Is it normal for progress reports to be so vague?

[elliejjtiny]

DS4 is 9 and in year 5. We've always been told he is "working towards expectations" which sounds very vague. He has an ehcp now and I thought at the first review last week I thought we would be given something more specific but we were just told moderate learning difficulties, working towards expectations. His reading age is 11 and his spelling age is 8.5. He has just become a free reader. He is working on the same maths worksheets that my older son was doing in year 1, although his teacher says "well, he's quite good at maths really". How am I supposed to choose the right secondary school for him if I don't have any concrete information. He didn't do year 2 sats because of covid so I haven't even got results from those.

There are 3 standards.
Working towards means not met age expectations.
Working at means met age standard, can get about 50% of all work correct.
Working above means can get 80%+ of all work correct.

You need a school with good pastoral care and sen experience, probably that does alternative options at gcse. Eg one with a farm and offers btecs too.

How am I supposed to choose the right secondary school for him if I don't have any concrete information.

Do you mean whether MS or SS is suitable? What did the EP (and SALT and OT if DS had them) assessment done as part of the EHCNA say?

That's not quite true.

For a child in Y5, there are four potential "gradings" if the school is copying the national assessments for primary, which most do:

Working Below: this means the child is pre-Key Stage. Basically, working at the expected standard for a Y2 child or under.

Working Towards: this means the child is higher than Y2 but not yet Y5 so they are working towards the expected standard for Y5. Schools should be breaking this down further for you as that's quite a large spread.

Working at the Expected Standard: this means a child is, broadly, where they should be for their age. There is no percentage linked with this so if a school is doing that then it's just something they have made up.

Working at Greater Depth within the Expected Standard: this means a child is, broadly, working to a higher standard than is expected for their age. Again, there is no percentage associated with this.

Thankyou. I had a look at the report from the ed psych and it's just a list of recommendations for interventions and targets. He has targets for the end of key stage 2 which include being able to recognise and write numbers 1-100, use scissors confidently and to have handwiting that other people can read. It doesn't say what the average child should be doing by the end of key stage 2 though.

No, it won't. Listing what the age-related expectations are for an 11 year old would only serve to heighten the parental anxiety about how far behind the child is. You could check the national curriculum to see what children will be taught and expected to do and/or look at the end of KS2 tests to see what they are expected to remember and apply.

Based on what you've listed, I'd say the ed psych is setting targets based, loosely, on Year 1 expectations.

You can Google age related expectations and find the information and plenty of examples. I wouldn’t expect those to be listed on a report for your son, especially when he’s not meeting them. They have given you the most useful information by giving you recommended interventions and targets.

You want to be choosing a supportive school with a decent SEN department rather than one that is highly pressured and over focused on the high achievers.

Based on the information you've given it sounds like he has some physical/motor difficulties and is weak in maths. Those targets are loosely year 1 level, yes. But he has a strong reading age and can spell. What is his independent writing like? Can he write sentences independently with basic punctuation and correct spelling?

Spelling age tests usually test spelling in isolation - not can they spell the word in context. My own son aces spelling tests but when he's free writing spells at a level well below age expectations for example. There is too much for him to do in one go