Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer papers

Eleven Plus (11+) in Kent

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tigger2
Posts: 755
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:35 am

Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer papers

Post by tigger2 »

Hi...I would appreciate advice regarding nfer papers in general due to advice given today by my year 5 dc's head. Due to a unexpected plummet in scores for the majority of children in this year 5 class parents have been advised by the head that this class were given more difficult papers (they all had age 10-11). The implication was that this was a decision taken by the school and explains the drop in scores. Can anyone confirm if schools do get a choice in this matter please as I thought that all schools got the same set ?
Questions have been asked regarding how this would be explained in any potential 11plus appeal (ie' this was a more difficult set of papers '!!!) and also, and more importantly at the moment,given that parents are asked to carefully consider the nfer results before deciding whether or not to go for the 11plus it is at best confusing.

Thanks to you all
Tigger
T12ACY
Posts: 800
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:12 pm
Location: Kent

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by T12ACY »

All children sitting an 11+ test will be sitting the exact same paper as any other child in that authority. Can't answer the rest of the question but there is no such thing in the 11+ as a more difficult / easier set of papers :)
Money can't buy you happiness, but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.
committed
Posts: 139
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 2:46 pm

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by committed »

Is this an Optional Year 5 NFER paper? If it is, then surely there is only one paper that can be set so that all the kids (and parents) are able to tell how their child is doing. It does seem slightly strange that the head teacher is suggesting that they had a range of year 5 papers to choose from and picked a difficult one.... because as you say, it makes a potential appeal so much more difficult..... :?

I was always under the impression that there was only one optional NFER paper per year group with a marking schedule so that if you were using it as evidence at a later date it was comparable - but maybe I've been misguided all this time!! :D Hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along shortly to advise.

Good luck.

C.
tiredmum
Posts: 1161
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by tiredmum »

Maybe its got something to do with the new NFER papers in the shops, well i think they are new - its on a different thread and i have only skimmed it :oops: anyhow i think it mentioned that they are more difficult than the old set letts/gs used to put out :)
sherry_d
Posts: 2083
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:38 pm
Location: Maidstone

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by sherry_d »

Tired mum I thought schools were not allowed to do those 11+ papers, certainly mine said they dont touch 11+ at all. I am wondering if its optional sats the OP was refering to?
Impossible is Nothing.
tiredmum
Posts: 1161
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 2:51 am

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by tiredmum »

i m not sure - my dd's school did NFER every jan and optional SATS in may. I dont know where the
NFER tests were from - just got told the scores if i asked :)
tigger2
Posts: 755
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:35 am

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by tigger2 »

Hi ! The tests I was referring too were taken in May ,a few days after the sats .The results that I am concerned about are the GL assessment tests for year 5...referred to by most teachers as the nfer tests. There were three in total nvr age 10-11,vr age 10-11 and progress in maths 10 !!! Apologies for any confusion
Thank you for your replies
Tigger
mitasol
Posts: 2756
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:59 am

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by mitasol »

I'm not sure which VR and NVR you have been given but regarding the Progress in Maths 10, DS was given this paper in year 5 so it would seem to be the appropriate paper.
dadofkent
Posts: 515
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 2:05 pm

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by dadofkent »

it seems that you may be referring to schools administered CATs tests. In which case the results, if the papers were marked by GL assessment, should not be affected by the difficulty of the paper. they are standardised against other candidates.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper

Post by mystery »

Mmm - really not sure what your Headteacher is waffling on about, but maybe you could ask her for further clarification, what these tests were, what they have done in past years etc etc.

Has she put this communicaton in writng? Can you copy it out on here so that people more familiar with all the assessments dished out in primary schools can work out what it might be about?

If then it still seems as though your child might have a "lower score" because she gave them all an inappropriate paper then maybe you could ask her if it is possible to sit the appropriate one? If it isn't giving you the right info to judge whether your child is in top 25% of population and maybe a suitable 11+ candidate, what useful information is it giving the school about the other pupils? If the test was too high an age group to give reliable standardised results, then he results are going to be even more dubious for the bottom 75% than the top 25%.
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