Daughters grades help??

[khadra2001]

My daughter is in year 7 and I would like to know if her grades are good enough.

Maths 6c
English 5b
Science 6c
Art 5c
D.T. 5c
History 5b
Geography 4a
R.E. 4a
Spanish 4b
I.T. 4c

They are all her current grades please tell me if they are good or bad or need improvement

My dd is in Year 7 & it's double Dutch to me. Apparently she's very academic but I have no idea what her current levels are. I was told some at parents evening back in Jan but can't remember them.

ohh do you think she needs to improvement?

It depends what you deem as good and what she got in her year 6 SATS. Take English for example: a level 5 is equivalent to a GCSE grade E. It's usually expected that students progress a few sub levels, or a whole level each year. So atm your DD is on track for a grade B at GCSE. Whether you think that's good or not is up to you.
Level 1 and Level 2 = Grade U (Grade U is actually counted as Grade 0)
Level 3 = Grade G
Level 4 = Grade F
Level 5 = Grade E
Level 6 = Grade D
Level 7 = Grade C
Level 8 = Grade B
Exceptional Performance = Grade A and Grade A (Grade A is counted as Level 9 and Grade A as Level 10)

My dd is year 8 and her current levels for maths, English and science are the same as your dds. Tbh I don't take much notice of the other subjects at this stage.

My dd seems to be doing about average from what I can make out so perhaps that means your dd is doing better than average?

Surely you know these are fine?

If she did sats in yr 6 then surely they explained the levels?

These are fine - I would say average for most subjects. The level 4s are in subjects she is less likely to have studied discretely at primary so it's not surprising that they are lower - just keep your eyes open for more rapid progress in these as she moves into Year 8.

Actually, she probably won't get levels next year as they are being phased out but the school will implement a system to replace them.

My dd didn't do SATS.

Apparently secondary school levels bear no relation to SATS levels so I was told.

All I know is she got a place in an academically selective secondary (best a level results in county) but turned it down. I think depending on subject her current levels are between 4-6 & she's a high flyer.

Look pretty reasonable to me. Geog and history are always that way round here to. Spanish is lower because they have only just started it.

My set one DD2's grades look very much like that for Y7/8, I wouldn't worry at all.

As far as I can see it's progress as much as absolute levels that matters. At secondary the actual numbers seem far more vague than at primary. Different teachers/subjects seem to come up with different numbers. If your DD appears to be making progress, in the right set and parents evenings go ok, that's what matters.

My dyslexic DD1 got all sorts of nonsense, until Y10 when they turned into GCSE grades and made sense.

Thanks everyone

Geography, RE and IT are very low - most 'average' kids are top of L5 at least by end of Yr7.

Spanish is fine as they are always low for the first year or so.

Maths and science are good.

Spanish is fine if it is a new subject; likewise ICT. If ICT is not new, I would consider it a little low. Geog is a little low given her English/History levels but that can simply be down to not haven covered certain skills in assessments so that she cant get the higher level.

Overall, good grades so well done your DD.

In my daughters school the highest are level 6 on maths, science, English, RE, Level 5's in history, geography and IT and 4 in Spanish as it is a new subject. I would say your daughters SATs levels in a lot of academic subjects are well above average. There would seem to indicate that she is better at history than geography (though very hard to really say this), getting on very well in Spanish, above ave at English, maths and science, ave at IT. I don't know too much about DT and art but think that 5 seems quite good. As people have said, with subjects they have not studied much before, you would expect lower levels.

I can only base it on my year 7 daughter who is v academic and is level 6b in maths, 6a in English 6a in science, 6 something in music, 6c in RE, 5a in history, 5b geography, 5c in IT, 4 in Spanish, 5c in art and 5c in DT. She is not especially good at art or DT and rubbish at PE (3a/4c!) .

Also, my daughter is v good at listening to what she needs to do to get to the next level and doing it. Therefore, some children may work hard but not necessarily get the next level until they realise what they have to do to get it. I'm not a teacher but that is just my experience of it.

In my experience, top 5's are not for average children. I think 4a is average and 5a/b very much above average in the humanities.

www.kingscollegeschools.org/madrid/soto/images/stories/academic_programmes/secondary/report-guide-for-parents/english/Year_7_Report_Guide_-_English.pdf

I found this that may be of interest

Is she trying as hard as she can? If so, those levels are good enough. If she isn't, they aren't.
Where I teach we go on 4 levels of progress from KS2 SATs as min acceptable: this doesn't take account of inflated SATs grades generating ridiculous targets. But as this is what OFSTED want no one cares. GRRR.

Geography is low because they used the level based on her primary grade

I'd be worried about that - you mean at the end of Year 7 they have not assessed her at all?!

If you mean her targets are based on primary, then that should not be holding her back.

"good enough"
surely that depends on your child.
There is a normal distribution of exam results
not every child is on the right hand tail
or in the middle
or in the left hand tail

if she is working hard, enjoying lessons, making friends and you are supporting her in what she does
NC fine scale points are all just hot air

state and private secondary schools CONSTANTLY monitor children and their work
they just have the sense not to share all of that information with parents who do not understand the whole cohort

Ok - so dd has just (unasked) given me a potted guide to levels. Apparently hers are

Maths 5a (she's frustrated because she's almost a 6c
English Reading 5a
English Writing 5c
Science 7c
IT 6a
Music 8b
RS 6a
History 4a
French 4b

pictures what instrument does she play and what grade? My daughter's a grade 4 piano and a 6 something but a boy in her year is grade 5 piano and was pleased to be told he was a level 7. I don't know anything about it other than that but grade is obviously very high - according to the above it is a grade b GCSE! ??

My DD is doing her grade 4 piano practical next month and has been told she is an 8a... but... she has also done the theory levels.. which are more important for the levelling at school it is not just about playing an instrument.

Ah I see, that's what we need to sort out-not from a SATs point of view but just generally. Perhaps I should sort out some lessons. I did with my eldest, who really took to it, but DD2, not so much! Thanks. ??

Merle Also, my daughter is v good at listening to what she needs to do to get to the next level and doing it. Therefore, some children may work hard but not necessarily get the next level until they realise what they have to do to get it. I'm not a teacher but that is just my experience of it.

My dd1 is exactly the same. It made for very stilted English writing at junior level: She had her list of (level 5 or whatever) starters, connectives, punctuation and good adjectives. She'd then choose one from each for as many sentences as possible, and make sure she'd used her list once.
Dd2 actually writes stories with better content, but doesn't worry about that, and scores quite well less than her.

On the music, there is more to it than just piano playing. Dd1 did grade 5 a years ago and she was a 7a last assessment. They've been doing things like comparing composers and discussing types of music.

DeeWee thanks. I think that my daughters year 6 levels were inflated because of her understanding the rules the get the high levels. She was the only one to achieve the level 6 reading out of the 30+ children put in for it over 3 years. I'm sure she wasn't any better than the others, but simply knew the rules and how to get the marks. I guess that it's a good skill at GCSE but gives a bit of a false reading in year 6. My daughter said that so far in music, all they've done at composition, which (she says) she isn't good at.