DD told ‘underachieving’

[Verbena37]

Hi,
Just got an email from school following dd getting a Level 6 for chemistry. It states that my dd must attend an afterschool revision session (and then one every other week after that) as her level 6 is classed as underachieving, compared to her target grade of Level 9.

Firstly, her target grade of Level 9, I explained to the teacher, didn’t really bother us...in that all of her target grades are 8 or 9 (mostly 9) and they were given those grades in year 9/10 based on SATS.

So a Level 6 is a B in old money....how is that underachieving??

Dd has been suffering with a long term unknown illness since September, which school know about and unless dd specifically states that she wants to go to the sessions, I don’t feel like pushing her. She is stressed enough and finding each day hard due to being poorly.

I need addition, the chemistry teacher (who is also somehow head of science) checks the answers with the 2 brightest kids in the class and regularly gets information incorrect! DD corrected him the other day on something even I knew the answer to and I’m rubbish at chemistry.

I’m not sure how him teaching even more rubbish lessons, is going to help anymore than her revision guides will.

The email stated....
‘These sessions are mandatory and should be seen as a priority by DD’

How can afterschool revision session start be mandatory....they’re from 3:30-5.

RaspberryIce
It depends how the school decide to do it.
In 11-18 schools it's mainly GCSE and A level classes but there's an expectation that you don't have sink results at ks3.

Performance related pay is a joke because it's based on levels of progress from ks2, teaching is only one part of it and you're judged on your competency based on what studenys get who you've taught for less than 50% of their time at secondary

Targets drive me fecking nuts. DS has been set a target of grade 6 in his French. In all but one exam - one listening exam where he scored a 5, he exceeded the Grade 6 ex[ectation - he has been graded with a few 7s, mostly 8's and a few 9's - he loves French but he sees his target as the teacher thinking he can't achieve anything more than a grade 6 in his GCSE, he thinks she has no faith in his ability....pile of crap!

BlueBelle why do you think that mental health issues are on the rise? Could it be that it is a phrase thrown around so freely? How many people on mumsnet alone like to diagnose people on here, their partners, their children, random people on the internet they have never met and even random people’s neighbours with mental health conditions and other conditions, the favourite being aspergers?

Are there actually more people With mental Health disorders now? Or do we have far more awareness and more People aRe therefore being diagnosed? And add to that the amount of people who self-diagnose and diagnose their own children with no medical diagnosis at all?

Doesn't sound great Maisy. When was it introduced?

C0unt its mainly based on personal experience through friends and DC and comparing to what it was like when I was at school and Uni.

Now DC's school has a counsellor, children in GCSE years running out of lessons crying(girls) reason given due to feeling so stressed/overwhelmed, DC's friends who are seeing counsellors due to anxiety. At Uni DD was shocked at how many say they have mental health issues and are seeing counsellors, she estimated a third. You can also find numerous reports on line about the rise. Obviously, it could be like you say and its all down to awareness and so seeking help, but personally I think some of the rise could be put down to this but there are also more factors and I believe stress surrounding
GCSE's is one of them. Just my personal opinion.

A current working grade of 6 with a target of 9 means that the school is underachieving. It doesn’t matter whether your dd is put under ridiculous pressure or not, school want her to achieve her target grade. Not because they care about your dd so much, but because they care about their own performance.

If you and your dd are happy with a 6 then stick to your guns - although school will put up a fight (do you not CARE about your daughter’s future???).

Target driven teaching is despicable, and I say that as a secondary teacher. My aim is to get everybody the best grade possible, without causing lasting damage and ideally while keeping students happy. I am also not that popular with the powers that be...

I agree BlueBelle my experience is similar. I am aware of several of my DCs friends at secondary that are suffering from anxiety and stress related issues and these are not cases of self diagnosis by google. They absolutely terrified of failure and anything less than perfection ans become obsessed with targets. This is over and above anything I experienced and my school was pretty competitive when it came to exams.

I remember being under pressure to so well in exams but the pressure came from within. I wanted to do my best and work hard so that no matter what results I got I could honestly say that I tried my best. For some of today’s kids their best will not be good enough unless they reach a target set 5 years ago.

for you Acopyofacopy I hope that my DC have teachers like you.

I agree with Acopyofacopy. I am a head of department and on my this week we have said to each other that we feel it is unreasonable to have to focus so much on targets, rather than aiming for the best we know they are capable of.
But in Sept if they don't reach targets I will spend another hour explaining myself to the senior leadership. Last year's hauling over the coals left me in tears.

Target driven teaching is despicable, and I say that as a secondary teacher. My aim is to get everybody the best grade possible, without causing lasting damage and ideally while keeping students happy. I am also not that popular with the powers that be...
This. I always say to my classes that to some extent I couldn't give a damn about target grades as long as my pupils are working hard and trying their best.
I teach to the top of tje course and then aim to help them acheive as high as they can.
My approach is slow and steady, keep working hard, no last minute stress. I tell pupils if they take my advice then they'll do just fine.
Some need giant size 9s up their backsides but most just want to do well.

RaspberryIce Not sure. Last 5 years though as aggressive as it is now (although it's been creeping in for a while).
One school i worked at wanted 80% A/A for a difficult group because school had set the targets high from Ks2 (different schools work targets differently). It was a chronically underperforming group. They did really well for that class, 100% A-C with most A/Bs.

Better schools I've worked in say x% of level 4a entries would get y grade at the end of y11. As long as you are in line with that % then we accept that school is only a small part of a child's life.

My sons literacy level hasn't gone up since year 2 and now year 8 -

If teachers are focused on levels and attainment why is he being ignored? Who's being dragged over the coals for this?

Most targets are aimed at the high acheievers which leaves the rest to suffer with some crappy excuse .....

They system sucks

@GreenTulips every student should make progress from wherever their starting point is. While I do believe that target pressure can be counterproductive everybody should make some kind of progress.
Some kids I teach have GCSE targets of 3, so theoretically all abilities should be catered for.

Some schools have flight paths and require students to stay on the same path throughout (say the GCSE target grade 5 path). Staying on a 5 means you are making expected progress.
It sounds unlikely, but could this be what is happening with your ds?
If your ds is really on the same reading level as in Y2 he has been failed multiple times - this must have been flagged up when he started secondary. You need to kick up a big fuss about it!

I am! I have finally got an English teacher to listen to my concerns and she is actively doing something about it - however it's difficult to switch a child back on to learning when they have been ignored (due to others behaviour) for so long -

I'm beyond angry

A really interesting post.
The whole target thing is an obvious issue. Surely unless they can know how much of a child’s outcomes are teacher-created and how much are dervied from the child, the. How can progress be measured?

For example, who is to say that my dd scoring level 8 for geography has hardly anything to do with the teacher and 60% is down to her ability to learn independently, 30% is from my input helping her as a geography grad and only 10% is from the content the teacher gave her?

Or that the science teacher offering extra lessons to improve her working grade hasn’t helped her at all... 20% might be from the three tutor sessions she has had and 80% from her own ability to study out of school

What I do know is that in subjects where her grades have dropped, has also been the lessons where teachers have left and new ones taken over (not deemed as capable by other students as well as parents).

Also frustrated by this. DS, who is a bright boy but no brighter than the other 60 kids in the 2 top sets in his year (year group divided into parallel halves), is in trouble for not achieving level 8 in maths, because his CAT scores say he should be able to. He's 12. He feels like he's failing already, even though he's getting 6s which would be perfectly good enough for me if that were his final GCSE grade. He's begging to be moved down and has totally lost all his motivation - so is doing worse than he otherwise might. He just throws up his hands and insists he can't do it, because he knows that a 6 or a 7 won't be good enough for the school management.

Grade 6 isn’t bad but maybe she could get higher and then is under achieving.

Some of you are way too over invested can't you just leave things up to your dd OP? Can't she talk to her teacher about why she doesn't want to attend? She's 14,yes??

Luckily I don't recognise any of this angst. Dd is at a good state school in year 7 and is achieving a whole mix of grades, certainly no getting into trouble for not getting 8s and 9s!

All the cramming for SATS in year 6 means that you end up with children predicted grades that they aren't capable of!

School says some extra revision lessons would improve grades.
Teachers give up their free time to run the extra lessons.
Parents say, "hell no, DD ain't going if she dont want to".

I dont get it, why dont you want your DD to get the best grades possible?

julie
Because if I remember correctly, the Op is concerned about health/mental health issues.

To me students either attend or don't (mine are voluntary) as long as if they don't attend I don't get to spring of y11 and have their parents saying 'they aren't where we want them... what are YOU doing about it'.

All the cramming for SATS in year 6 means that you end up with children predicted grades that they aren't capable of!
That's a good point actually. And some kids might have unrealistic targets due to lots of practise/tutoring for 11+

Dd was the only one of her friends not to have a tutor or to practice for SATS outside school. I will admit I thought I made a mistake choosing not to do that, and her results weren't as high as the tutored children which made me feel I had let her down a bit. Fast forward to year 7, she's exceeding her grade targets in all subjects (targets 5, achieving 7s), and feeling so confident and happy.

Julie The OP is bothered about her DDs health, and the added pressure the school put her under by having mandatory extra lessons while she is unwell. There has to be a balance between achieving these arbitrary targets and the health and welfare of students. There are also other factors that can have a great impact on grades, like poor teaching or lots of teacher changes.

Blem I agree with you regarding SATs and extra coaching. Primary schools also run extra booster sessions in the run up to these tests which can further inflate their targets.

Don’t even start me on SATs tests and the fact that much of what they are coached for doesn’t seem to follow through in secondary school curriculum.