in ten sentences of writing. More to take in, more to apply, not goi)g to fly through quite so quickly.

If she’s not demonstrating boredom or decline of behaviour, then likely she is doing brilliantly with the level of challenge she is getting and is enjoying her learning. Don’t squash that by being concerned when she’s already doing bloody well by the sounds of things.

The curriculums are not the same. I’ve just finished my reception reports and concluded their profiles. I did not give out the ELG+ lightly. Reception is the foundations to what happens next, the level of pace in y1 starts to increase, and we also don’t say “exceeding” anymore, but when I say that the ELG+ is secure, they have accomplished everything in that category and have a solid foundation for the next step, which is harder.