2/3 of able KS2 fail to get A*/A at GCSE, 1/4 get C & below

[Daogroupie]

Ofsted's annual report revealed that almost two thirds of pupils in comprehensive schools with high marks in English and Maths at 11 failed to get an A* or A in the subjects at GCSE. One quarter do not even get a B grade. The Chief School's inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw attributes this to the pupils not being challenged enough in Year 7, so losing focus and never regaining it in time to do well at GCSE. Nationally around 40% of 16 year olds fail to get a Grade C in Maths and/or English and 90% of them have still failed to do so by the age of 19. How many of these students arrived at school with the ability to get good grades but got lost along the way? School inspections in the last academic year uncovered specific weaknesses in the teaching of the most able pupils in about one third of the secondaries with many not been given worth that stretched them. "Inspectors found that teachers' expectations of the most able were too low"

[Guest55]

DG - where does he specifically comment on comprehensive schools?

What is 'an able ks2 child'; is it defined in his report?

Secondary schools are expected to get three levels of progress ie a level 5 to a grade B ....

[tiffinboys]

DG, let us blame few remaining grammars.

Oops, sorry, couldn't resist posting comments.

[mystery]

What is considered a high mark at ks2 that should achieve a/ a* at gcse?

I am sure similar happens at some kent grammars too. Does the report include the same statistic for grammars?

Is he suggesting that there should be a higher percentage of children with a/a* or that the children who are getting a/a* are not the ones that scores the most highly at ks2?

[Guest55]

We'd look for all level 5s to get A/A* but that is 'more than expected progress' according to Ofsted. A low level 5 might struggle to get an A.

Schools are judged on progress measures and many GS have not been inspected recently ...

Children do change in secondary and some surge ahead whereas some struggle as the work gets harder. I've known level 3 at KS2 go on to get A * at GCSE ...

[Martin_Procter]

I echo Guest55’s point.

It all depends on what is an “able” KS2 child.

About 15% of GCSE Maths grades awarded are grade A or A*; it would be interesting to know what percentage of year 6s are “able” by the definition of Michael Wilshaw. Of course if one is in the top 15% at year 6 it doesn’t imply that one must or should be in the top 15% at year 11.

[Catseye]

it always made me laugh when Mr Gove would say things like ,I paraphrase "we would like more children to be above the average in terms of A-C grades"

eh...... mathematical nonsense average is average surely

what he could of said was that he wants more children to do better than the present ave which is a completely different thing

and another thing if we must have selection than at 13-14 yrs would be better than to pigeon holing children at 10-11 ,selection at this age should be abhorrent in any civilised country.

The most intelligent and successful people(and I know quite a few) I know were almost exclusively late developers i.e probably level 3-4 at KS2

[yoyo123]

my favourite .."All children will be average or above"

[moved]

Level 4 gives a C. Level 4b in both English and maths projects a 'successful' path of 5 A-C grades.
Level 6 projects an A/A*.

[Amber]

Level 4 gives a C. Level 4b in both English and maths projects a 'successful' path of 5 A-C grades.
Level 6 projects an A/A*.

I don't like putting my own children's stories on here now but could I just say that being level 4 at KS2 doesn't mean that you can't get a clean run of top grades at both GCSE and A level? Some children just mature later and as you know, my own view is that 'hands-off' parenting in the early years is more likely to result in self-motivation and what I now believe to be the most important quality for success, 'drive', later on. I really don't think these KS1-KS2-GCSE pathways allow for a child to either grow up, lose interest or all manner of other things that children do between 10 and 18. As Catseye says, many of the children who one sees parading their early reading skills under the fond gaze of proud parents at age 6 don't do any better than average at 16. I hate the way schools and teachers are assumed to be responsible for this - all kinds of things can happen in a child's life.