Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer papers
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Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer papers
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
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
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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.
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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!! Hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along shortly to advise.
Good luck.
C.
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!! Hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along shortly to advise.
Good luck.
C.
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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 anyhow i think it mentioned that they are more difficult than the old set letts/gs used to put out
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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.
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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
NFER tests were from - just got told the scores if i asked
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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
Thank you for your replies
Tigger
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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.
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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.
Re: Urgent Help needed with advice from Head re nfer paper
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%.
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%.