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............

Level 8 would be astonishing at this stage of year 7! If you left primary with mid level 6 (pretty unusual actually, especially in English) you could not seriously have gone up 2 full levels in a term.

Much more likely that the first term is consolidation and in fact levels will stay static or even dip from year 6. Depending on what your DD's KS2 SATs were, 4s and 5s are almost certainly fine.

I teach MFL and I have just assessed my very best year 7s as achieving 3a. I am very happy with the ones who are getting 2b in a subject they knew nothing about in September

lilybolero L4 in German at this stage is fab! :) Well done yr DD

@LilyBolero, much the same for English here.

Our English "dip" is because it's mixed-ability in Y7 and they're nowhere near as good at differentiation as the one-form entry primary i.e. there has been too much "pipsqueak" (including KS1!) work for the sake of the lowers and nothing much that could be assessed above L5. Meanwhile DD has been getting quite shiny marks via relatively open-ended essays in RE etc.

A few weeks ago they had an English test my dd's friend was upset because she got 5c as in yr 6 she was at L7c. I just hope my dd will be put into the bottom set as only being 4a this time.

Sorry I meant will not be put into bottom set.
It s hard to use a phone to post.

Clary, that's really interesting wrt German, thanks!!

Tbh with English levels (and other humanities) I think the levels are a bit arbitrary because one or two stunning pieces of homework can move their level up, and it might be that it was a topic they just clicked with. Maths I think the levels are a bit more relevant. The craziest one for dd was music, which was 4b, because they've done virtually nothing except classroom singing, but if you took her music as a whole she would be level 7 pushing level 8. But I guess that's going to be the same in any creative subject like that - drama and art may well be similar.

(NB I know English isn't a humanity really, I meant English, and the humanities)

DD2 is in Yr7 and her report is a mixture. For new subjects like Spanish, DT and Art she is in the 4s, she's a 3a for PE because she hates ball games and that's all they've done this term.

In maths, English, history and the sciences she's doing well - however, the school does not just give overall levels, they also level individual pieces of work assessed (whilst making it plain that each one is just a single item and that it is the overall picture that matters in the end).

So she's done one science assessment in biology that she hit 7c on because it interested her, but got a high 5 in a physics assessment. I think that's pretty normal.

Overall her levels are one to two sublevels higher than on leaving primary, but she has worked very, very hard and been extremely motivated - the transition to secondary has been a welcome change for her, not a stressful one. All children are different and some need more time to settle.

I think a dip or a temporary stall is perfectly normal, DD1 didn't start progressing until spring term.

ThePointy that's good for your dd. My dd didnt like some of her primary school maths teachers so I am hoping that the secondary school will give her a chance to progress better in maths.

nickname your DD sounds like she is doing just fine. My DD2 is a typical second child, very confident, needs telling not to be cocky sometimes. Yr7 is easy for her. It isn't like that for everyone.

But re maths - having teaching from a specialist maths teacher is making the world of difference to her. She ended Yr6 on a low level 5 and that was really good - she's not a confident mathematician at all, but had worked really hard. Now, she's tackling L6 work happily and enjoying it, just because she has a really good maths teacher. I hope this will happen to your DD too.

It'sgoingtorein Level 3 in French at this stage is great.

5C is a tough target - some (like, 2-3 per class) of my students have 5c/5b as a target this year which means I will have to teach them the future tense - I don't do that till year 8 normally! It's because they are based on KS2 SATs so they are a bit mad.

ds ia year 7 in a grammar school. Their report had their levels, their expected levels at the end of the year and the average levels of a year 7 at his school at the end of the year.

At the END of year 7 there were still lots of level 5 s in the average at the end of the year slot.

clary, dd's target for German for the end of year is 5b - she did get quite stressed over a homework a couple of weeks back because she said she was supposed to be using different tenses, to achieve her target, but hadn't been taught them yet - it must be really hard starting from scratch because I guess they can't be set, and yet will progress at very different rates.

Personally speaking, I would much prefer that work was marked on its own merits - A, B, C or a mark out of 10, rather than this adherence to NC levels, because they create that feeling that that is 'what you are', whereas it seems clear to me that you can do one piece of work that is excellent, and another that is not so great, depending on time available, interest for that specific topic, aptitude for that particular topic and parental help.

My daughter,year 7,is averaging 5a at school.
Problem is he's lazy and should averaging 6b now.
Am convinced attitude and drive are more important than ability.
P.S. good,strong teaching is vital too.My son's science tea her is very weak.

DS was given lower grades at the end of this term than he got in his SATs for maths and English - and in some subjects which he hadn't done before he got what seems, to me, to be quite low grades. But we were also given the average score for each subject, and as DS is slightly above average on those I didn't panic. The school does get good gcse and a level results, so I'm guessing all will be well in the end.

Tbh I was just relieved levels I could understand are still being used!

(My DS2 is the only academically average child of MNetter )

nicknamerunout - thanks so much for posting this - I was wondering precisely the same thing.

Thanks to Mostlyjustaluker - thanks for explaining how targets are arrived at - I didn't know the formula was (KS2 SATs English + Maths) divided by 2 + 2 sub-levels.

Thanks also Clary - for explaining MFL targets and your perception of good achievement - because this was indeed a lower target/ score on DD1s report as compared to core subjects.

Thanks all - this really helped me understand DD1s report.

I wouldn't worry about the levels, as long as she is working hard and is making progress, that's all that matters.

My dd's yr7s still haven't given targets for any subjects still. Hope will know her targets by end if next term. By then I should know better how she really get on in her new school.

OP it sounds liked your daughter is doing great 12 weeks into secondary school but if you have any questions email tutor/subject teacher for clarification.

Love these threads! What is the point of comparing the assessed levels of children from different schools? My child may get a 6c in English from one teacher. Another teacher may assess at a 5b. Levels are nowhere near as objective as we'd like to think they are.

Even within schools there is often no consistency. We have the science department policy of reporting baseline level in the first report (baseline tests taken on the infection day in July - no reference to actual level working at currently); Art, Drama, Music & Dance use equivalent gcse grades; Maths, English & the Humanities use the old NC levels.

Since both NC levels & GCSE's, as we know them, are no more we take it all with a pinch of salt and focus on the Commitment to Learning scores (effort). If DS is working hard and doing his best, with good teaching & the judicious application of a rocket up the arse when needed, the grades will come.

Induction Day not infection day. Blooming iPad.

Although the amounts of colds & other lurgy on display....

Thanks Notin and everyone. Ideally I wish I had a crystal ball and look into it every now and then.

DS goes to a top Grammar School in our area. Nobody in his year is getting level 8s. Most of his are 6s but I have to admit, I do help him a lot at home (especially with maths and science) as I get a bit pushy. Most of the children in his class are getting a range of levels from 4s to 6s (having talked to some parents) No offence to all those year sevens out there, but either their teachers have their grades wrong or they're lying, your daughter is doing fine and is probably just finding her feet as secondary school is a big jump from primary.

i am really surprised by the low scores at grammar schools - is that the same nationwide do you think?

What surprised me was to find that my dd seems to be better at the new and more practical subjects than the academic ones eg DT, Art & Design, science, ICT etc. Of course this may change over the next few months.