School refusing to give out Sats levels

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Daogroupie
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Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by Daogroupie »

A friend of mine has a ds in Year 4. He finds the work in his classroom far too easy and when he asked for extra work was told it was not available. At the consultation with the teacher she refused to give out any sats levels at all. The comprehension work in his English folder was laughably easy and her ds had 100% on every one. There was no creative writing to look at as they had not done any. She was told that only teachers had access to sats levels and they were not given out to parents. Has anyone else experience this type of stonewalling? She requested a meeting with the Head but he just backed up everything the teacher had said and told her she was the only parent asking for sats levels and why was she asking for something that was just for teachers. DG
scary mum
Posts: 8824
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by scary mum »

Aren't you entitled to it under data protection? I think the school is entitled to charge (for copying) but they have to give the information. Tell her to check the school's procedures which may be on the school website, or they should have a copy in the school office for reference. I was a school governor for a while and it was acknowledged that parents could request all information about their DC, but that we wouldn't encourage it. Not because the school didn't want people to know, but because we didn't want everyone constantly requesting every piece of information held about their child. We had visions of the discussions at the school gate leading to a flood of requests and boasting!
scary mum
kenyancowgirl
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Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by kenyancowgirl »

As the head does not appear to be addressing it, I think I would contact the Chair of the Governors and ask why the teacher did not appear competent to teach in a differentiated manner - extension work should be available for brighter children - it is part of the Ofsted Inspection to observe how well staff extend kids. Schools (I believe) are also supposed to show progression - by this I mean 1.5-2 sub levels a year (unless there are very good reasons why a child has not achieved this) from the Y2 SATS to the Y6 SATs and, in the spirit of parent/school cooperation I cannot see why a school would say it is just for the teachers to know!! (I can understand maybe not giving exact sub levels but a comment like "a comfortable Level 4" would indicate a level 4B, for example.)

In our school we only get one written report a year and have two parents evenings in the year where we can speak to the teacher for about 10 minutes. Even with this, in the parents evenings, we always discuss levels so as to get an idea of where our son is at and where he needs to work harder.
TigerMum
Posts: 133
Joined: Fri May 06, 2011 8:51 am

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by TigerMum »

kenyancowgirl wrote:As the head does not appear to be addressing it, I think I would contact the Chair of the Governors and ask why the teacher did not appear competent to teach in a differentiated manner - extension work should be available for brighter children - it is part of the Ofsted Inspection to observe how well staff extend kids. Schools (I believe) are also supposed to show progression - by this I mean 1.5-2 sub levels a year (unless there are very good reasons why a child has not achieved this) from the Y2 SATS to the Y6 SATs and, in the spirit of parent/school cooperation I cannot see why a school would say it is just for the teachers to know!! (I can understand maybe not giving exact sub levels but a comment like "a comfortable Level 4" would indicate a level 4B, for example.)

In our school we only get one written report a year and have two parents evenings in the year where we can speak to the teacher for about 10 minutes. Even with this, in the parents evenings, we always discuss levels so as to get an idea of where our son is at and where he needs to work harder.

Agree with kenyancowgirl - it may be worth your while to cc the parent governors also (in our school, issues raised by parents with the Chair and the Head were often _not_ reported back to the governing body, so other members did not know what issues where floating around... :( )

Throughout our time at primary, all the teachers have been very specific with the levels, telling us their sub-levels for reading, writing and maths; indicating what areas need work, what work needs to be done to get to the next (sub)level etc. I've never heard of a school refusing to discuss these.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by mystery »

I have had stonewalling, but not on this particular issue. I think you might have to be cleverer here. I am not entirely sure when you are entitled to nc levels. It is not as often as you might think. Did they get them end of last year, or only end of year 2 and year 6 at the school in question?

It sounds more like an issue perhaps of gaining an impression that not a lot of learning is going on for this child. Look up Parent Partnership for the area concerned and see if with their advice the parent can get some more constructive dialogue going, and ultimately some teaching which is more productive for the child. Is it just this year or right the way through?

At some primaries the govs just repeat what the head says and you hit your head on brick wall. Also, it is important to follow the complaints policy rather than just telling the chair of govs what is bothering you. Another approach to get what you want is worth trying first as the govs complaints route can be disappointingly toothless.
JamesDean
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Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:03 pm

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by JamesDean »

As a primary school governor myself, I'm afraid my response to such a request would be that it was an operational matter and not one concerning governors (whose role is strategic and not to become embroiled with the day to day running of the school).

That's not to say that I don't think schools should be open with parents - ask for your school's complaints policy and follow it to the letter.

JD
JamesDean
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Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:03 pm

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by JamesDean »

mystery wrote:Another approach to get what you want is worth trying first as the govs complaints route can be disappointingly toothless.
Going straight to govs won't get you anywhere unless that's what your school's complaints policy says, and I very much doubt it does! Govs are your last port of call when all other avenues have been tried and you aren't satisfied with the outcome. And then they'll check to make sure they have been tried. (Well, they should if they know what they're dong ....)

JD
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by mystery »

Yes you shouldn't bother going to govs until you have tried to sort it out normally with teacher, subject coordinator, head etc, and if that has not worked, then go through the complaints procedure which will set out some steps. A complaint to the govs is pretty much the last step. But what I am saying is that, with some gov bodies, it is pretty fruitless if they don't want to rock the boat, or they can be toothless even if they do.

But you have to try all this if you really need to.
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by moved »

Some schools have already adopted the 2014 curriculum, which does not include levels.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: School refusing to give out Sats levels

Post by Guest55 »

Levels have NOT gone yet - first new tests 2016.
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