Not Sure What To Make Of It!

[ThumpersMum]

Hi,
I received my son's end of year report for his first year at a local grammar school (Yr 7) and I'm not really sure what to think of it. I have contacted the Biology teacher about his Attainment level and she has provided feedback on how to improve (he sometimes loses focus in the lesson). There are 6 "Working towards expected progress" marks, and while I know he definitely won't be doing some of these at GCSE, I was worried about the English and Physics, which I know he has to do. I keep telling myself it's still early days yet, but thinking further down the line, I'm wondering if overall the report is a cause for concern. The other columns are good, but I'm still worried - he's one of those boys who is capable but a little bit lazy. Should I be panicking about how he will perform during his GCSE years? He's my first child in secondary school and I don't know whether to be concerned or not.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

As a teacher I wouldn't say that the other columns are good. It looks like the school uses a scale something like
Rarely meets expectations
Usually meets expectations
Meets expectations
Often exceeds expectations
Consistently exceeds expectations

which would mean 'meets expectations' is more like 'satisfactory' than 'good'. It's 'doesn't piss around enough to warrant a below average report but not really putting much effort in'. You say that he can be lazy and a teacher reports that he can lose focus in lessons. It looks like he likes Drama and is putting in the effort there, maybe music too. Subjects that don't require much writing...which matches with his lack of progress in English.
He got into a grammar school so he must be bright, but it looks like he's not particularly stepping up to the mark. Talk to him and see what he thinks.

You have a performance, stage artist at home

Doesn't it depends on the school? In our school which is in top 100 UK schools in terns of results ( not grammar) to have above expected a kid has to be really really good. Hardly any child ever is.

Thank you for the reply noblegiraffe.* * Yes, he does need to step it up! I'll speak to him.

I agree with @noblegiraffe - virtually everything there is on the "OK" rating. There are 47 ratings on a scale of 1-5 there and he has 7 where is making above average effort.

At a grammar school expectations will be high; but even so, he perhaps should be making more effort in lessons and on HW. It’s not about ability, tho he must be able; effort and engagement at this stage are more important.

Side note: great that he is able to study both French and German!

Thanks for the comment clary, it's much appreciated! 😊

Aren’t the expectations (in state schools) as per the national curriculum?

No. National curriculum levels were scrapped by Michael Gove and secondary schools were left to essentially make up their own systems for assessment.

Effort and behaviour grades have always been totally subjective.

Going that direction we could conclude that all schools are the same because they have the same curiculum. And they are not

It's great to have a discussion about the Attitude to Learning grades (just to say that the school said they were more likely to give "the middle" levels and make the top 2 levels more difficult to achieve), but I was wondering what people's thoughts were on the Attainment levels too. I'm thinking with regard to GCSEs further down the line. I emailed the Biology teacher straight away but now that the academic year has finished, I don't realistically think it's an option to speak to anyone in September. Like I said before, this is all new territory for me and I'm not sure how to interpret the report overall! (Sorry to ramble!)😊

Oh interesting. Effort/behaviour I would have assumed was formed by the school, but I think I assumed schools used ‘working towards’ etc as part of some sort of rubric to do with ultimate gcse attainments.

Secondary schools generally set gcse targets individually for the student which are often based on ks2 results.

what this means is that your child is being measured against not an age related expectation (like in primary) but his own personal targets.

if a child gets very high sats results this can mean their targets are all 9s at gcse and it can be very difficult if not impossible for them to exceed those expectations. Thus top set children often get reports that say they are “meeting expectations”.

by contrast, a student who has done badly in the sats will have low gcse target grades. It’s relatively easy for them to be on target and they often can exceed expectations (because the expectations are low).

basically you need to read the report in context. If your child got 120 in all sats then meeting expectations is great.

if they did badly then meeting expectations is not so great.

Thanks Octavia64 - really helpful info. I've attached the SATS results. 😊

Sorry, forgot to attach them 🫣

What are his targets for each subject? (Will likely be 9-4, so look for that). It says working towards or expecting - do you what they are in each subject. At secondary theyll be different for each subejct and will NOT just be based on SATs, he'll be doing topic tests and end of year exams in Y7 and onwards. They'll start to have more of an impact than SATs and often he'llhave predicted grades (based on the actual work he's been doibg and exams in Y7) and then targets from SATs, depending on the school. It depends on that if his targets are high in the subjects he's working towards then it makes sense he's challenged to meet them. But if they're quiet low targets already and he's only just meeting them or struggling to meet them.

Then you might need to be a little more worried, get him to care more about education overall, be more focused, ask questions and do all his homework and more. I.e if he has homework try and stretch him to develop his answers, do more research etc. Especially in subjects where he's only working towards, but he's got time as long as he stays focused etc he should be fine for GCSEs. But try and instill good small habits now, they can make it into a diligent student down the line and then whem he starts preparing for GCSEs he'll be much more self-reliant and determined to do well.

Thank you TheLivelyViper for your swift and detailed response - I appreciate it!