Will be glad when SATS are over!

[Guest55]

Sorry, what does your question mean?

If a student gets Level 5 at the end of KS3 then the GCSE targets are still based on KS2 tests.

[Azure]

KS2 level 4 to GCSE grade C is expected progress - 90% is looked for and over 30% doing better than this

KS3 level 5 to GCSE grade B is expected progress - 90% is looked for and over 30% doing better than this

Is KS3 level5 different to a KS2 level 5?

You said KS2 level4 to GCSE grade C ...
You said KS3 level5 to GCSE grade B ...
I don't unpderstand why ks2 level 4 leads to grade c but ks3 level 5 leads to grade b. I not understand difference in key stages and levels. Ks3 level 5 don't sound that great to me but it gets a grade b at GCsE? I nit understand a lot today.

[Guest55]

It was a typo which I have now edited - should say KS2 level 5.

[Azure]

Oh ok. I understand now. Are there lists somewhere for new marking on gcses when they become numbers? Like level 5 is number 7 GCsE? Level6 = number8 or9 gcse?

[Guest55]

http://www.aqa.org.uk/supporting-educat ... transcript" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Levels are going out so this one of the best explanation I've seen about equivalence of new and old grades.

[Azure]

I think I used this face a lot today! So new reference tests to check progress will be bit like the SATS?Do you know how they will be marked? My dc1 take gcses in 2020. Schools universitys will still be understanding the new markings. I hope they get them right

[Dibsie]

That sounds sad Dibsie, but makes me suspicious of what happened last year. Was there a dip in results, if so a school can't afford for that to look like a trend.

Last year's results look to be far higher than the previous year's so it can't be that. I wonder whether they're aiming for an 'outstanding' (would SATS results affect that?). All I know is, by the time the SATS arrive, my son (& us) will be quite frazzled!

[2childmum]

Good KS2 SAT results really backfired for my dyslexic daughter. She was at a very supportive dyslexia friendly primary school in a small class (a blip in the birthrate) and got 2 level 5s and a level 6, despite the school having a very laid back approach and no SATs homework etc. This meant that the secondary school were constantly on at her to 'improve her levels', I suppose because she had to do well at GCSE for them to score well. One piece of science homework took 4 hours because she was expected to achieve a level 7 in it. (First term of year 7). Her spanish level in January was a 3 and she was expected to be a 6 by July - despite having a word-finding problem and difficulties processing sounds in words, even in English. She worked her socks off and made herself progressively more ill trying to keep up. The school said lots of supportive things but did nothing, I think because she managed to keep her distress under wraps at school and they were only interested in the level, not the child. In the end we took her out of school completely.

So I would have been much happier with level 4s and less pressure to constantly 'achieve'. Pushing children to get the highest SATS scores is not always in their best interest.

My son didn't do KS2 SATS at all. Didn't stop him getting (almost) all A*s at GCSE. The school seemed to work out what to teach him without SATS scores.

[wildwest]

That is a very important perspective to take into consideration.
It is all about balancing it out...keeping the children ticking over and encouraging them to continue to progress versus piling the pressure.

[Amber]

My son didn't do KS2 SATS at all. Didn't stop him getting (almost) all A*s at GCSE. The school seemed to work out what to teach him without SATS scores.

Quite. I have no idea why there is such a worry about this to be honest. A child of mine started school at almost 6, missed 2 years of primary school, got 2 level 4s and a level 5 in SATs and a clean run of top GCSE and A2 grades - and offers from 5 RG universities to do prestigious courses. One of my others has FFT targets which are lower than his actual predicted GCSE grades too - arrived at secondary school with no data and our postcode would have brought him down too. The only grade which matters is the one which your child gets on the day. Kids mature at different rates and being illustrious at primary school will only equate to glory in the GCSE and A level stakes if everything develops in linear fashion. Which it rarely does in children. I love late developers - gives them chance to daydream for a bit if the pressure comes off.