My son's end of year 8 grades

[Indigo78]

What level is expected from children at the end of year 8. My son's end of year target levels in certain subjects seem quite high to Me First list is his end of year targets for each subject, 2nd list is his currant level. How is he doing?

English 7c / 6a
Maths 7a/ 7a
science 7c/7 b
Art 7c/5c
DT 7c/6b
Drama 7c/ 6b
geography 7c/7c
history 7c/ 6c
ict 8c/7a
Music 6a/5 a
Pe 7c/5 a
Re 7c/6c
Spanish 5 a/ 3a

Really depends on school target setting policy, but it is likely to be based on his KS2 SATs results and (maybe) how he did in year 7. Too little information to comment fully here, particularly whether targets are 'high'. I'd be talking to him about why he thinks he's not meeting the targets he isn't and then decide whether I needed a conversation with teacher(s).

Do you have another year of KS 3 to go? If so, then these seem fine to me as he would have another year to make the progress needed to meet the targets. Did they not also indicate on the report if they felt he was on target or not?

As above, I think it's hard to comment further and you would need to ask the teachers really. Spanish is clearly an issue.

Also, to add that next year they are not really supposed to be reporting levels any more. The curriculum has changed so it would be fairly meaningless and reporting levels for the end of KS2 and KS3 happens for the last time this summer.

Spanish will not be an issue - we have the same here - the other subjects have all been taken for years - the languages will have started in Y7 and Y8 - they take 2-3 years to get to a level 5.

Check the levels are meant as end of this year... ours are set KS3 targets not year on year.

That makes sense about Spanish, I did wonder. Same with art and the skills needed?
That's why an indication about the level of progress towards the target from each teacher is so important.

Thank you for your comments yes I think his target grades are based on his sats grades he got a level 6 in maths and a 5 a in English at the end of year 6. Obviously his grades show which subjects are his strongest. Spanish not being one of them.
He gets assessed every term in his secondary school. Subjects such as Spanish, art, drama, PE and DT he has little or no interest in.

I hadn't thought of that but I am pretty sure they are end of year targets. He has one more year of ks2 to go.

They are pretty high end of key stage targets- they would be very high end of year 8 targets indeed!

It is really difficult to give an "expected level" at the end of Year 8 as students arrive at the start of Year 8 at such widely varying levels. To be very general, level 6 would be the expected range of achievement at the end of Year 8 in all subjects apart from Modern Languages in which level 4 or 5 would be expected, depending on how long the students have been learning the language.

(Students tend to make rapid progress in learning MFL so level 3 or even 4 can be achieved in the first year (and after 3 years most students can achieve the same levels in MFL as in their other subjects).

Therefore your son's levels are a little higher than my broad generalisation and his current levels are either within, just above, or just below (Music, PE, possibly Spanish) the expected range.

However, the best check would be that he should have made two sub-levels of progress since the start of Year 8 / end of Year 7 (or more than this).

You could also ask the school, or look on the website or any literature that comes with the report, to explain how the targets are set.