Level 6s at your school anyone?

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mystery
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by mystery »

Yes, extra homework would be an issue round here too. I wouldn't give school that did that level 6 in understanding children's psychology.

I read an interesting thread on TES where some teachers who taught through to year 9 said that their year 9 class found it easier to obtain the level 6 threshold in some KS3 test or other (not sure if it was an old KS3 test paper or some optional QCA paper) than in the year 6 level 6 maths papers.

It could be challenging without having much level 6 material in it. There is a lot of material that gets put in at different levels which is not difficult e.g. what's hard about working out the perimeter of a semi-circle if you are given the radius or the diameter and the formula stating that the circumference is 2 pi r. There could be much trickier problems involving material that is not so-called level 6.

But yes, if one views it as Moved says as just a tip over into level 6 from level 5 it all makes sense. In a way, covering the new material is the easiest thing. It's having the wit to solve trickier problems that is the thing. If a child can easily do the primary level 6 paper it's presumably a good sign that they will have no problem continuing to progress through the remaining level 6 material.
wonderwoman
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Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by wonderwoman »

We used to not enter pupils for level 6, because like G55 we recognised the papers did not reflect real level 6 achievement. Neither did we have the time or the resources to cover the level 6 curriculum content in primary school - remember a level 6 is supposed to reflect an average Y9. Therefore that represents 3 years of ks3 to cover the material required.

However we faced the criticism of progress slowing in Y6, so now pupils are entered for level 6 and having spoken to a parent, she is not pleased that the targets for her DC will now be set at a very high level at secondary school. Our school always had a policy of no revision for KS2 SATs and traditionally enjoyed v good results, but are now doing booster lessons or exam technique to attain a level 6 with very little true learning going on.
salsa
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Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by salsa »

At my son's school a group of children who mostly had prepared for the 11+ or independent school exams, were given two weekly morning sessions at school for 5 months. One for Maths and one for English. No additional homework was given. I must say that as these children were all out of area for the grammars they had already obtained a high level and were thoroughly bored in class. My son greatly enjoyed these lessons, looked forward to them and felt challenged. He wished he'd had them every day instead of doing revision in class for things he had already learnt.

His school obtained 22% of level 6 in Maths and 5% for SPAG. They also obtained record level 5s. I haven't heard any of the parents complaining.

This is a normal state primary school. Most children were proud and celebrating.
WindowGlass
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Location: West Midlands

Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by WindowGlass »

salsa wrote: Maths and 5% for SPAG. They also obtained record level 5s. I haven't heard any of the parents complaining.

This is a normal state primary school. Most children were proud and celebrating.
Well done that school - but it's not the "normal state primary" I've ever known of:
11+ and independent prep, revision - quite extraordinary, I wonder at the catchment area. Rather heavy for those little ones too - welcome to the cram-factory, attenshun!
salsa
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Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by salsa »

Parents prepared their own children not the school. The school did not provide any help whatsoever with the 11+. Not even information.
Some parents were DIY others hired a tutor. As far as I know this is not uncommon in the local schools.
Some parents around here feel that the local comprehensive would not suite their children as it has been criticised by OFSTED as not catering well for the most advanced children.
ToadMum
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Location: Essex

Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by ToadMum »

mystery wrote:That's a bit flat-footed. Why do people forget children have feelings?

The level 6 reading sounds pretty impossible to get year after year. How did your son nail it?

Thing that saddens me is how many schools do the level 6 material in what should be the child's recreation time. I sort of understand this in a school where level 6 material is way beyond the horizon of everyone but a tiny minority but I would have thought there would be more schools e.g. Ones with a good chunk of children getting high fives each year, where covering the necessary bits of level 6 could be done as part of differentiated lessons and differentiated homework.

This is effectively how it is going to have to be done with the new national curriculum where the higher level material is effectively going to be subsumed into the harder questions towards the end of the regular papers.
Back after a hard day at the coalface taking DS2 and a friend swimming, out to lunch and uniform shopping - for DS2's friend, nearly all of DS2's 'new' uniform coming courtesy of DS1 who left the school last year :lol: .

DD was a bit upset at the time, but decided to be proud of her 95% in the 'normal' Maths instead.

With apologies to those who believe there is no such thing, DS2 really is mainly just quite clever. By his own admission, left to his own devices he does no more work than is strictly necessary to achieve his goals. Which isn't to say that that may not be a bit more than some others, of course. He reads a lot and is quick to pick things up. No extra work brought home that I remember, but for English his class was divided into groups, with his group working towards the higher level papers.

The extra exams really didn't bother him :)
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
mystery
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by mystery »

So it is sounding, on the basis of this very small sample, as though over time more schools are preparing children for the primary level 6 extra papers. Some schools do the preparation in class time and some do it during the child's playtime, lunchtime or out of school time.

Some schools, even more puzzlingly, set extra homework for these children rather than giving appropriate homework.

Some parents are chilled about the whole thing and others get worried about high secondary school targets - a and a* at gcse I guess. Some schools worry they are being asked to do three years worth ks3 material in one year - because a senior school would on average take 3 years to get an average 4b at ks2 child to an average 6b child at ks3, even though they are not being asked to do this. But in general, by contrast schools don't seem to get worried about teaching level 5 material - although ours seemed to until quite recently.

So one standard chunk of syllabus and test in each of three subjects has resulted in a plethora of different attitudes and working practices across our schools. It is fascinating.

I wonder how it will work out for the new tests starting in 2016. The tests are supposed to include the higher level material so there will be no optional extras anymore.

I have always wondered how it feels to a level 3 child sitting the level 3 to 5 tests. There must be an art to picking out the bits you can do. This job will be even harder for them now that the new tests will contain the equivalent of 3 to 6 work.
Windyday
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Joined: Thu May 09, 2013 9:25 pm

Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by Windyday »

I think my son's school did extra classes for the sats.
He was t in any of them

Maths is his 'thing' - he seems to think in maths somehow.
I think that his extension work stopped whilst they were revising maths in he top set.
He got very frustrated as he's covered what they were doing for the level 6 paper and felt held back by this.
I doubt he was so sdvnaced thst he had covered the next 3 yrs of study so I can't really work out what happened.
He got level 6- I've no idea how many other kids did.
He said it was easy.

He struggled massively with the literacy a d hated the reading and comprehension and due to this he now feels he is terrible at literacy- he got level 5 for readin and 6 for spag

The sats were a dreadful time for him- he reached his limit in ine subject and was very upset
And was held back in a other and was very frustrated and bored

The entrance exam was so much easier. We managed the stress- or lack of it and it was a bit stressful in the first few weeks of term after he's had the summer off and seemingly forgot eveything! -))
But in general we kept it super low key and her worked well for him
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by mystery »

Maybe tell him that the level 6 reading was achieved by o% of children rounded to the nearest whole number.

At least he didn't have to miss break and lunchtime to learn no new maths!
fairyelephant
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Location: N London

Re: Level 6s at your school anyone?

Post by fairyelephant »

Our school (state primary, last year rated good after many years of outstanding) really went for it this year, they seemed to enter almost half of the year for level six maths and 29% got it. There was no extra homework, but they were set across the year for Maths from February half term (the school resists any kind of setting throughout until this point when suddenly it's most desirable). The level six group comprised an even mix of kids who had been prepared for eleven plus and those who had not. DS was pleased with his level 6 in maths, his English results were one 4 for writing and 5s for the other papers/assessments. English level sixes were fewer and varied across the different papers. I wonder if for DS it would have been better spending the level 6 maths sessions boosting his writing skills instead.
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