Any secondary teachers available? Please explain Yr8 targets

[daisylaisy]

I realise they're different for languages, but if your dc's report says,eg, target 6 for science, 7 for maths etc, is that the national curriculum target, or what the teacher thinks your child should be achieving.

Also, is it what they should be getting at the end of yr8, or in their Sats?

Thanks in advance

A target is what the teacher thinks the child can reach if they really really work. It is sometimes called an aspirational grade...and sometimes not.

Also, despite what I have written it is not always set by the teacher, but sometimes comes from exam data or other data

Confusing...you bet, and that's just for the teachers.

You need to find out if target was set by teacher, and will then probabaly be an aspiratational grade, or if it came from "data" (the 2 can be similar)

At the end of year 8 average child will be performing somewhere around a high 4/low 5

Feel very cynical about target setting today....sorry

Thanks fizzbuzz. They do seem a bit random for ds.

If the teacher's set it, it quite likely means that it's realistic - he or she is expected to hit targets if coming up for Threshold (pay review), so will be jolly careful not to set low attainable targets!

If it's data based, it means it reflects what they got in their KS2 SATs or their NFER tests in year 7 or their end of year 7 exams...or an average of the 3.

Also, different schools use medium centile (50% of kids with this target will reach or exceed it) or upper centile (aspirational - only 25% of kids with this target will reach it).

Honestly, all you can do is compare 'targets' to 'achieved grades' on next report or progress review. Any really weird discrepancies (ie. a whole level) might prompt a discussion with subject teacher.

doh! I mean they will be careful to set attainable targets.

Teachers are supposed to set aspirational targets at our school.

Target setting eh? What a larf....