Dyslexic daughters school report - how can they say she's not behind?!

[Curlewwoohoo]

My daughter has just finished yr4 today. She's dyslexic, not severely, but it does impact things. Her school report is grand, it puts her at the expected level for reading, writing and maths. But, I know from the AR reading tests that she's at least a year behind on her reading. I've also had her school books home today and her spelling is bad, to the point it makes it hard to interpret her fabulous written work. She got 15 / 25 in the times tables tests. I don't really understand how school are telling me she's at the expected level! Anyone got any insight? School don't currently give her any additional support.

They definitely did do year 2 SATs. They were only optional this year for the first time.

Op, you should have received a sheet with her SATs results on when she finished Year 2.

If you haven't then ask for this at the beginning of next term.

It's a requirement for schools to report SATs results to parents.

We used Nessy for my older one but purely at home. I assume she would need 1 to 1 (or 1 to few) supervision and a quiet place and a computer to do it, and if she’s not “serious enough” to get funded for that, there are limits to what the school can do with 30 in a class.

At my school we use a program called Dyslexia Gold. I would recommend having a look and also suggest it to the school.

@Sherrystrull they weren't compulsory this year, I really don't think my daughter did them either I think they didn't do them after her cohort missed so much school during COVID lockdowns.

They definitely did them. I remember doing them with the children who've just finished Year 4.

Similar situation with my DS so we've actually decided to move him private which I know we're lucky to be able to afford (albeit not without lots of foregoing other things). He's gone under the radar for years in a disruptive class. Always great report cards but we just knew he wasn't where he should be. Started with private tutor who put his numeracy about a year behind and recommended a dyslexia assessment which we paid for privately. He is dyslexic but it doesn't impact his reading; it's a processing thing.
Still the school has said they can offer minimal support as his needs aren't as great as other kids. I don't want him to just fall under the radar for years so we're moving him to a school which is well known for supporting dyslexia.

I'm a Year 2 teacher and Sats were definitely taken for the year 4 cohort. Year 5 and 6 did not take them due to Covid but the Year 4 cohort did. You would have been given a teacher assessment based partly on the sats for reading but you can ask for her specific reading test score which will give you an indication of her ability.

I can tell you how mine managed it. He learned to work the system, copy and hide his struggles by making it look like he knew what he was doing.

Accommodations are made, unless it’s a spelling test specifically (if that’s the main impact) the dyslexia shouldn’t be used to assess a child’s ability to convey literacy skills in general. AAC technology may be in use in the class to support access.

Not the whole of spelling!

It was a requirement to report the teacher assessment of which the SAT tests in Y2 were a small part.

"Particular weakness" can relate to a whole statement. There is only one statement on the ks2 teacher assessment framework which relates to spelling.

The SATs tests are not a small part of year 2 assessments. As part of internal and external moderation we need to prove using a vast amount of evidence if we give a child a different grade to what they achieved during the SATs tests.

It can’t. This is specifically referred to in moderator training.

Why is the moderator training going against the official DfE guidance which says that the weakness can relate to a whole statement?

They were a small part. The teacher statements were statutory and extensive. Nowhere in them did it state that the tests had to match. Using the tests as anything other than a slight support shows a massive misunderstanding of Y2 assessment and is partly why the assessment is now non-statutory.

It doesn’t. It depends what the statement is. It’s central training and absolutely cannot be deviated from. We are given specific examples - eg, an EAL child who finds spelling suffixes tricky could have a specific aspect of spelling as a weakness. A child who has dyspraxia and has had several handwriting interventions could have the whole of the handwriting statement as a weakness. Take it up with STA!

@Jessie3
They are not a small part. I haven't said they need to match but as part of moderation you need to prove if they are different through endless amounts of evidence. Believe me, I've taught year 2 for nearly 20 years and have been moderated many times. It forms a professional discussion with your head teacher and moderator. How else do you ensure the results are sound?

I have been a Y2 moderator and been moderated. They were a small part. The teacher assessment part was extensive and took all morning! THAT is the bit that was statutory. The only thing that was statutory about the tests was that they had to be taken. Other than that, they were a clunky add on when talking about the whole child, which was what the Y2 teacher assessment was designed to do.

If the KS1 ARA is even available, you won’t find anything in it that says otherwise.

Dd school only reported the sats resuots if you emailed to ask for them.

Op just work with her at home over the summer.
Mainly just reading. It could imorove spelling.
But anyway i dont see how school can generally make much impact on spellings
Our school hardly even practise the weekly ones in school. I know beause dc2 can get them correct with practise but if we dont practise at home she gets some wrong.

There are apps like squeebles spelling or spelling shed

They could actually teach spelling and not just leave it to parents to practise spelling at home! Too many schools stop teaching phonics in Y2, but it’s part of the spelling curriculum up until the end of KS2.

I understand what you're saying but it's not my experience.

We've had phone calls from the local authority when the Teacher Assessment grade for a child is different to their test result.

I also find it worrying that some schools are using the tests as a tiny part of evidence. The TAFs are hugely open to interpretation and with external moderation only happening every 4 years then some schools would find it very easy to falsify their results.

The qualifiers of 'some', 'many' and 'most' do not help either!

Anyway, thank god they've moved to optional. My stress levels have been greatly reduced because of it!

As I said, the mass misunderstanding of how the test results were supposed to be used is one of the reasons for the removal of statutory Y2 assessment.

Your LEA shouldn’t even have been asking for the test result!