appropriate levels term 1 year 8

[mary21]

Hello
I was wondering what appropriate levels were for the end of term 1 year8 DS1 attends a special school so it is hard to know if he is working at an appropriate level. He is currently level 5 for most things except 4 for french and 3 for art and 4/5 for science. was level 5 at the end of key stage 2. Thanks for any opinions

[roisin]

'Appropriate' levels are simply that a child should be making progress each year. How that child fits in relative to everyone else, isn't necessarily relevant.

We have students in yr8 with end of yr targets ranging from 3 to 8, depending on their ability.

Note also that different subjects have different level systems, so where a '5' might be average in some subjects, it might be above average in others. (Languages for example, which for most students is a completely new subject, tend to have lower levels in the first couple of years. This applies to some other subjects too.)

Each level has 3 sublevels, so you go:
3c -> 3b -> 3a -> 4c -> 4b -> 4a -> 5c -> 5b -> 5a

In broad brushstrokes, generally we expect students to make 2 sub-levels of progress each year, especially the middle/higher sets. Some of the low ability groups have targets of just 1 sub level each year. Some of the top set students may be set steeper targets.

What sort of special school is it? If he got L5 in English from primary at the end of yr6, I would be expecting him to get L6 by the end of yr8 at least.

What has the school said about the progress he is making?

[mary21]

Thanks. The school seem to think he is progressing well. Its a VI school& because it has a really broad intake and small numbers it is hard to know whether when they say doing well it is compared to x who is still level 2 or the national average or for himself if that makes sense. The level 5 at primary was for science only. Scraped a 4 with loads of extra help in english at the end of year 6 , so I am pleased he has reached level 5 in english now. Anyway thanks for your input

[DecorHate]

I was about to start a similar thread! Just got an interim report for dd and have noticed that her grades (whilst good) don't seem to have changed at all in some subjects since this time last year. The school haven't raised any concerns (maybe because she is in higher sets for a few things) but surely she should be progressing even (or especially) if she started out above-average?

Roisin it's GrapefruitMoon from the Y 8 thread btw...

[DecorHate]

Bump.

Any opinions on whether I should take this up with the school?

[duckyfuzz]

L4 in Y8 is fine for French and if VI I'd have thought L3 for Art is ok, they seem happy with him, but if you are concerned go and have a chat to discuss your concerns

[yummyyummyyummy]

My DS is in Y7 and most of the children in his class are expected to be achieveing somewhere within level 6 by the end of year 7.there is variation of course.There are 2 Y7s in his form who have already passed a GCSE.I wonder why, but that's a different debate.

[OrmIrian]

We got DS#1 report for this term. He's level 6 for science, upper level 5 for maths and upper level 4 for English

Most of his other subjects are level 4 apart from German which is level 3 (only started it last yr). We are a bit disappointed TBH but as he has the highest levels for effort, attitude, attendance, puntuality I guess we have to be happy with that.

Have to say that all of his grades have moved up at least one number (apart from English)