Y7 assessements - any Secondary parents/teachers able to help?

[SarfE4sticated]

hi there, I hope you can help. My DD did quite well at her SATs, mostly due to the supreme efforts of her teacher and the staff of her primary. She has since started our local secondary which is very academic, and they use their y6 SATs scores to set their targets for the year. My DD has been set the highest target (I think) for every subject, and has got pretty terrible marks for everything in her first secondary school report. Her friends who have been set more moderate targets have got the same marks as her in the assessments and got lots of 'on track's and 'above expected's.
I guess my worry is that DD will either brand herself as 'rubbish at science' because of this, or will spend her school career being judged against a standard she won't meet.
So, will this target stay the same throughout the school, or is it adjusted each year? Obviously they want to see progress but they won't want to set her up to fail will they?
DD is very conscientious and like most 12yr old girls she is going through a rather emotional stage, and I want her to feel motivated and excited by her new subjects and teachers. Not like she has failed in her first 6 weeks there. What do you suggest I do?
Thanks in advance

It seems OFSTED know this and are aiming at recognising schools like DD’s that foster extracurricular learning opportunities and not rigidly looking at the test etc. However how you can measure this is not clear. I hope this doesn’t get to become a box ticking exercise too www.gov.uk/government/news/ofsteds-new-inspection-arrangements-to-focus-on-curriculum-behaviour-and-development

THE new OFSTED framework is supposedly far less data driven and will look at the school as a whole. However I don't think a focus on extra curricular offerings is fair on teaching staff. We get nothing extra for providing extra curricular opportunities including trips, clubs etc.

Accountability has no doubt improved some schools and has meant more students leave with English and Maths qualifications. However at what cost. All non academic courses have pretty much disappeared. Students who used to thrive in hairdressing, mechanics etc no longer even get that opportunity. Funding cuts have to take some blame for this, and so does the focus on progress 8.

Yeo it's a crap system I think.

I'm a school governor. My DD got really high SATS marks. At Secondary all her benchmarks are 9's. Her benchmarks! Frigging 9's! It's impossible.

Shes now in Y10 she's hit a few 8's and 9's but is nearly always 'below' progress even in subjects she's doing well at. It sucks, for her, for me and for the Progress 8 at the school.

Our school don't set the benchmarks themselves - they are churned our from a computerised system right at the beginning of Y7.

My ds is Y8. He did ok in his SATS but not amazing. His benchmarks are really achievable because of it and his reports always look much better.

I try and ignore it but it irks me. Especially when the LGB talk about improving Progress 8!

Our school don't set the benchmarks themselves

They do.

They choose the system to punt the results into.

Yes Teacher I agree. I would love to see woodwork, electronics, cooking, sewing in all schools, and real practical skills not CAD stuff. There is nothing more fun than walking into a woodwork room and actually making something like a pot stand, and it would make us all more self-sufficient with proper life skills. Being a teen is about learning what you're capable of and what your passions are, not just about passing exams.

not just about passing exams

Totally agree. Another thing to thank coke-snorting Gove for.

My daughters' secondary adjusts targets at the end of Y7. Until then I would recommend to tell your daughter that the targets are nonsense and she should ignore them. How well others are doing is a much better indicator of where your child stands.

My mother used to laugh at some grades I got and tell me the teacher had it completely wrong and was clearly not fit for the job. It helped me a lot. It is all subjective and can change in both directions.

Yes Yolande I will see what the teachers say at Parent's evening, I'm sure they are (painfully) aware of the flaws in the system.

Of DD's new friends the marks that she knows are similar to hers so she is happy with herself really.