KS3 levels

[gillybeanz]

Do teachers still use these?
If so what level in each subject is expected at end of kS3, generally speaking.
Or is it something completely different now.

gilly You need to read the thread on the new GCSE maths. (Or don't as it might scare you). In the mocks, pupils have been getting some quite low marks, and this at part is being attributed to the wording of questions as well as some harder content.
I am relieved my DD1 (who has problems pulling out relevant info from text) did her GCSEs 2 years ago before this new style came in.

I don't think it is necessarily so crazy for progress targets to be taken from the English & Maths SATs. Non native English speakers aside, I suspect that general ability at these at primary is not a terrible indicator of expected GCSE results on average. NB teachers' aspirations for their pupils should not be limited by y6 SATs or FFT predications.

Thanks Teen

I will read it, although I'm sure it will scare me.
I know it sounds like dd school is a bit haphazard but the teachers are amazing.
They do get brilliant results considering the academic side is a bit of an addition to the important stuff
it just worries me that there are so many bright and gifted academically that dd confidence is so low. Anything at all I can do to boost this can only help.
Of course I also think it's important for parents to understand as much as possible so they can help and support.
At least it gives us a couple of years to get to grips with the new way of doing things.
Many thanks

The whole removing NC levels without replacing them with anything is chaos. Doing this in conjunction with changing the GCSEs has just made for double chaos. Our school is good and communicates well with parents. They openly admit their new system is a bit of a stab in the dark as they don't really know what is now expected for GCSEs / y11.

I'm in the lucky position that DD1 is now y13 so got through under the old system, and DD2 is y7 so there is a bit of time for things to shake down. very glad I don't have a DC in y10 or y9.

According to this blog

debrakidd.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/a-broken-system-progress-gcses-and-sats/

the percentage of children who will pass the new GCSE has already been set. So if the exam is much harder than previously then the pass mark will be lower. Seems to remove any actual point to all the changes.

teen

You warned me, I read and I'm confused and worried now.
I feel so sorry for those taking the exam this year, at least we have a couple of years to get used to the structure of the questions.
I bet there are a lot of worried children which is the last thing they need when sitting GCSE's.
Have just looked at the admission criteria for where dd wants to go, it's quite low really, but 4 years. They can take a 3 year course if they have really good results.
Looks like dd will have at least 5 years to complete her studies, so she and I better get saving.

Seems to remove any actual point to all the changes.

Except it's not the percentage of children who will pass that has been set, it's the percentage who will get a 4, which used to be a pass, but isn't any more. The grade 5 grade boundary will be set numerically, equal increments between each grade (regardless of how many children fall in each boundary). This means that we don't know how many children will actually pass and it will depend on the spread of the results.

Comparable outcomes (looking at KS2 SATs results to decide grade boundaries) was introduced a few years ago to stop grade inflation. It does, however, mean that kids can't (on average, nationally) do better than they were predicted to do from primary school. Secondary schools can't improve. I asked a woman from Ofqual about this capping last year and she admitted this was an issue, but also pointed out that it would have a protective effect this year - kids also can't do worse than they are expected to do.

noble Do you think that with the more wordy maths GCSE questions this will become slightly less bonkers?

We've already got one exam board advertising themselves as being the one with the lowest word count on their papers.

AQA write on their website "We have worked tirelessly to make our questions more accessible, clearer and more straightforward, minimising undue use of language which might act as a barrier to students.

We want students to see the maths not the words and offer some realistic contexts within which students can demonstrate their understanding of the appropriate mathematics.

All exam boards are working within the same regulatory requirements but we believe we have the quality within our writing team to deliver the new assessments in a way that is accessible to the greatest possible proportion of students."

So if language does become an issue, I guess AQA will profit. The thing is, it's supposed to be maths GCSE. If people can't access the paper because they can't understand the question rather than do the maths, then it isn't really fit for purpose, is it?

But is there any point in being able to do harder maths if you can't do it in context?

(Sorry OP I've gone off topic)

Have you seen an A-level maths paper? Very little context...

One of the major problems with harder maths is the absurd shoe-horning in of 'real life situations' when the question absolutely doesn't warrant it.

Have you seen an A-level maths paper? Not for 33 years!

Teen

Go off topic as much as you like, if it's good chat and I'm learning stuff I'm very grateful tbh.
I suppose the idea of kids not being able to do worse than predicted is at least good news.
I can't profess to understand the ins and outs though but hopefully this will put the minds at rest of those at the bottom who hope to scrape through.

can't say I've ever seen an A level Maths paper though, and pretty sure I never will.
DD is back to her 5% in recent test. I'm considering a tutor for the summer holidays but have to tread carefully or she'll think it's a kind of punishment.

I think quite a lot of us can't find out where our children are at atm. Dd's latest incarnation of a report is based on the new 1-9 grades and had mostly effort grades, predicted gcse grades based on how she is working now (she's in year9) and target fft gcse grades.
Only one subject ( English ) stuck their heads above the parapet and gave a 'currently working at' grade which was a bit foolhardy brave I thought.

I know what you mean trout mine got a good report and effort grades were mostly 2 with some 1's which we were really pleased about as last year they were mostly 3's with some 4's.
She is finally trying but that doesn't tell us how well she is doing with subjects.
Her History teacher was the one who showed us her level from the old nc levels as she had done so well, which was surprising as she hasn't proved her worth before, due to a huge lack of confidence.
I am going to make sure by hook or crook that she reaches her potential if it half kills me
At the moment I'm getting all her papers together I keep finding and filing them for revision, she will complete any I find that are incomplete, whether she likes it or not.

Off topic on my own thread there

So all the revision guides/ study books that are on sale, are they following the new 1-9 grading system and can they be relied upon as good resources for ks3 and ks4?

I thought 3s & 4s are higher marks than 1s & 2s?

maz

They probably are everywhere else
It's 1-4 at dd school, with one being excellent. It's only an effort grade though and has nothing to do with how they have performed or any level they may have achieved.

Our effort grades have 1 as the top. (Used to be the other way around when DD1 was there!).

I wouldn't buy any GCSE revision guides until y10. Schools sometimes buy them as a job lot and sell them at a discount. You have to know what board they are doing too. Especially while everything is changing so much.

I do think a KS3 science revision guide (CGP or similar) is useful.

gilly Dd has recently been sold a cgp science revision book by school which says it's designed for new 1-9 grades so I presume the other subjects have rolled out. So annoying -I have a full shelf full of the old cgp books which I had for older child )
Anyway.. I've just had a quick flick through and compared old and new on cells and it looks like much more content and detail.. stuff that the older child did post gcse.

Oh great, thanks for that. I wouldn't buy GCSE yet as everything could change in the next few years with new editions etc, was really thinking Ks3.

I have bought some already that were for Y7, but I bet they are different now.
They aren't cheap either. We have ks3 for Maths, English, Science, German, French, Geography and History.
Do you think any would be worth holding onto. None of them state they support the new 1-9 grading though