Difference between KS2 level 6 and KS3 level 6

[Idratherbemuckingout]

Hi, I saw on another post that if your child has got a level 6 in the KS2 age group, he may well not get a level 6 when he goes up to secondary.

I wasn't aware there was a huge difference and had assumed that level 6 meant level 6 all across the board. So, if my son, who is HE, is a very good level 6 at KS 3 level, that would mean he is PROPER level 6? He is Year 6 by the way.
I ask this, because for his entrance exams the maths teacher (on open day) said they expected Level 6 from the children for the entrance exam.
But this must mean KS2 level 6, mustn't it? I think.
So if your child is level 6 KS3, he must be higher than level 6 KS2?
Am I right?
To be honest, he's level 7 really, but I only need him to be level 6.

"As an interested parent I can see little or no difference to the level of maths he is doing in the top stream of his comp compared to the additional work he did at primary school. "

That would be because it was only your son and a couple of other pupils who did this work and the rest of the class of 33 still need to do it. Untested as this new 'level 6 in KS2' system is, it would be unclear as to how solid their level 6 knowledge is and where the gaps would be.

I have to say, I'm not a fan of a massively accelerated curriculum for able students, rather an enriched curriculum. Who will be teaching these level 6 students in primary? A trained maths teacher who knows the secondary curriculum and how it fits together? Presumably they'll just be teaching them the Y7 curriculum. How will secondary then cater for them? I think it would take a few years at least for these changes to bed down and in the meantime you'll get students caught in the gap.

My son has just been awarded a place at selective boarding school, and they have said he did exceptionally well in his maths! Yes! I feel like I have proved myself as a home edder now.

My point being I am pleased! And he is very good at maths, they said. I always thought it, and this proves it, I guess.

becuase this is mucking's post originally, fretting about DS getting offered the place at the school based on a KS2 or KS3 level 6 .

Congratulations. I hope he enjoys the school . You have done well for him and he will have so many opportunities of friendships, clubs, expert teachhers etc at the school. Great news.

sorry 'fretting' sounds worse than it was meant to

That's fine bun! And thank you for your good wishes coconuts. I am hoping he will, as you say, get some good teachers! I know a bit about teachers as my mum was one, and my daughter is one. I have had the "inside gen" on them quite a few times in my life, which is a long one as I am not so young as I was! I was indeed fretting, so no worries on that count! He finished in the top third for everything, but higher for Maths, so whether it was a KS2 or KS3 level 6 he needed, he managed it!
My point really was that in KS2 there isn't an awful lot of work that is deemed level 6, so you really HAVE to go to KS3 to do it, and the maths teacher told me face to face about two years ago that they expected a level 6 for the exam. I later read that they expect every child to be level 8 for the KS3 tests.

So we HAD to do KS3 work to get to that level.
Anyway, it worked.

My daughter is exceedingly bright, she has just gotten level 6 in everything actually and the real sats at in 3 months! Just wanted to say, there's no such thing as level 7...... Don't make things up to make yourself look all 'look at my son- he's better than yours' by making silly things up. :)

My daughter is exceedingly bright, she has just gotten level 6 in everything actually and the real sats at in 3 months! Just wanted to say, there's no such thing as level 7...... Don't make things up to make yourself look all 'look at my son- he's better than yours' by making silly things up. :)

Of course there is such thing as a Level 7.

Why are you upping zombie threads to boast, talk total blocks and have a go?

What is wrong with you?!

BOLLOCKS

florence - what Feenie said, basically. Of course there's a level 7, KS3 levels go up to 7, 8 in some subjects. Oh, and some kids are level 6 in year 5, get over it.

I wonder if secondaries deliberetly downmark the Sats level to then report much higher progress later on - its easy to outshine the other schools, isnt it?

My ds got a level 6 in maths in year 6 and and in year 7 he got a level 7c. Some children got a level 7a (according to my ds)

I don't like the way you teach maths in this country, one day they do fraction, the next day shapes. My ds son is in year 8 in the top group and last week they were doing multiplication and division with decimals( I have learned to do that in year 3)

This is a zombie thread, not sure why it has been up. But Lidunka, schools are measured against KS2 sats results so any marking down won't affect the school's position in the league tables at all.

lies, lies and damn statistics.

of course primaries are the ones at Big advantage in this numbers game. I just feel sorry for the secondary schools of these children arriving with 6's. They have a serious challenge to get all of v then to 10 over the next couple of years.

Although there is a new numbers game being introduced isn't there? Gawd knows what effect that will have.

And gcse grade c in English and maths is far too low, but the system needs changing rather than teachers bashing.

Love a good zombie thread

Lidunka- secondaries are measured against KS2 results, so there is absolutely no point is doing this. As a secondary maths teacher, we often find KS2 levels are inflated. Students have intense coaching for sats, perhaps a tutor. When the sats have finished, there's the school production, trips, one year 6 teacher admitted to me they don't do any maths after the sats.
To be a level 6, it means a child can do everything at level 5, which in most occasions is simply not true. They can probably do most of it, but not everything. Therefore, when we assess them at KS3, as maths specialists, our levelling is more accurate.

We do repeat topics taught at Ks2. We have children from over 15 primaries and so they have different gaps in their knowledge. Despite getting a level 5 in year 6, some still can't multiply HTU x TU. Most maths teachers would prefer primaries to stick to the basics, not bother with level 6 topics - we can teach that. We'd much prefer our youngsters to arrive with problem solving skills, an ability to think about why maths is so, try an investigation and think about where they might start. There is so much value gained from completing a rich, investigational task (so many on nrich website) rather than simply knowing how to do maths through rote learning.