Year 7 Attainment Grades/Levela

[Smith888]

I don't get this at all. Do the teachers either?!
My son is getting developing and securing grades while all his peers are getting advanced. Last month I was told by head of year that my son was mostly top of the class and he should be proud of himself?? He's been winning awards already and super keen to do well.
It seems that the attainment levels are based on SATS scores? We arrived in UK in year 6 and because my son was not familiar with the system, did not do well. His primary sent a transcript with his scores as in particular they felt strongly he was excelling in English.
Do these scores have an impact on the group's the kids are put in next year, or should we just ignore them alltogether?

You'll have to speak to the school as all schools do things differently unfortunately..

I have tried but they are not pleased. I initially spoke to primary who are baffled and when I checked with current school they said the prinary shouldn't be interfering.

Am wondering if am incorrect in thinking attainment is based on the SATS?? As I understand the system has changed so perhaps there isn't a link!

Am also confused as my son was previously diagnosed with learning disabilities. Then am told no he's fine, in fact he's excelling. It was a huge boost to his self esteem as he's struggled in the past. Then these levels get given. He's confused. I know he needs to get on with it but it's just the way it is right nowI- he needs validation.

I realise the teachers are under pressure and don't want to burden them, but having been told by his primary there may be an error I thought it worth querying?

Attainment in itself is not based on sats, they may compare his results now to his sats results though. What were his sats results? Does his school sets by ability? If so which set is he? It seems like your son is doing well but his friends are doing slightly better, why is that a problem? Is your son meant to be better than everybody else?

Oh and his school is right, primary school shouldn’t be getting involved!

In a nutshell, yes, they told me last month he was "top of most of his classes" and doing better than everyone else. No he is not "supposed to be better", in fact he is struggling in maths. I find your comment unnecessarily confrontational. I would like clear answers from the school, is that too much to ask?

No, but we can't give the answers as all schools report attainment differently now. My school doesn't report in this way so I can't offer any help in translating. SATs based levels were removed at KS3 and not replaced.

Primary school should not be getting involved.

I say this as an ex secondary teacher- KS3 assessesment is now a load of made up bollocks. It was not great before but it’s worse now.

Did you allow him to do his SATS? SATS are used to assess the high school’s progress and I think they are not good for kids at all.

You say he has leaning difficulties - which ones? Has he been assessed by an educational psychologist or did his old school just say they thought he has leaning difficulties?

If they have been puy into sets nased on SATS results in which he didnt do well he could be top of his class without actually being top of the year group if you see what I mean. Being top of a set 3 class still means he is doing well for his ability but in the grand scheme of things is still struggling.

As others have said every school does it differently so hard for us to say.
However ... attainment should be a measure of how he is performing now; his SATS are unrelated. The school may however measure progress relative to how they expect a child with his SATS results to be doing at this stage in year 7.

I can't understand how he is top of classes and yet his peers are attaining more highly. That's simply a contradiction.

Finally you will have unfortunately annoyed his school by talking to his primary school. It really is nothing to do with them, he left 6 months ago!
I would try to talk more constructively, perhaps by saying you are concerned about progress or asking what he needs to work on. It's not important how he is performing in relation to everyone else. Focus on him.

Thanks everyone. They haven't been put into sets yet.

It's a great school and tbh the primary meant well. He only joined in year 6 as we were overseas. It's a small, friendly primary and they care for my son, who was bullied long-term previously. I allowed my son to do his SATS. I didn't realise he didn't have to.

@jackshouse he was assessed age 7. He was very asynchronous, with 4 years ahead verbal and perception and behind in processing and short term memory. He was diagnosed dyslexic but not typical dyslexia. The root cause appeared to be vision. He did vision therapy and made huge improvements.

He has sensory issues and likely mild autism. Not enough to be labelled (but a clinical psychologist overseas thought yes, neurologist said no).

He now mostly struggles with hearing. The ENT suggested APD but won't provide diagnosis or further testing. My concern is the big, "noisy" classes are becoming an issue for him and this is going unnoticed. I saw his year head and she said she couldn't believe he ever had problems before as he was doing so well.

It's a big problem for him as he "just wants to be good at something".

It might be that he is "developing" or "secure" in a higher grade?

I know at one point DS's school did Levels 1-6 and then within each they did developing, secure, mastered.

So DS could be developing at Level 4 and someone else might have mastered Level 3, if you see what I mean?

If you can afford a private assessment from a educational psychologist and private ENT assessment then I would get one done.

Which country have you moved from?

@RedSkyLastNight I agree it's a contradiction! I think he comes across confident and articulate but there is an underlying disability.Hes very frustrated and has self esteem issues thanks to the bullying. To be told he wasn't just doing well in English but excelling was a huge boost for him. He was referred for emotional support last year as he wanted to kill himself. This was the only thing he had sadly that gave him confidence.

So according to you, the school told you he was top of the class. When you say his friends are ahead, do you mean kids in the same class? It just doesn’t make sense. Also if he is struggling at maths, surely you are not surprised that other kids are ahead of him?

just read your last post, perhaps you should focus on your son’s mental health instead of comparing him to his friends?

OP.
Attainment and Progress are two separate things.

My y9 DD2 has apparently made 'Excellent' progress in PE since starting secondary. However they are saying she is 'on track' to get GCSE grade 2 if she were to select it for GCSE. This is not surprising as her motor skills were assessed as bottom 1%.

So your DS can be making excellent progress compared with his SATs, but still have low attainment. So he has made 'excellent' progress, but still only 'securing' the relevant knowledge according to the general y7 expectations.

re Maths in particular - are you sure they aren't set? Most schools set for maths quite early even if they don't set for anything else in y7.

DD gets awards for Progress in subjects, and at her school you can get credits for general stuff and so be 'top of the class' for credits. Both of these can happen even if you are bottom of the class for attainment.

In your situation I would focus on:
attitude - does the school say he's trying
progress - does he feel he is learning stuff and improving, and does the school think so too.

I would only flag with the school right now if your son says he is lost in lessons as doesn't understand, or bored in lessons as too easy. You may find you get more helpful reports in terms of absolute levels at the end of this term or end y7.

(And yes, nothing to do with primary now)

Tomorrowisanotherday22 I am not comparing him to his friends. The school made that comparison in a meeting and later via these levels

I am trying to understand if he needs to be retested for a learning disability.

My concern is over English only. I know he struggles in maths and his attainment for that is spot on.