Is it possible to contest school report results?

[Olympias]

Hello everybody!

I've just got my DS's end of year school report(he is in reception). His early years foundation stage profile total score is 74,
which is slightly below the nation's average (78).
I firmly believe that a few of the scores are lower then they should be.
for example I know for a fact that he counts up to 100, and does whatever else is required
to get a 9 in "Numbers as labels" portion of the profile, and he got a 6.
If these scores were "corrected" his total would be somewhere around 80.
I wouldn't worry about the scores so much if he stayed on in the school, but we are considering going to another (hopefully better)
state or independent school, and I am concerned, that the below average score might be a problem.
So, my questions are:
Is my worry justified: can a below average score at the end of the reception year be of a problem when going to another
school,especially highly selective independent school?
Is it possible to contest results and ask for a reassessment?

thanks very much for your replies.

yes please!
board games are great not just for maths but turn taking and conversation skills I'm lucky if I get one child in 30 who knows how to play snakes and ladders or ludo.

but counting tins or packets or oranges into the shopping trolley or cupboard and ordering pans by size are simple everyday activities that can really help ... cooking is fantastic for maths.

I think you might need to go and find your sense of perspective

your child is 5 and you want to contest a school report

he patently hasn't demonstrated these abilities to his teacher - but who cares? he's bloddy well 5 years old - nobody will pay any attention to his reception report

I agree with activate, my DTs are in Y1 and had no score given last year in reception, I didn't care, they are happy, the teacher's comments were good, what does the score matter at the age of 5 ffs?

LOL mrz - where do you teach? I am fed up to the back teeth of snakes and ladders would happily hand dd over to someone else to play with her. Haven't tried ludo - maybe that will be the next obsession...

You need to get a grip. Badly.

If you complain not only will the school not change his report (they score kids on what they do in the classroom, not what their mums say they can do at home, go figure) but you will look like a hopelessly neurotic overanxious mother. Which in turn means that when there is something that is actually worth taking up with the school they will be less likely to take you seriously because you have form for being a bit mad and pushy.

Rest assured, some notional number on his reception year report will not blight his CV or hinder his chances of getting five grade As at A-level.

Don't worry the Reception report is a load of poo. If my ds had got 74 I'd have been pleased, he got 63. I had the same issues, the fsp scores totally underscored compared to what he was demonstrating at home, it did vex me at the time but with hindsight I know that the whole thing was pretty worthless and I wish someone had told me how completely irrelevant the scores were. Even the Year 1 teacher expressed surprise by the scores he had achieved. He's now in Year 3 and is well above average in most subjects.

.

Zapostrophe - you mean like those ongoing chess games? I'm not sure she would have the patience she can hardly wait for my turn! I didn't realise that there is snakes & ladders on poisson rouge though - dd is on that lots but she tends to stick with the kids singing frere jacques .
At least S&L is better than the blooming disney princess wishes game - absolutely pointless - I lose the will to live after 1 min!

I know I will get shouted down for this, but my belief is that schools purposefully mark down the brighter students at this age if it's for the foundation stage profile. This is so that they can get a much better 'value add' score at the end of KS 2. They do this in case the child has been 'hot-housed' by stay at home mums, then if their score doesn't continue to grow as rapidly ofsted won't mark the school down for it.

Miggsie, what on earth is uber-snobby about wanting a five-year-old to say please and thank you and use a knife and fork???

By extension, you're saying that all state school pupils have no manners and eat with their snout in the trough.

Anyhoo, OP, if you're interested in independent schools, go and look at them. Ask whether they're fussed about silly reports for four-year-olds or not. If they are, give them a wide berth, or you'll have many more years of worrying about this kind of thing.

I think Pugs is right. I also think the whole thing is ridiculous, and am very glad that we have avoided all this rubbish thus far.

OP- hes 5! or possibly even still 4.... it really really doesn't matter.

Is he happy? Is he kind?

he is five. It really doesn't matter.

Pugs is unfortunately correct.
I have seen it over and over again. A 9 would mean that if a child did not get a 3 then a 5 it would appear to be down to the school.

Also, awarding a 6 or a 7 means that the VA looks so much better.

There is no reason for schools to mark down EYFS profile scores as there is no correlation between the profile scores and later national curriculum levels. It could possibly advantage a school with regards to value added to give lower scores when children first start reception (or nursery) and higher ones at the end of reception sorry but as a conspiracy theory it doesn't have much credence

For the love and honour of sweet suffering Jesus, would you get a grip.

Ive had reports for dds in reception and Yr 1. No scores on our reports - should there be??????

mrz, I know you teach reception but I have taught in 2 schools in the last 3yrs and such ideas were muted at both.

There may not be a direct correlation but certainly there is the expectation that a 9 means a 3 means a 5. Certainly the Y2 teacher at one of the schools was very anxious to make sure that children were not given 9s as a rule unless they were so far ahead there was no choice.

I have seen for myself a child who could count to 200, add and subtract within 50, tell the time to 5mins, count and use money accurately whose favourite game in class was 'the shop' and he was given a 7.

I am certainly not advocating the OP complains, though if she is looking for clarification then by all means ask how the number was reached. However, as long as we have SATs and league tables we will have this sort of politics going on. So sadly, not a conspiracy theory.

also the EYFS is moderated....

I would really not worry about it

state schools won't worry about it because they can't be selective and any good year 1 teacher will quickly work out what they can do.

Independent schools will do their own assessments

and the other thing is...does it matter...it doesn't go on the UCAS form you know

archstanton I'm actually teaching Y2 and don't have a problem with reception awarding 9s if children are working at this level. I certainly awarded 9s to my reception children if deserved.
The Y2 class I will be teaching in September had a high percentage of children working above ELGs so scored 9s (I assessed them) ...

Please answer my question - please .....?

I find in maths it is often scale point 8 (using maths to solve own problems independently) that means children are awarded a 7 rather than a 9. I know children can count much higher than required for point 9 and add and subtract and even divide but it is the using it to solve problems they fail to demonstrate

frogetyfrog - no

frogetyfrog no there shouldn't (as in not a legal requirement) be scores but you can ask to see your reception child's scores if you wish

Yes, I agree on point 8. I don't teach infants and we don't put scores on the reports. Can a parent ask and do the school need to tell them. Just curious really, DS just finishing Y1 and we didn't have them but it's an independent school.