Attainment grade 8 & 9 what do they actually mean in year 7?

[SpagBob]

For background, I was educated in another (non-English speaking) country up until A-levels and the completed my University degree in the UK.

Ds has received a mix of 7, 8 and 9s in his end of year report. I was very please about this as I (think I) understand that 9 = A*. When he saw his attainment grades he was very frustrated as apparently his teachers say 7 & 8 is average, 9 is good.

Please, help a confused mum! What do these grades actually mean? TIA.

I had an argument with DD's school over something like this. DD got a bunch of "working below expectations" in her Year 8 report. She was absolutely distraught, particularly in 1 subject we're she'd actually got 100% in every piece of work bar one where she'd dropped 2 marks. The school's response was that she was expected to get 8s and 9s at GCSE and the teachers were not prepared (in Year 8) to say she was on track for that. I pointed out that I totally agreed with the teachers' point, but it was a nonsense to be telling a high achieving student that they were working below expectations which did absolutely nothing for their self esteem/self worth. The school ignored me, and after that I told my DC that the grading system was for solely for the school and they should not consider it as relevant for them.

It is the downside of a very selective school - they can be doing really really well, but it doesn't feel so amazing because it is average for the cohort. We talked to our DS a lot about this when started secondary school, and I do find myself reminding him. At his school, for example, 2/3 get a 9 for Maths, Chemistry and Physics.

It's a difficult balance between wanting them to put effort in and not coast, but also sending a really clear message that their worth is not measured by grades. Our school is actually very good at this, but the boys themselves... not so much.

I would just take this opportunity to remind him that if there is talk of 'average', it is in the context of already high-achieving children - and that he's doing brilliantly.

It is total nonsense to assess using a GCSE grade system in Year 7 when they haven't even started the course and are nowhere near having the skills or knowledge to do so. It kills any joy in learning at this early stage. Let pupils enjoy knowledge for knowledge sake without trying to equate this learning spuriously to a GCSE outcome. This whole flightpath business (based on SATS or Year 7 makes me so cross (speaking as a teacher where fortunately my school sees sense on this issue).