Report card year 7

[alizee21g]

My Dd started secondary school in September so I am new to this. We've had her first "proper" report card, all looks great apart from her English grade. Her report card states her grade to be 5 yet she's ranked 10/183 students. For comparison her Maths grade is 6 and her rank for Math is stated as 60/183. Would you question that? For reference it's out of character for her to be doing better in Maths and Science (for which she got 8!) than English. She said her English test went well, she's in top set for English, her SATS for English were close to maximum mark and she was picked for grammar stream and started that in January. Of course it's entirely possible she struggles with higher level of work in secondary school but I would expect that in Maths not English. Don't want to be "that" parent but at the same time it seems odd. I know there are teachers/former teachers here so would love some input. Personally I have only attended university in England so I am a bit clueless!

Setting aside my aversion to schools ranking students in that manner...

I'm not sure what you mean by "question it". No, I definitely wouldn't bother raising a comparison between the various subjects - different departments will have different grading standards.

But if you haven't received any feedback other than the single number and her english grade is lower than expected, then it's entirely reasonable to ask for more info about your DD's progress from her subject teacher. Leave math out of it, just say you'd like more understanding of where your DD could improve to raise her English mark this term. It's very possible they'll say she's doing great and they just like to leave lots of room for growth in marks (a nice way of saying they're a little harsh with early grades to keep students from getting complacent).

Firstly, do you understand your school ranking system? Are 5 and 6 really such different grades? What is the top grade? Are they based on attainment or progress or effort or some combination? Is it linked to where they expect her to be based on SATS (or other baseline assessment)?

DD's school had a bizarre ranking system in KS3 where it was virtually impossible for a previously excellent student to get a high report mark as the expectations for them were basically that they had to have superlatives on everything.

Sorry - in answer to your question, I'd get school to explain the grades if you don't understand it and, as per PP, ask how your DD can improve.

You should also know that every school does this differently and the changes to curriculum and GCSEs are relatively recent, so even parents who have been through the UK school system are pretty clueless :)

Thank you both.
It says subject marks are 9-1, there's separate system for effort, behaviour etc and that's 1-4 (1 being outstanding and role model; 4 reason for concern).
My point is that I am struggling to imagine that amongst all 183 y7 pupils level of attainment in English is such that grade 5 places her in top 10; whereas higher grade in maths being grade 6 places her in rank 62 amongst 183? I've seen her Maths paper and I believe her maths grade and ranking are in line with her level. These are definitely her current grades, not target grades or expected gcse grades. Her overall rank amongst y7 is 6 which is absolutely fantastic and we have congratulated her profusely and told her we're really proud and that she should be proud of herself. I am just surprised by English grade being relatively low for her. Just recently she was awarded "Golden ticket" for her essay. We're not being told about any other grades they achieve during the year and we've not had parents evening other than "settling in" meeting with form tutor at the end of September.

Just send the teacher a quick email along the lines of “Thankyou for Olivia’s progress report. Could I check that her grade 5 and rank 10/183 is correct? If it is how can we support Olivia to raise her attainment in English?”

Could well be a data entry error, could be a department who have understood the grading system differently. If she is ranked 10/183 and won some English awards sounds like she is doing great.

Is the school using a "flight path" model for grades? This would explain why a grade 5 in English in yr 7 places them in top sets.

https://ugc-assets.mumsnet.com/images/202212/large-pPBgWlsT09Ncn6Fc56tNaYg318OEGQh37PcGjAkE.jpg

I think it's fine to politely query the English grade, or raise a general query with the form tutor. English and maths may have slightly different systems- it may be that due to the way they are assessed in English, a 5 is the highest possible grade that can be awarded at the moment, for example.

I don't think you can really ask the English teacher to make a comparison with maths, as she won't have any real information about how your child is doing in that subject.

In many ways I think GCSE grades in Y7 are pretty meaningless. In future reports I'd expect to see a general upwards trajectory (obviously progress is not necessarily going to be linear), but the actual grade itself doesn't mean much at this stage. She's unlikely to be working at an actual GCSE grade 6 at this stage.

The reason that it doesn't make any sense is that it's made up bollocks. There is no way to give a GCSE grade with any accuracy to a Y7 pupil who isn't even studying a GCSE course.

It's much easier to be advanced in Maths at an early age. Think about all those kids who sit GCSE maths age 10 or whatever. English requires a level of maturity which doesn't really develop until the early teens. So it does make sense that she's top in English but only in the upper half in maths.

Have you asked any other parents? My dd’s grades were all over the place in Y7. Some teachers said they wouldn’t award above a 6 in Y7, other subjects rated on the full scale 1-9. It’s all a bit meaninglessness if they don’t explain it!

Have you had her target grades yet?

Dc school have used scaled scores like sats
But even that doesnt completely mske sense as mfl shes come out in top third but i would have expected much higher.
And art just average when shes clearly talented.

also its based on tests sat november, for term 1 but theyve already sat term 2 either dec or jan and some term 3. So feedback way too slow

Well it could be that the whole year is better at maths. Particularly possible if a large number come from the same primary that focuses on maths.

Dd1's year was particularly good at maths. Standard comprehensive with 10 sets, before covid, and they had over 40 grade 9s, and I think pretty much all of the top 3 sets got 7+ and a fair number of the set 4 and even some in set 5. They also got all the top set, and about half the second set getting A/B in additional maths in year 11.
If I say their English marks were a bit the opposite, you can see how even in a large year there can be variations overall.

But as with others, I really wouldn't worry with year 7 results. It's a bit of a random game at that stage. Just look at those results and think she's doing fine. Keep going.

Thank you all for your feedback. I will send English teacher polite email asking for feedback on her grade. I don't know her target grades, the communication side of things with her school is a bit shite. The only explanation on her report card states these are her current marks on the scale 1 to 9.
Then on the other hand when I asked her how come she didn't attempt some questions in her maths test (thinking she needs help with some topics) she said some of that stuff they haven't even covered yet. So perhaps for some subjects they were tested with GCSE level paper hence lower grade. No idea but it would have been nice to have some info.
I guess I am paranoid a bit that by being unfamiliar with the system I am going to miss something important and it will affect her education somehow. I am still getting used to this secondary school malarkey and I can't say I like it haha! I miss primary school days.

So perhaps for some subjects they were tested with GCSE level paper hence lower grade.

It is highly unlikely that a routine Year 7 test uses a GCSE level paper.
And, if they did, Year 7 students who hadn't been taught beyond the normal maths syllabus for their age, would not be getting grade 6s.