Can anyone help with these mid term grades?

[verybored]

I have posted recently before about DS1 - he is in year 9 and was recently facing the prospect of Btec science due to the schools' banding system. Sorry, I can't do the links! This is all now resolved but we have just had mid term grades through and to me they make no sense. We have parents evening tomorrow, and of course we will discuss this then, but I could really do with some opinions from people who know what they are talking about!.

So firstly we have English. At the end of year 6 he got 4a. Year 7 - 4a. Yr 8 - 4a and year 9 rmid term report - 4a. This is obviously worrying and also odd as by the xmas of year 7 they were predicting level 5 for the end of year 9 - even though he was already a 4a. Current teacher on long term sick leave so cannot discuss tomorrow. We are currently having him tutored in English but they have not assessed his level yet as he has only had 2 lessons.

Maths - yr 6 4b, yr7 5a, yr 8 6c, yr9 6a so to me that sounds good and no worries there.

Science - yr 6 5c, yr 7 6c, yr 8 6b, yr 9 5b - so apparently a whole level BELOW where he was in july?? Recent test was level 6.

Art - yr 8 4c, yr 9 4c - not a subject that I am concerned about.

Citizenship, yr 8 3b, yr 9 4a - so gone up more than a whole level since july??

Geography yr 8 4c, yr 9 4b - fine although not where he should be

History - yr 8 4a, yr 9 4b ?? same teacher as last year and recently got a level 6 in test.

ICT, yr 8 4c, yr 9 5a - again more than a whole level since july.

Music - year 8 4b, year 9 5a - as above.

French year 7 2c, year 8 2b, year 9 3a -as above

Drama year 8 3a, yr 9 5b- as above

Other anomolies seem to be technolgy - attitude 1 which is very good, homework 4 - unsatisfactory but all homework seems to have been given a high grade.

Science homework unsatisfactory but only had 5 peices since september 3 of which remain unmarked, one A and one C.

Also odd is if he's gong backwards in some important subjects, why has he been moved to top band for year 10?

To me, these levels seem to have just been pulled from thin air. How can he have gone up whole levels in a just over a term in some subjects, yet gone backwards in others.

And does anyone know why a level 5 would be predicted for then end of year 9, only 3 months into year 7 when he got a 4a in year 6 sats?

I am so confused, and he is so upset that in subjests where he thought he was doing well, he has gone backwards.

I think I would want to know how they actually come up with the levels - DS(year 9) now gets a level at the end of each half term and it is usually based on some assessed work. Subjects like science are a series of "topics" so levels are necessarily consistent ie if your DS was assessed on a biology topic that he found straightforward then on a chemistry topic that he found difficult his level may move about (although I don't know why the school didn't take account of the test he did !). Other subjects would be expected to show a progression.

Do you have end of year 9 targets? DS has a fairly blanket target for all subjects that was based on KS2 SAT results. Its a bit ridiculous because he has the same target for new subjects such as french and for old subjects like maths. It does give a guideline but that's all.

I think I would want clarification of how the levels were arrived at and how they compare to his end of KS3 targets. Also I'd ask about the homework.

I'd be very worried about the non progress in English although I see you are already having your DS tutored.

Good luck! I'd be confused if faced with this report.

Glad it's not just me. Yes we have end of year 9 targets,but again they're a bit of a mystery. Target for english was set at 5 - this was set at the start of year 7, even though he was alrady a 4a, where as French was also set at 5 even though he's never studied it before.

Science and maths are both 6, so maths he has already reached and science he reached in year 7 but is now apparently below that. The rest are a mixture of 5s and 6s.

To me it looks as though the levels are jumping up and down and then he wil miraculously be on target for everything by the end of year 9, but then maybe i'm being a bit cynical.

Will see what parents evening brings!

Levels are worthless. Do not loose any sleep over them!

Don't worry i'm not, i'm beginning to see they don't make sense. But DS is quite miffed as he had a crap year last year, due to being a lazy git, and has been working much harder this year, only to be told on paper he has gone backwards.

Why do they bother to send them out?

Because we have to. They're bobbins, especially sub levels. Talk predicted GCSE results instead at parents evening.

Definitely not just you Verybored.
We also noticed DDs levels very skewed at the start of yr9. Combination of teachers setting them before they knew her, some being complete guesses. Targets being set lower than yr8 actuals which I can only assume are averages.

The set subjects seem more accurate wrt expected movement, although luke your DS, no apparent improvement in English. Level 5 in KS2, but yet to see above a 5a at secondary- and that's top set at a just above average comp.

The subjects not set often don't go above the levels the teacher is teaching to. Some will let individuals get ahead and give them the work to do so - others prefer not to.

MFL is very up and down in DDs school as they alternate languages termly.

We are also waiting for parents evening to get a better picture. Good luck

Thanks Giraffe, I did wonder. Poor DS though. He's like a changed person this academic year with regard to attitude to school work and he feels like he' s got nowhere. He is coming to parents evening though so hopefuly he will get some good comments so that might help/

Circular, yours sound the same. DS is sure that his entire group are all still on a 4a for English!