Grammar Expectations

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Road Runner
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:32 pm

Grammar Expectations

Post by Road Runner »

Ok this is too all of those of you who have experience with children in Grammar schools.

Being a new parent to the Grammar system it would be good to have an idea of what the expectations are for our children.

Are we to assume that nothing less then A and B grades will do, that they should achieve a level 6 and up.

I have read so many of the postings on Grammar versus Other and I am still not sure.

Just like any non grammar school I guess there will always be children who fair better then others.

When looking at the results for Grammar schools they appear to always get 98-100% A*-C's.

Personally I know my son has settled in really well and has some very good comments in his books but as we do not have our first parent evening until February.

I would be interested to hear other peoples views


MelX
Hilda

grammar expectations

Post by Hilda »

Hi MelX
I have one son in year 9 at grammar, and one in year 6 who has just passed his 11+

In my older son's experience there was a huge pressure on them in the first term to achieve. This was a big shock from primary school where the emphasis was on effort. Yes he was told that nothing less than an A or B would do. In practice we have seen that actually a C (could do better) is OK if it is only in some subjects, but only if the effort grades are OK. Where the grades drop to D or E letters will go home to parents. Similarly if homework is repeatedly not handed in, letters will go home to parents. Children in this category (not us yet!!) are put on report - this just means that all the teachers have to sign a card every lesson about the child's efforts - and support is put in place for that child. Those struggling with certain subjects like maths may be put in smaller classes from year 9 onwards to help them make a good GCSE grade.

If your son is happy and going to school merrily, and you haven't heard from the school, I would sleep easily. They will let you know if they are concerned.


Hope that helps
Hilda
jah

Post by jah »

My daughter's grammar school only streams for Maths. 150 girls are divided into 7 sets; the top set being bigger than average and the bottom set smaller than average (about 16 girls). They expect to put all girls in top 6 sets in for higher Maths of which they expect most to get A* or A and just a handful to get B. The bottom set is put in for intermediate paper. They expect most to get B and a handful to get C. They do not expect anyone to get less than C.

My daughter is top set and got Level 8 for Key Stage 3. I can't remember figures off hand but I think about half the year got Level 8. Most of the rest got 7 and just a handful got 6. She got level 7s for English and Science. Her recent report said that she should be getting A/B in most subjects based on her Key stage 3 results and end of year exams. Then it gives an indication of which subjects she is likely to do better than that in , and which she needs to put in extra effort on.

The implication being, I think, that level 6 at Key Stage 3 is probably B/C grades rather than A/B. As my daughter got all 5s at Key stage 2, I would have been a bit disappointed if she had only moved onto level 6 after 3 years.

Incidentally, one of my daughter's friends, who didn't take 11+ and went to local comp, took 2 GCSEs at end of year 9 and got C grades in both subjects (French and IT). So bright children should be aiming high!
Road Runner
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:32 pm

Post by Road Runner »

Now thats the other thing, effort grades. Is a child seen to be better if they have good effort grades with C's then bad effort with say A and B? It all seems a bit contradictive really.

Yes my son is very happy and has had 'mainly' very good grades so far so I am not worried, I guess maybe it would be good if the school issued us 'Novices' with a guide to expectations and actually not just for us but for the children as it is afterall new to them and as Hilda said alot of pressure can be on them which they haven't experienced before.


Melx
Catherine
Posts: 1348
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2005 4:47 pm
Location: Berks,Bucks

Post by Catherine »

It is interesting to compare notes about what happens inside other schools.

In my son's grammar, it seems that the emphasis is for the child to reach their full potential rather that on straight marks. We have had an interim report that shows the effort and the level the child is working at. The next report will show targets based on the actual level and the CATs test they did in autumn. So the progress are measured against the expectations for the child, not as a comparison with others.

As for jah's comments, my son's school had a very similar system.
jah wrote:My daughter's grammar school only streams for Maths. 150 girls are divided into 7 sets; the top set being bigger than average and the bottom set smaller than average (about 16 girls). They expect to put all girls in top 6 sets in for higher Maths of which they expect most to get A* or A and just a handful to get B. The bottom set is put in for intermediate paper. They expect most to get B and a handful to get C. They do not expect anyone to get less than C.
In year 7, the only streaming is in Maths , with two levels and smaller classes for the lowest groups to allow children to catch up. The streaming is done differently from year 8 onwards, and they expect everyone to take the full maths GCSE and maily A-Bs marks.
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