Interim Report from school

[Trampoline11]

I feel a bit foolish but I am hoping that I can salvage something from this situation that my DS is in.

He is Yr 11 and studying Computer Science. I have obviously misunderstood previous reports as his target grade at the start of yr 10 was a D.

School have encouraged him re 6th form, college (needs 5 C's at least) but I was given his report yesterday and his target grade is a D. His work is up to date according to the report.

Am I missing something here? I have emailed school but no reply as it's the holiday now.

I mean, hasn't he improved at all since year 10? I feel I could get an E and I'm pretty useless with computers! Parents evenings have been positive and it's his favourite subject.

Maybe someone knows what criteria they use in year 9/10 that would make his target grade so low? Just for info, he's in top set for maths and 2 for English.

I'm baffled tbh and want to know if there's anything I can do for him? I won't of course but I feel like telling him not to bother putting any work in. A 'D'? Long time ago but when I was in school that was a fail.

Can anyone throw any light on this as I feel something isn't right but I may have left it too late?

Thanks

@Trampoline11

I appreciate that teachers don't pull the grades out of their arse but how can it be based on his work when he hadn't even started the course? If it is this FFT thing, then that isn't the teacher grading him is it?

What the PP meant was that teachers will base his actual GCSE grade - which is what really matters - on his work. His target grade is not especially important now IMHO.

The FFT thing is a system for predicting the grade range a child will get. It takes into account things like SATs scores, how many schools the child has attended, deprivation, etc. So they give a prediction of where they are likely to land.

I think the confusion comes in reporting. Sometimes people think that the school is reporting where the child is now' but often they are reporting what the child may achieve if they carry on achieving as they are now.^

So, a a parent of a child reported with a grade of D in year 8 could think 'Great! He'd already get a D if he took the test today, so by the time he's year 11, he might get an A' whereas the school may be saying 'at his current rate of progress, he's likely to get a D in year 11.'

Our school has moved to a 5-scale 'mastery grade'. The child needs to be 'meeting' by the end of each academic year to end up with a grade 5 in year 11. If they are 'confident' they'll be more in line for a grade 6. If they have 'mastered' they are more in line for grades 7-9. Conversely, if they are 'developing' they may only get a 4, and if they are 'emerging' they may get a 1-3.

But children don't progress in a linear way. So it's all rubbish

I'm even more confused now but very grateful for all of your replies.

So the fact that DS was in care, adopted and has free school meals could impact on his grades? FFT sounds dreadful tbh.

Trampoline Yes, those factors could well impact the algorithm that generates FFT grades.

However those grades are based on kind of 'average grades for the whole group of children with similar backgrounds. They do not say what any individual child is likely to get.

As it happens, my y11 DD is adopted too. Throughout secondary she has 'beaten' predictions. Until the pandemic hit, and then her fragility due to her background meant she completely crumbled.

What I don't quite understand is why the CS 'target' is so different from his maths, and why you don't seem to have been told anything about how he has actually been performing...
... so maybe they really do mean 'performing' and a D is where he is at. He should know though?

I also don't understand why so many schools seem incapable of putting an explanation with their reports saying what the columns mean.

@Trampoline11

I'm even more confused now but very grateful for all of your replies.

So the fact that DS was in care, adopted and has free school meals could impact on his grades? FFT sounds dreadful tbh.

All of those things will be taken into account for FFT predictions..... Its been going on for years......using FFT data I was predicted mostly Es at GCSE, in reality my lowest grade was a C and I've gone on to get a Masters degree with distinction (so much more academically able than FFT say). They are pretty pointless. You need to establish if your sons school use FFT data as not all schools do.

@Trampoline11

I'm even more confused now but very grateful for all of your replies.

So the fact that DS was in care, adopted and has free school meals could impact on his grades? FFT sounds dreadful tbh.

Yes, all of that would factor in. But it's only a prediction. The issue is that your DS is 'on target' for a D when you thought it was one of his best subjects. I don't understand why they haven't told you how he's doing. As an example, I asked DD2's (y9) teacher if she was on target to pass her GCSE maths. He immediately said 'yes, I think so, the class is doing well and we're likely aiming for the foundation paper.' That told me that he's expecting her to get at least a 4, but she is likely going to taking a paper that will cap her at a 5.

If his target is a D and his expected is a D, that's fine.
If his target is a D and his expected is an A, that's better than fine.
If his target is a D and his expected is F, not fine.
Much depends on whether he wants to do the subject at a higher level. D may well preclude that.
I have students with targets of 5 who are "expected" to get 3, 5 and 6. The school is measured on the targets, not the individual. I'm not going to give my target 3 student a 3 because I don't have evidence for that. I do have evidence for much better.

Also FFT uses stats to generate the data. A looked after child is statistically less likely to achieve top grades. But schools don't use these grades as a limit to their predictions.
We're allowed to move targets up but not down in my school - we're judged against FFT though.

What marks has he had for his continuous assessment work, OP?

I feel like I've failed my DS. This is awful to hear. I'll try and find out if the school are using this FFT thing.

They wouldn't have known he was LAC if I hadn't told them would they? That is dreadful and why only this subject? Every other one seems 'normal' if that makes sense.

@Trampoline11

I feel like I've failed my DS. This is awful to hear. I'll try and find out if the school are using this FFT thing.

They wouldn't have known he was LAC if I hadn't told them would they? That is dreadful and why only this subject? Every other one seems 'normal' if that makes sense.

I don't understand why you feel you've failed. His grades at this point will be based on his work.

I'm not sure whether schools are automatically informed if a pupil is post-LAC. Children who were looked after get additional funding, so you telling the school will have been a positive for him, not a negative.

I'm also a bit confused by the part in your opening post about being tempted not to bother with his work. It's the exact opposite to what he needs. He's only one grade away, so a real push might get him there in the final couple of months. Students exceed target grades all the time.

@Trampoline11

I'm even more confused now but very grateful for all of your replies.

So the fact that DS was in care, adopted and has free school meals could impact on his grades? FFT sounds dreadful tbh.

Those things might impact on his grades - but whether they do will depend somewhat on him, you and his teachers.

Those things will have impacted on his targets - as he will have been expected not to achieve so well. But hey, he can still smash those targets! His target is not his grade.

does he plan to take CS for A level OP? Bc otherwise it's very much not a disaster if he gets a D.

But if he does get a D, it's not because you did or didn't tell the school he was an LAC. It's because he is not that good at CS, or his teacher isn't great, or he didn't work hard enough. Sorry if that sounds harsh, it is honestly not meant to be!

I know which of my students are LAC, but it makes no difference to how I treat them.
It also doesn't matter if they use FFT to generate the targets. What matters now is that he makes sure he's working as hard as he can to get the grades he needs.
Targets be damned.

The target grade doesn't matter - it's how they're actually doing which matters. If a target grade of D was set at the start of KS4, what they're saying is "we think he ought to be able to get this grade on the basis of what we know about him at the end of year 9", but if in reality he's performing at grade E or B then that's what they'll put forward for his GCSE grade.

Have you been given predicted grades at any point, or just the target grades? If just target grades, hopefully they've told you whether they're on target, or exceeding it.

Schools vary a lot on what information they give, and some explain very clearly what any target/projected/estimated/predicted grades mean. Others seem to expect parents to know - which when the system is different in every school, is unreasonable. It's also the case that in some cases, different departments are interpreting the meaning differently! I suspect that's less likely to be the case where the meaning is being communicated clearly to parents.

Morning,
I think as parents we feel very responsible for not understanding how these things work at schools and the systems they use.
You said in your OP that he needs 5 C’s for college. Later that he’s got target grades of 2As, 2Bs & 2Cs plus this D. The teacher said he’s likely to attain his D target grade. Did they say if he’s likely to attain his other target grades? If so, he’s ok for the 5Cs for college. Or did they say he’s not likely to reach those? Call and ask what he needs to be doing to ensure he gets those targets grades. Ask them if there’s anything specific he’s not understanding that would improve the D.

(Don't know how to highlight)

The subject he wants to do at college is Computer Science so I'm assuming that they would expect a better grade than a D. The same for 6th form.

Feedback has always been positive - implying that he was very good at this subject which is why I feel bad about not understanding and picking up on the target grade earlier.

Can I ask why pp asked if we are in Wales? Is FFT an English thing?

I can't believe I've been so unaware. So ashamed.

It's the grades which are confusing us. Grades in England are usually 9-1 unless you're doing Btec

So what is his actual grade at present - still a D?

We get target grades, which are based on the FFT and then each report we get a working at grade which indicates if they continue working at that standard then that is the GCSE grade they are predicted to get.

His target grades have only changed once in Science, I'm assuming because he didn't do any Science SATS. His working at grades have gone up and down a few times.

Do you have a working at grade or just a target grade?

It's unfortunate that it's the holidays now, but I think you need to email his computer science teacher with:

1. His target is a D but is he in with good chance of doing better than that?
2. Do they think he has the ability/knowledge needed for A-level?
3. What does he need to be doing to improve at this late stage?

I don't know how sixth form/college applications work in your area. Here the school would have provided predicted grades to the sixth forms in January, so it would probably have been flagged well before now if he was applying for an inappropriate course.

Possibly it will turn out that he's on course for C or better, but the teacher didn't see any need to do anything beyond tick that he was on course to meet his target. (I think one reason my DD is not doing computer science is that the KS3 teacher always ticked that she was meeting the expected standards, when she was exceeding them in everything else - we have a suspicion he ticked the same box for almost everybody.)

OP, here in Wales, the Welsh exam board GCSEs are still graded A-E, in England it’s 9-1.

My DD is also doing the WJEC GCSE. A large part of the mark is based on the continuous assessment she’s been doing since the start of the course. She knows what marks she has had for that, your DS should know that too.
DD has also been doing past papers to practice for the in-class assessments which will count towards her grade. One was last week, she has another in May. Does your DS have past papers? If you DM me, I can forward them to you.

Thanks @HelloDulling. I'd appreciate that. I've had a chat with him about the importance of working over the next 2 weeks - no holiday for him! I still don't really understand how other subjects can go up and down on reports and this one has stayed a rigid D! I will ask about FFT as pp mentioned.

Re not being very good at the subject, he had a meeting with Exams officer etc who have encouraged him to go to 6th form or college with this as his main subject.

I am glad I have posted as I was so confused and cross with the situation but now feel that the best way forward is to insist (?) that he
completes all assignments and past papers. If I tell him he'll have to do it all again next year that might motivate him!

Is it absolutely, definitely, a GCSE? A lot of schools offer GCSE Computer science or Cambridge Nationals in either ICT, creative imedia, etc.

The Cambridge Nationals are graded from Distinction to pass, and so a 'D' would be fantastic. I wonder if there's a mix-up here?