Great comments from teachers but not so good grades for dd

[apoorna]

Hi Mums,

Today we received DD's end of year 7 grades. The teachers gave some excellent comments on each subject but the grades don't seem promising. I wonder why the teachers were not honest enough in their comments. Here are her grades.

Art - 3a
Drama - 4a
English - 5a
French - 3b
Humanities - 4c
ICT - 4b
Maths - 6c
Music - 4c
PE - 3b
Science - 5b
DT - 5a

Any ideas on how to approach this and improve her grades?

Regards,
Apoorna

[ShanghaiDiva]

French is presumably a relatively new subject, so nothing to worry about there. Art not great, but as someone whose son has talent this wouldn't bother me either. Pe is low, but really depends what your dd is interested in and most important aspect is staying fit.
Maths, English and science are all good, are they not?

[Picturesinthefirelight]

That sounds fine.

Most of the subjects with low grades are ones that to a certain extent you are either talented in or not

My dd is talented in drama & music (6a)(she wants it as a career) but her art mark is a 3c.

I started a thread about languages & was told that for French her 4a was pretty much top of the scale so your dds 3b seems about average

Dd is an academic high flyer & has almost identical maths & English & science marks to your dd

The only thing that seems a bit low is humanities.

[Smartiepants79]

All looks pretty good to me. Her core subject grades are all 5's or 6's which is exactly what they should be.
She is perhaps not going to be an artist but we all have our gifts....!
Her teacher comments should really be more about attitude to learning and her relationships etc.
I'm not sure you need to worry over much.

[RelocatorRelocator]

English Maths and Science are all good. Have you been told how the other grades relate to the expected grades for end of Year 7? I'm not sure how it works, especially in subjects like French where they are starting from the beginning.

[TeenAndTween]

I can't see anything particularly wrong with those grades.

What were her y6 SATs levels?

[Littleturkish]

This info doesn't have any meaning without the data of whether she's progressing to her targets- how did she perform in relation to what they hope she will do?

[apoorna]

Thanks a lot for your lovely comments mums ! I was worried because the end of year targets seemed way off from what she has achieved. Obviously I would love for her to get A* in her GCSEs and trying to work towards that right from now. I have appended the EOY targets here in brackets

Art - 3a (5a)
Drama - 4a (5a)
English - 5a (6b)
French - 3b (4a)
Humanities - 4c (5b)
ICT - 4b (5a)
Maths - 6c (6a)
Music - 4c (6c)
PE - 3b (5a)
Science - 5b (5a)
DT - 5a (5a)

The effort grades seem to be 1 in most subjects except art where they gave her a 3.

@TeenandTween - her SATs grades are as below:

English - 4
Grammar punctuation and spelling - 5
Reading - 4
Mathematics -5
Science - 5

[Littleturkish]

There is something really odd about this- are those her end of key stage targets? Why would they target her a six for English if she got a 4 in her sats? Two levels of progress over one year?!

Do you know her CAT scores?

[doormouse04]

The targets in brackets look like end of key stage targets to me.

[AntoinetteCosway]

Yep, I think those are end of Key Stage targets-so for the end of Year 9.

[Ionacat]

I don't think they are end of key stage targets unless she has a two year KS3 in which case they make sense, as her Maths which is a level 5 so target at the end of year 9 will be a level 7 and therefore a 6a target for the end of year 8 is about right. Schools vary widely as to how they manage their target setting with often all subjects given a target based on English and Maths KS2 results which really doesn't work, sometimes teachers are allowed in other subjects to baseline and then target set. If you have a parents evening/report comment slip you might want to ask how the targets are worked out and are they end of year 7 targets or end of KS targets. But if you look at English and Maths she is making fantastic progress. The other subjects seem fine for year 7 with maybe humanities being slightly on the low side compared to her English.

[TheFirstOfHerName]

6b seems a bit of an optimistic end of Y7 English target for a child who was level 4 at the end of KS2.

[Littleturkish]

A lot of schools have a two year key stage and start KS4 in yr 9.

I think those targets must be for end of year 8, otherwise her effort grades are totally wrong and she's massively under performing.

As it is, it looks like she's had a great year and I'm glad her teachers are so pleased with her.

[apoorna]

Actually her English in SATs had two parts - Grammar punctuation and spelling in which she got 5 and reading in which she got 4. I think the overall was 4. Again I am not sure why the a,b,cs disappeared in the SATs grades. I remember the teacher told me she scored 91 out of 100 in Maths.

And the report clearly said end of current year target for the ones in brackets.

[apoorna]

@Ionacat, they have a 3 year KS3 - years 7,8 and 9

[AntoinetteCosway]

Then the problem isn't her progress, it's her wildly optimistic target grades. From a 4 to a 6b in English (for example) in one year is a bit bonkers for most kids.

[Smartiepants79]

I agree. Those end of year targets are unrealistic and ridiculous.
For some reason that I don't know, when we report the end of yr 6 levels they are given only as a 3/4/5 no sub levels involved.
No idea why.
If she is getting 1 for effort and her levels have improved since last year especially in literacy and maths then I think she is doing all she should.

[clary]

I agree with PP, the issue is not her grades but the targets.

4a in French is higher than any of my yr 7s achieved and not IMO realistic for a L4 Eng at end of KS2.

She is doing v well OP :)

[nigerdelta]

I think it's a typo in her report & those are supposed to be end of y9 targets. You need to ask.

My end-of-yr7 DD has a 6c target in catering. FFS. She doesn't even especially like catering! I swear they just pick them out of a hat.

[ohtobeanonymous]

In some schools, a lot of the levels for non-core subjects are sometimes based on English/maths/science expected progress...sad but true.

Wouldn't worry about the levels at all if the comments are good, your child is happy, working to the best of her ability, developing healthy peer relationships, has a range of inspiring extra-curricular interests and is enjoying learning! These are the real skills that will get her through life . (And levels are going to be 'old hat' for the new curriculum anyway, so feel free to ignore them!)

When it comes time to choose her GCSEs, who knows what particular subjects will really take her fancy? She will be well advised about choices that give her the best chance to show her potential in a few years when it is time to choose. Self motivation is a student's best friend.

Also, progress is not 'linear' and children sometimes plateau and sometimes seem to rapidly improve ( or, like mine in one certain subject with a certain teacher this year, go backwards!!!)

I think we all want our children to do their best, but I'd hate to think my own DC would not choose a certain subject at GCSE that they really enjoyed but were not particularly good at, just because they might not get a top grade! I would be furious if their school suggested that they should only choose subjects they would get the best marks in. I would also see it as slightly pointless for them to choose something at which they excelled but didn't particularly enjoy...(no matter how frustrating that would be for me as I bemoaned the waste of talent....!)

It is only Year 7 and the start of her senior school journey...keeping her engaged and keen on schoolwork during the delightful upcoming teen years will be the best challenge of all!!

Enjoy a relaxing and fun filled Summer break.

[queenofthemountain]

She has got 1s for her effort grades.She is trying her best, you can't ask more than that.
You say you want her to get all A*s at GCSE but that is a lot for her to live up to.The reality is that although everyone wants there child to be a ' swan' , most of them are going to be geese and they can't change that.

[Hakluyt]

"The reality is that although everyone wants there child to be a ' swan' , most of them are going to be geese and they can't change that."

But those are really good- on track for GCSE A grade- levels for year 7!!!

[queenofthemountain]

Yes sorry, my DC are at a grammar school and youDO lose a bit of perspective of what is normalI suppose many schools consider an A good but at this school a result less than A is mediocre.The school only mention those DC who get more 10 (academic subjects) or more at A

[queenofthemountain]

sorry meant to say 'they only praise' not 'only mention'

[Hakluyt]

"Yes sorry, my DC are at a grammar school and youDO lose a bit of perspective of what is normalI suppose many schools consider an A good but at this school a result less than A* is mediocre"

If I was your mother, I'd send you to your room and tell you to think about what you posted and not come out til you could explain to me why it was so wrong and insensitive. And I have a child at grammar school!