Ds gone down a level for writing in year 3

[Blossomhill]

Ds got 3's across the board for his SATs in the summer.

Have just had his first target setting and he scored 3c's for everything but writing (which he got a 2a for).

I queried with the teacher and she said that on the day that ds was tested he didn't quite warrant a 3 as there wasn't enough detail, speech marks etc She then went on to say he is usually one of her 3's for writing but couldn't put that down because of the story he wrote on that day of the test.

Anyone else had this? Ds was really upset even though I tried to console hima nd tell him it didn't matter!

Bl@@dy tests!!!!!

[Blossomhill]

Sorry wanted to say ds will be 8 in Jan and is in year 3!

[soapbox]

I don't think it will do him any harm to experience a taste of disappointment - afterall it is normally this that spurs people to try harder next time

I would be more worried if he wasn't bothered at all!

It sounds like he's doing well, so not worth dwelling on other than as a learning experience for him!

[Blossomhill]

Thanks Soapbox

I personally am happy with how ds is and have always told him (the old cliche) as long as he tries his best I am more than happy!

[rummum]

It seems such a shame though that he had on 'off day' and the teacher didn't take any of his other writing into concideration!

[Blossomhill]

rummum - that's exactly what I thought! She even said oh I think they did it before play and maybe he rushed it a bit!

[roisin]

I'm quite surprised at the school giving out these test results at this point, especially to the children!

DS1 did KS1 SATs at the end of yr2, and afaik that is the last time levels were mentioned to him or by him. (I'm not at all sure he would know what levels he got for SATs.)

He did optional SATs in yr3, but I don't know what he got, and he certainly doesn't! The school use them for monitoring progress and so on, but they don't go in reports or anything like that.

[Blossomhill]

Roisin - the teacher also said that by June next year ds would be expected to get a 3b in all subjects!

[PrincessSmartyPants]

Very sad that teacher can't talk to your ds about the quality of his work ie I like the way that you are using different sentence starts and including punctuation etc.
As a teacher I know how flawed these wretched levels are, how liable to distortion they are( having spent all afternoon fudging mine before handing them in to the Head. )
Children should be motivated to improve in lots of ways and after many years of teaching cannot yet see how telling a child that they are a 3c or whatever is of any help at all.
Children are children they are not levels of any sort.
I wish the parents of the world would thrust these mangy pieces of paper back across the table at the teacher and ask
" tell me my child's strengths and the areas you intend to encourage them to develop"
We should not subscribe to the notion that what can be measured is always to be valued.


Oh the liberation of 2 glasses of wine and anononymity.

[Blossomhill]

Psp - I agree totaly with what you are saying. Is it fair to judge my son on 1 piece of work? I think not!

He is and always has done very well and I haven't ever had any problems at all. I was concerned a bit that he had gone down a level and all the teacher kept saying was he is one of "3" writers but on that particular day he did not warrant it.

Also I was a bit narked as she said he needs to work on his 3 and 4 times table. I said to her that I was totally shocked as after testing him on those this week he knew them and all and infact I carried on testing from 1-12 and knows them. Her answer was well now he needs to know his divisions and remainders inside out. I thought she could have at least given him a bit of praise for learning them all but she didn't!

[singersgirl]

There was some discussion on the Times Educational Supplement about how level 3s awarded in KS1 SATS are rarely 'real' level 3s and that it is common for children to go down a level at the start of KS2 and seem to make no progress in Y3. Not sure if this applies to your son, since the teacher says he is generally a Level 3, but to be honest this whole fixation in schools with levels seems unhelpful to me, particularly if the children are told what level they're supposedly working at . Sorry that this has been upsetting for you and your son....

[gladstone]

Frustrating, isn't it. I'm so sorry your son was upset by this. I think there are probably two issues here.

Firstly, the L3 your son got in Y2 was a 'best fit' judgement using the teacher's knowledge of his writing generally over time (thought to be a fairer way to assess younger children than having a one-off test), whereas his Y3 teacher has probably done a one-off timed writing task which has then been levelled (in the same way as it will be every year through out KS2 until the Y6 writing task which wil be sent away and marked externally). These are different types of assessment, and will often throw up different results.

This is a major stumbling block between KS1 and KS2, and is one of the reasons, as singergirl says, that children often appear to drop a level going from Y2 to Y3, when infact they are continuing to improve but the levelling criteria and assessment methods change (Y3 teachers face this every year).

I think the other issue is that people are taking the levels too seriously - teachers, parents and children. I never discussed actual levels with children, but focused on the specifics of how they could improve their writing (usually linked to the criteria of the next level up, but they didn't need to know this). It's such a shame that your son is feeling despondent and that you are feeling upset for him.

Could you talk to his teacher about it, saying that you feel his confidence has been knocked and could she just try to boost him a little over the next few weeks (it sounds like she could do with a nudge about being positive anyway ),
and at the same time ask about how you can help your son improve his writing - what aspects to focus on etc, so that you can support him at home? HTH

[Blossomhill]

sg - thanks! Tried the link but couldn't find the discussion as would be really interested in what it said!

gs - thing is I am more than happy with his progress. he is doing very, very well and I just feel that to judge a child on one test is not fair or accurate tbh. However I am not going to get stressed over it all. The results are really for the school and not a true reflection of my son's capabilities!

[singersgirl]

Blossomhill, try a search for "threshold Level 3" - I can't quite remember when I read it, but that term was being used. I'll look when I have more time...

[singersgirl]

Obviously I should be in bed (!), but think this is the link.
Don't know if its relevant....but hope it's interesting, at least!

[Blossomhill]

Thanks Singersgirl

[Blossomhill]

I am going in to see ds's other teacher tomorrow. He has 2 as they do a job share. I just want to talk it over with her as she has ds for 3 days so I feel knows him a bit better.