yr 7 levels?

[nicknamerunout]

My yr 7 dc's got her first secondary school report last week. She has a mixture of level 4s and 5s (old nc still). Is she behind? Mnters' children seem always have level 6s, 7s even 8s and then all gcses A*s or As. So I am sort of led to believe that my dc's results must be very substandard.

Please any secondary school teachers advise............

DS' school report had a handy guide to levels and average attainment.
It says (summarised):
L4 Average range for Y7
L5 Above average for Y7
L6 Exceptionally high attainment for Y7
L7+ Gifted
Hth

Also, 'new' subjects - perhaps languages, and DT, maybe music, are likely to start with lower levels as they've not been studying them for many months.

Do any mnsters have average dcs?

ds's were a mixture of 3, 4 and 5 (with a 6b in maths ) 3 for subjects like french/music/art 4 in english and a couple of 5's in history and geography

was she getting 6's at primary and suddenly getting lower levels at secondary?

You also need to remember that these levels will almost certainly be based on work they did in the first half term and may not reflect their most recent assessments. Nearly all the Y7 classes I teach (in a core subject) are still on levels 3, 4 and 5 at the moment - I would expect to see more progress happening in the spring term as they get used to the very different teaching methods and expectations in secondary. By the end of the year a few of my classes will be level 6, but tbh my focus is not the number on their score card at the end of the year, it is the amount of progress they have made overall from whatever their starting point was.

5c (English) and a 3a (maths) here. Below his SATs results but he has found the first term a struggle.

I agree Mnetters DD's all seem to get straight As don't they?

I started a thread recently regarding step up to A levels for my B/C predicted DD. It has happily wandered off track into discussions regarding Further Maths, 5 A levels, Oxbridge etc.

4s and 5s at thins point are fine. What will matter more is work ethic. If attitude is good, levels will rise.

What levels did she get in primary?

4 maths and 5 eng but the rest of the subjects did give levels so dont know for most of them.

Sorry I meant the rest of the subjects didn't give levels so don't know.

No MNers have average children, 4s and 5s are usually good. More important to look at progress from year 6, although often there is a dip.

So ..,.. Is my dc is sort of ok!?!

They would not be flagged up as a concern, unless they had finished year 6 on level 6s which every Mners child does.

Primary schools only level English, maths and sometimes science. At this point in the year only 1/3 way through no child is expected to have made any progress from last year as students are expected to make two sub levels of progress a year. So if they were 4b at the end of year 6 they should be looking to be 5c at the end of year 7. Students often dip in year 7 for a number of reasons.

For subjects which your child is newly levelled in the school will probably have added up their English and maths level and divided by two and then add two sub levels to give them their end of year target. This is per government advice. So if in year 6 they were 4b for English but 5a for maths they would expect to get 5a at the end of year 7 for geography, maths, re ect. At primary they would have been taught the information for those additional subjects but not always the the skills. So for history they may have learnt about the Romans but not learnt about source skills and essay writing.

There should not be a dip in Maths or English. Your DC's level was an externally validated mark at the end of Y6 so cannot be taken away from them. That is like saying I got a B in O Level Physics in 1978 but because I cannot remember it I don't have it anymore! Once it has been awarded that is it.

Most primaries in our area only use classroom teacher for assess working at levels. They opt out of sats.

There is often a dip because the children are often coached and pressurised to the nth degree and some practice in primary schools is highly questionable.

I was going to say the same about TA levels. Another practice is to out pupils on the SEN register and then claim that SATS are not suitable and give your own TA level or have scribes who do a lot of prompting.

all mnsters' children are g&t from young ages and then go to Oxbridge. I feel quite humble here really!

At the end of KS2, dd was L6 for English and maths, and L5 for Science.

Her levels at the end of 1st term in Y7 range from 4b (German & PE - German is a new subject) to 6s in Maths (6b), Science (6c) and RE (6a). Her English is 5a, but tbh I am a little bit sceptical because I think they want to show progress, and if she starts off as a L6 in English, it's quite hard to show progress - they are a bit obsessed with semi-colons, and that is the only feedback she gets, even when she uses them!!!

Her end of year targets range from 5b to 7c in maths and RE.

They have to show progress from th end of key stage 2, so it would not make sense to lower the level at the start of year 7.

It's only my perception really - there is no reason for her level to have dipped - maybe they assess them differently - and certainly they just keep banging on about using semi colons, which she does use correctly, just not enough of them to keep them happy!