School level confusion.

[expatbrat]

I'm not in the UK but we follow BC. DD is in year 9 and we've just had end of term reports. Everything is good but don't understand couple of grades...
Math B
French D

All the other grades are normal 6b, 6a etc but don't understand why these 2 subjects are different. Can't find an explanation on school website and they are now closed for holidays.
Anyone able to explain?
Thanks

Maybe they've started GCSE level stuff in these subjects, and these are now marked as GCSE grades?

My son started on the maths GCSE curriculum in Y9 and his classwork/ homework was marked using GCSE grades but assessments/ reports still gave NC levels. Is you daughter particularly strong at maths? That could give you a clue.

Yes, I guess maybe the math GCSE makes sense to me, though French D sounds pretty grim.
I get my head around one set of grades and levels then it changes and now I don't know what they actually mean again Grrrrrr
Not sure if I'm supposed to be saying "well done" or "your grounded till your grades improve"

Sounds like they are marking with GCSE grades, so if she's in year 9 and won't be taking GCSEs till year 11, then that sounds fine - plenty of time to move up a few grades before then.

Or is she taking those two a year early? which would explain why they have shifted to GCSE grading for those but not other subjects (DS is taking those two this year, in year 10). French grades often sound bad for the first few years of secondary as they don't start formally learning it until year 7. But if she is taking it a year early, then a D at this stage might be a bit of a worry.

She's doing gcse in maths and French then as those are gcse grades.

GCSEs are currently marked from G to A* so a D in y 9 is acceptable.