Setting in year 8

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katel
Posts: 960
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:30 pm

Setting in year 8

Post by katel »

My dd was assessed as 6c in maths at the end of this year - fabulous for her because she has always struggled with the subject and she got a 4 in year 6. .

She has been put in set 4 of 6 for next year - which means that there are al least 75 girls in her year scoring 6b or higher! I am so incredibly impressed by this - should I be impressed or is this just normal for grammar schools?
Sam's Mum
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:58 pm

Post by Sam's Mum »

Well, from a personal point of view, I would expect this at a grammar school. I believe that the expected level at the end of year 8 is level 5 but as you are talking about a selective school I would expect most, if not all of the children to be achieving level 6 and beyond. My daughter, who is in Year 6 is, according to her maths teacher, currently performing at Level 6 and although she is bright there are others getting higher exam marks than her.

However, this doesn't take anything away from your daughter's achievement. I did find a bit on The Standards Site which said that children would be expected to progress by one and a half levels from the end of KS2 to the end of KS3 so two levels in two years is great. You must be very proud of her.

Regards
fm

Post by fm »

Yes and no. I suspect it is normal for grammar schools, some of which do the KS3 sats on year 8 and a significant percentage of the children score 7's.
My eldest daughter did the Sats on Year 9 in a grammar school and I believe at least 1/3 of the year achieved 8's.
I think you have three factors helping grammar school children achieve. One is the obvious one--most of them are clever because they passed an entrance test to win a place against the odds. Another is the fact that there isn't usually any major disruptions going on during class (no paper aeroplanes, fights, late arrivals, finding pens for children, high absence rate so children constantly not knowing what went on in the previous lesson--as is commonplace at my son's comp). And finally much lower teacher turnover so some consistency.

And before I get shot down in flames, yes, I know there are lots of good comprehensives out there but they tend to be thin on the ground in cities.
Kent99

Post by Kent99 »

I gather from my year 7 daughter that there were only "2 or 3" girls in her (unset) maths group who did not achieve level 7 in the end of year exams. My daughter, who was apparently well over the level 7 threshold (they used last year's lower tier papers) expects to be middle set next year. Seems reasonable; maths isn't really her thing.

I have to say, the SATs papers she brought home were not hard (possibly even sub 11+) and the errors she made were all of the "careless" rather than "can't" variety. If you haven't seen them you might not realise how low the standard actually is. I think it may be harder to acheive level 7 on the higher tier papers though.
katel
Posts: 960
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:30 pm

Post by katel »

Kent99 - I find that extraordinary. How could they have possibly covered the whole maths curriculum in one year? Are you sure your dd isn't extrapolating from her particular circle of friends? I was reading lists upside down at our parents evening (a useful skill learned during my many years in Civil Service!) and there were lots of 6bs and 6as, but only a handful of 7s in dd's form.
jah
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:31 pm

Post by jah »

When my daughter was in year 9, about 1/3 of the year got level 8 for Maths.
magwich
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:41 am

setting in year 8

Post by magwich »

At DD's school about 65% of the year got level 8 for maths but as others have said the level is not terribly high.
If you really want to be horrified have a look at GCSE foundation level maths!!
Kent99

Post by Kent99 »

Katel, no extrapolation was necessary as the mark range was discussed in class. The school does a 2 year KS3 with nearly half the girls acheiving level 8 at the end of year 8 so this isn't that surprising. As I said the standard required for a level 7 is not high; I was actually quite shocked when I saw the papers. And you don't need 100% for a level 7 so need not have covered everything.

That said, I suspect that the levels at which girls are considered to be working for the purpose of reports and internal monitoring may be below these test results. My daughter's end of KS3 teacher-predicted grade, for example, was a rather conservative 7c!
Belinda
Posts: 1167
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:57 pm

Post by Belinda »

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Last edited by Belinda on Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

Also a level 7 on a 5 to 7 paper doesn't mean they are working at level 7 - when the tests first started you HAD to get level 7 questions right to get a level 7 now you only need a certain number of marks. This means you can get a 'test' level 7 without getting any level 7 questions correct.
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