Confused about English grades in yr9

[KatyMac]

DD got an E in English (at half-term) with a note from the teacher saying that because they were still on KS3 (all the other subjects are marked on GCSE grade as they have started their GCSEs) they converted it to a 5A and as her target was 6B and she was doing fine.
At Christmas she got another E, I ignored it because it seemed fairly 'on target'

At Feb half-term she got a B; I congratulated her and rewarded her for such an improvement

It's Easter now & she got another E

Apparently the B was a piece of GCSE work which was marked at GCSE standards and that's why she got a B

So is KS3 less than GCSE work? I don't understand this?

KS3 is years 7-9. In theory GCSEs are done in years 10-11, though some schools start earlier. So yes, KS3 is not as demanding as GCSE work.

You would expect it to be the other way round. She got the B for GCSE which should be more challenging. How very confusing. How are you supposed to ascertain her progress?

So I am right to be a little confused?

The teacher says "The GCSE style grades for the KS3 assessments and the actual GCSE grades have no bearing on one another. Sorry for the confusion"

I am easily confused

Well I think they ought to stop putting grades on her work in that case if it doesn't actually mean anything.

In your shoes, I would ask for further clarification because that statement from the teacher is as clear as mud. How are you supposed to support your daughter and ensure she is on the right track when you have no idea. Very unhelpful information from the school, surely it doesn't need to be that complicated? It would make sense for them to Mark ks3 work in the usual way i.e 5b etc if the GCSE grade they are giving is unrelated to the GCSE grade set down by the examiners.

It might be the type of assessment. My sons grades are all over the place. He is quite capable of a C+ in speaking and listening but writing, due to his severe dyslexia, would be more like an E. Reading, for him, is somewhere in between.

I was going to say the same thing Kez100 - the grades they get can vary depending on the topic. They will do well on topics they are interested in/are good at and will do badly on topics they don't care about/find difficult.

If the teacher says she is doing fine and on course to meet her targets, I wouldn't worry.

What does dd say about all this?

The teacher says they are the same grade

So I am contacting her other subjects to check the grade are all comparable with each other (eg that the DDCB she got in Maths implies a steady improvement)

Poor DD she was bouncing round the house at her B; I wonder if the teacher will mention it wasn't really any higher than her others

A DDCB in Maths over a short period is very likely to be different types of work, as I mentioned before where she is strong in some areas of Maths and less so in others, which is perfectly natural.

My daughter was a true overall E Grade GCSE candidate (sat two mocks and got E's) and she managed to get uptwo grades to a C in six months but that was damned hard revision graft - believe me, you'd know if that sort of improvement had happened!

Yes I asked & they can't believe how she has come on it has nothing to do with all the tutoring we have done together

There were whole chunks she didn't understand

Oh god. I am feeling really sorry for the teacher now. Looking at it from their side, it sounds like they are being required to do something mental......and the 'note' sounds like a slightly unprofessional admission that it's ridiculous.

Right. Two things here:

1. Grades do vary wildly. Because of the reading, writing and speaking components, students will often do much better or worse in one particular section. Personally I find KS3 grades almost meaningless at the moment (very subjective and it massively depends which of the assessment foci they are using) and thus GCSE grades are a much better indicator.

1. WHY ARE THEY USING GCSE GRADES? I would be asking serious questions about this. Are the kids being told they are doing the GCSE course? When are they sitting their GCSEs? The English GCSE controlled assessments are only valid for the two years of the course, so if they are sitting the exams in Year 11, then anything they're doing now is not relevant. If they are doing the exams in Year 10, I would be asking questions about it. In my opinion, the only valid reason for doing the GCSE early is if you are guaranteed an A*. It doesn't sound like your child is. Watch this one, because politically there is a 'gap' in Year 9 in the English curriculum. A lot of schools are doing funny things to fill it. It sounds to me as though your daughter's school might be one of them.

Because they started their GCSE's early in Yr9 & the computer only accepts either numbers or letters; so they can't enter numbers for english & maths as they have to enter letters for Geography, Spanish, Science & Dance (Science & dance are BTecs)

Confused? Moi? Too true

Tortu can I slightly hijack and ask what you mean by a 'gap' in year 9? I wonder about this as my DS in Year 9 is covering material that I know belongs to the GCSE courses (learning 'To Kill a Mockingbird' in English and for that matter, some of the [completely daft] GCSE history curriculum too). Would this be because they don't have material to teach the more able children so they're getting ahead of their Year 10 material?

Thanks!

R.

The school I'm teaching in at the moment also does this reshetima: the justification we've been given is that apparently two years is not enough time to teach 'Of Mice and Men'. What has happened is that the students actually read the book in year 9 and then only read extracts in year 10 and year 11 in order to 'learn' how to answer the exam paper. It drives me utterly barmy! I, and a few other teachers with top sets, argued endlessly against the HOD over the reasoning why we couldn't study a different book with our classes in year 9, to be told because there wasn't time to study it properly at KS4. Rubbish!

Anyway, the mixture of numbers/grades/levels will be due to a variety of factors:

• school tracking systems - ours asks for random and completely different data at seemingly unconnected times. Sometimes grades, sometimes levels, sometimes points...
• Forward planning by SLT to find out which students will be aiming for higher grades, how many C grades they can 'bank' on
• to give an indication of how that year group will perform in that subject
• to make it comparable to KS4 to show progress once they get there.
• different topics and students' ability in different areas e.g., I have a student who is an A* in speaking and listening but barely scrapes a D in reading/writing areas

Hope that's of any help!

Thanks jarvo84 for the confirmation of my suppositions (frustrating as it is). With a bright child this is just another way to put them off a subject by boring them silly for too long. I can only hope they move them onto other material if they manage to train them to jump the GCSE hoops nice and quickly.

Yep, that's basically what I did with my class: "Oh look, we've somehow managed to cover everything we were supposed to in one week, who's up for doing something a bit different now?" I'm currently hoping witty banter, random discussions, ten minute 'creativity' tasks and almost letting them in on the 'it's all for the GCSE hoops, just go with it then we'll do something interesting' will keep their intelligence and spirit alive.