National Curriculum levels, Does your school report them to you?

[cascade]

Well following on from my dd disappointing school report (cut and paste) I went to see the teacher (not to complain) but to ask what levels dd was currently working at.

Dd teacher then said they do not give this info to parents as 1. Parents would not understand it and 2. If she gave me this info all parents would be coming in to ask. She said school policy is that levels are given to parents in year 2 and year 6. dd teacher then said if I wanted to speak to head teacher about this to make an appointment.

To be honest i dont want to do that, as it makes it a big issue. All I want to know is how much progress my dd is making each year.

So should I go see the headteacher? and could I ask whether it is normal for primary schools to give out national curriciulum levels each year.

Be interested to hear about this. Same thing with ds report (Yr1). Felt it could have been anyones and compared it with a friend and felt alot of copy and pasting and national curriculum empty phrases. Was none the wiser on where he is at with reading, writing or maths!Last year there was a mark out of 9 for each subject so at least there was some sort of level and could see strengths and weaknesses. Appreciate that they are still very young but would like to know whether on the right track or if need abit of focus on anything!

I work in a junior school & we include slips in the reports which give the levels obtained in the optional SATs taken by each year group in May - it gives levels for reading, writing & Maths, together with an explanation of the progression of the levels & the expected level in Year 6, which is a 4.

I think it's a bit patronising for the teacher to say parents wouldn't understand the information - they can always start a thread on MN to ask!

We only get them officially in Y2 & Y6.
BUT sometimes DC come home declaring "I got 4b!" or "I'm 3b!" etc.
Those occasional proclamations are enuff 4 me, I have mixed feelings about them being reduced to numbers anyway.
We get assessments for effort/achievement broken down by subject, so U know if child is below average/average or above.

Schools are required by law to report levels in Y2 and Y6 only. Some schools choose to report levels each year to parents others prefer not to. Personally think it is more helpful to actually tell parents their childs strengths and weaknesses but some schools also choose to use report writing software which gives the type of report you received and isn't very personal to the child.

At my DCs school, included in every report are their levels. Well not in Reception as they are not working at levels then, but certainly from Year 1 upwards.

I had levels in my ds report but not the a/b/c/ sub divisions~ are they supposed to include these in yr2?

I would expect them to include them in Year 2 as it gives an indication as to whether they are a low, secure or high level.

kid ~ are you a teacher?
I asked the teacher and I think [dozy emoticon] she said they sometimes report them in maths??
I wrote it on the reply slip but didn't get anything back.
Is it different for a level3 ~ he got this in maths.

The levels aren't included in the reports but sometimes the teachers mention them at parents' evenings.

Would it be worth me going back to ask out of sheer curiosity ?
Also is the level 3 the same as a level 3 in the juniors/yr 3?

We had them, ds in year 4. they give them every year in the summer report.

We got them too but not very clear what the letters mean - does anyone know what they should be getting in year 4 ?

By end of year 4 the national average grade expected is a level 3B (based on level 2B year 2 and level 4B expecatation year 6)

but they're all bollocks grades tbh and mean nothing

I think level 4 is the expected for yr 4.

We get NC levels twice a year, every year, with an indication of whether they are making an acceptable level of progress (i.e. how much progress since the last report). They aren't that great at giving supporting information so people can actually interpret the levels, though!

you think wrong morningsun I'm afraid

level 4b is expected at the end of year 6 nationally

they go up 1 numerical level every 2 years

level 2B is expected at the end of year 2

so level 3B is expected at end of year 4

yes it's stupid and confusing

and it's also bollocks but I've said that already

Morning sun - at Y2 it is statutory to give a sublevel for reading, writing and mathematics if the child is working at level 2.

Sub-levels don't have to be given if a child is working at level 1 or level 3, or in Science/Speaking and Listening.

aaarrggghhh sorry all

Feenie ~ thanks.So I could ask about his level 2 which she said was average so guessing must be 2b for writing,she said he was up with the level 3s for reading but I guess he was overall level 2.

sweetfall thats a bit strange though,my ds got level 3 for maths but looking at his books no way was it end of yr 4 work.

Reading and writing are given separate levels. Am very about giving you a straight level 2 for writing, they should be sub-level specific.

well at the risk of being a pain will go back to clarify then.
She told me to be level 3 the writing would have to be very descriptive etc

I don't see how you weren't given sub levels for writing, reading and maths. The school should have sent home an official report for your child, as well as comparative data for results from your child's school (2009) and national results (2008). Have you had these?

morningsun - No I am not a teacher, I am a TA and have worked in a school for years so have been through the testing so many times. (We do them 3 times a year)

We do not get levels either. The report indicates whether children are working at the expected level or above or below it, but gives no further information. It also gives marks for effort and enthusiasm.

I think our school has the same opinion as the OP's. It is ridiculous because parents try to second guess their children's NC levels from the report. It would be far easier just to tell us.