KS3 Science

[MillyR]

DS has told me that his Science teacher told DS that he had got a 7C as his national curriculum level in the end of year exam. The test given was a year 9 test, but DS had originally been given a target of 6C for this year. He is in year 7. One other child was also called out and told the same.

DS believes that some kind of mistake has been made, and he cannot have got a 7C. I am inclined to agree that it is a mistake, as we have a Science revision book at home for KS3 and DS has not covered all of the topics in depth. For example, I don't think he has covered a lot of the Ecology.

Does it sound like a mistake? And should I bother phoning school? DS was called out by name, so it is not mistaken identity, but maybe a miscopied mark or something. I do not want DS to be under pressure next year if it is some kind of mistake.

7C isn't that unheard of. Does he enjoy science? Was it a year 9 SATs paper, or just using questions from year 9 on the topics covered? Actually I would also ask the school about his general coursework grade, has he consistently been operating at 7C?
You can ask the school all this, and ask them what they are going to do.

However it may just be that him and the other boy have exceeded their target, and the school is celebrating this before raising their target grade, which shouldn't put him under more pressure, but mean that teacher's should be planning how they will stretch him and cater for him.

DS was level 7 in year 7. The reason is that they teach by modules and in the top sets they teach each module to level 7 IYSWIM. He has finished year 9 on a high level 7 borderline 8.

DD is now year 7 and her teacher tests differently , more based on an assessment of the topic rather than a list of questions.

Yep, each test will be levelled so that a pupil could reach level 7 in it, even in topics they complete in year 7. well done him!

Sounds like your have a very able child. By all means ask at school but in the meantime congrats.

He could have achieved a 7C certainly, as although there are level descriptors for each level, and questions kind of correspond to them, the level is simply a test mark.

Was it a year 9 test, as in the actual SATs paper, or was it a test using past paper questions on the topics they have studied this year (which would be more usual).

It's probably a test score and he will be reset based on that plus general working level evidence. My daughter is in year 9 and she has also just had a good science test score 20 % beyond the second highest in her set( and that level was backed up by her working level as well). She was yesterday moved up two sets for the start of the GCSE work.

Although he may not have done all the work he may have some general knowledge already which enabled him to answer and pick up some of the marks for the levels you don't think he has covered.

I wouldn't bother the school unless the set he remains in is too low.

Having said that - my daughter has been in bottom science set for three years working at the top end and it has done her self esteem the power of good and hasn't held her improvement back.

Yeah Milly this is quite possible because it's taught in a modular way, so your DS has got a level 7 in the areas in which he has been taught (and tested on).

That doesn't mean he's at a level 7 across the board because as you quite rightly say, he hasn't covered the whole syllabus yet. It's still an excellent result, well done him.

At DD's school they have been told they have already covered this year's syllabus so were asked what they wanted to do for the second half of term. They replied a) dissect things and b) blow things up! So that's what they're doing

My dd was at Level 7 in Yr 7 too - funny enough there hasn't been that much imporovement in year 8 but apparrently that is normal

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am going to assume from what you have said that it was a year 9 test but only of the topics they have covered. They are now doing Ecology topics but this is after the test.

As far as I understand, they finish KS3 Science at the end of the first term in year 9 and move on to GCSE, and they are not put in sets until the end of year 8. The top two sets do 3 single sciences and the other 3 sets do the other type of science GCSEs. So DS doesn't need to worry about sets just yet.