What level in year 9 for Level 7/8 GCSE

[maddieR]

Hi- trying to figure out whether my child is on track for GCSEs at level 7/8- she is currently in year 9 and is hoping to go to medical school so we know she will need to achieve high marks. Can anyone shed any light on what she should aim for this year 9 so we can ensure steady preparation rather than cramming in year 11?!! I’m finding levels confusing- my understanding is she should go up two sub levels a year, does your school expect similar? Thanks for reading!

My DS is expected to get a level 8 ( if not a 9) and is currently level 7. He's in year 9.

Sorry doesn't really answer your question!

Sub levels no longer exist & neither do the old Key Stage 3 levels. Schools now use a variety of different reporting methods. Eg ds’s school use a system where they say if they continue to work as they are they are on track for whatever grade.

Dd’s School however does current GCSE grade equivalent

Thanks both! dD’s school uses current GCSE but at the same time we get pluses and minuses like old sub levels- stressedoutfred sounds like your son is doing brilliantly. My DD gets a number grade in each subject - and has a vast chasm between the likes of maths and Spanish as far as I can see

Is your DC in top sets?
Is the school generally good so likely to have high achieving top sets?
Is your child towards the top part of the science and maths sets?

If so then they are probably 'on track' for GCSE grades 7,8,9.

No one can really answer as we don't know what tracking system your DC's child is using. If using something similar to old NC levels then you would be hoping for 7s this year. If using any other system then it's anyone's guess.

Pearson 7/8

Has your daughter already started her GCSE’s? The reason I ask I said because if not, the only subjects where content is guaranteed to feed into a GCSE are the Core subjects. Whilst other subjects may be preparing students with GCSE style assessments, you won’t be able to prepare in advance for these. If your daughter is hitting grade 6 now and these are GCSE equivalent (which they only will be in CORE subjects) she should hit a grade 8 in year 11.
However, you need to remember that until these new GCSE’s have been running for a couple of years no one actually has much of an idea about where grade boundaries will be and what will be needed to achieve a grade 8/9. My daughters school use the same grading system and they state that in year 7 she is currently a grade 4 in all humanities subjects, however they haven’t yet taught her GCSE assessment skills and therefore if she was to sit a GCSE style exam in History, there is no way she would achieve a grade 4, so it is all nonsense really.

Thank you- that’s all so enlightening. I had no idea different schools used different methods. Taxiparent (great name!) she started GCSEs in RE today actually- first day of summer term but I don’t believe she has started them in any of the others. Are core subjects English and Maths?

Both Ds & Dd started gcse work in January of year 9 for maths & sciences.

DD4 (Y11) is projected 9s in all of her 10 subjects and was getting some 7s, some 8s and some 9s in Y9. Of course that comes with a health warning that projected grades are only that, not the real thing. In her mocks last year she got all 8s and 9s.

wow, everyone on MN always gets these high grades!

Just to add that at DD4s school they started the GCSE syllabus in all subjects in Y9, not in Y10.

Peanutbuttercups I don't know about everyone but DD4 is my eighth child and the other seven have mostly got all or almost all A* at GCSE and none has got less than an A, so they're quite solid on the whole, yes.

wow, everyone on MN always gets these high grades!

Not mine. DD1 did really well and got Bs&Cs. DD2 is only y8 but at the moment I'll be pretty pleased if she gets 5 4s including English & Maths.

OP is asking about top grades so I was able to give her a steer, since DD4 is on track for those grades. OP is not asking about 5s and 6s.

Thanks all-
Goodbye stranger- 8!! WOW. But I digress! All very useful- thank you- and causing me concern as DD ranges from 4 to 6 and 3 for languages- clearly not her bag -although they’ve been doing three so spread pretty thin- so I will get in touch with school and confirm whether it’s their marking scheme or an indication she needs to put in more effort. She is in all top sets and got the highest mark in maths for her year on a mock before easter but still a 6...and that is her stand out subject rest not as strong so need to find out what else I can be doing to help her. My children are at a new school which has only a handful of GCSEs hence trying to get a steer as don’t have reassurance of years of past GCSEs. Obviously teachers are all experienced but still ten years of top gcse results can reassure and the lack of them makes me nervous as every school will say they are ‘ambitious’! My DD tells me they also started gcse maths, science and English in January this year- so those are the grades I should be concentrating on.

Ah. But if they are using 'currently performing at this GCSE level' then she is doing well.

Teentimestwo, isn't that what we are talking about?

My DS in y10 is at "currently performing" levels 5/6/7, but then I read here about kids in y9 are already performing at 8, hence my comment

Peanut- some schools use "on track for" grades (so OP's DD would be expected to be 7s and 8s now) some use working at grades (so 3, 4s, 5s would be fine at this stage).
OP- doesn't the school give you any information about their assessment system?

Peanut some DC will inevitably be hitting 8 or even 9 in Y10. That of course doesn't mean a DC hitting 6 or 7 or perhaps even less in Y10 won't get a top grade.

I understand your nervousness in a new school OP - difficult.

Humanmothboy- yes you are quite right so her school is working ‘at’ and her brother’s school is ‘on track for’ but hadn’t appreciated the difference- obvious now- but the explanation letters aren’t so clear on that. Massive relief. Thank u! And yes goodbyestranger I’m sure there will be kids already ‘working at’ very high levels

So I guess my question is in a system which measures attainment at ‘working at’ rather than ‘on track for’ where would you hope your DC to be in year 9 to assure excellent marks for gcse? (Appreciate the many caveats, eg children all develop at diff paces so some of them coast along then make great leaps later on) what level would you hope them to be on?

Try to support your dd in staying motivated and engaged with the subject as well as developing her skills in the subject. The grades will take care of themselves if she manages this.

Hi, yes core subjects are English, Maths and Science. I think you need to forget the fact that she is in year 9 and focus on whether or not she has started the GCSE for each subject. Those subjects where she has already started the GCSE will be assessing against GCSE Mark schemes, therefore the data should be an accurate reflection of how your daughter is doing. If she is getting grade 6 in Maths now, then she probably still has room to improve, but you would need to get confirmation from her teachers.
If she has not started her GCSE’s in some subjects you won’t get a clear idea of targets/potential until she does. I would say that grade 3 in languages would make it pretty difficult to achieve 7/8 at GCSE.

If they are using working at then according to one of the commonly used flightpath graphs they should be around Grade 5/6 in Year 9 (certainly working at Grade 6 bybthe end of year 9). However these graphs are flawed especially as progress is not linear.