[senco-forum] Ofsted- progress between KS1 and 2

I know this is a really late reply, but have only just got round to going
through last month's inbox, as I now have some time to spare in the
holidays!

On 13 March 2007 18:5513 March 2007 18:55, Janice Rolick wrote, 

We have an Ofsted this week. As we are a junior school the progress the  
children make is based on the KS1 -KS2 SATS. We know that the KS1 results we
get from the Infant School are unreliable. We do NFER tests at the beginning
of Year  3 and they are much lower.

Has anyone else had this problem? Did Ofsted accept that the KS1 results  
were unreliable? 

Speaking as an Infant school senco, we always sent assessment books for
writing and maths to our junior school on transition. These back up the
end-of-keystage assessments we have made, as they contain levelled samples
of unaided work which tracks the child's progress throughout our keystage. 

The results of the SATS tasks can be compared with the teacher's assessments
of the overall level that the child has consistently attained. It may be
that, on the day, child A did well enough to gain a level 3 grade in, say,
the maths test. However, if the teacher feels that, generally speaking, he
child's attainment is more characteristic of level 2A, then this will be
reported to the junior school.

Conversely, child B might have had an 'off day' and not performed according
to their normal patterns. This too would be reported.

I do feel that KS2 colleagues are sometimes a little harsh in their opinions
of what happens at KS1. There is sometimes a suggestion that infant schools
may be embellishing children's attainments for their own nefarious purposes.
SATs results and end-of-keystage assessments show a snapshot of what the
child was able to attain at a particular point in time, within a familiar
environment, working on tasks of a familiar nature. Some months later, after
a long summer holiday and a transition to a new environment, when they are
given an unfamiliar test, things may be different.

I do feel that the system we have at the moment sets one school against
another. Junior schools say that infant schools are wrong in their
assessments because of the way a child performs on a particular day or over
a certain period in Y3, whereas infant schools say that over a particular
period in Y2 he was able to read, write or solve problems in this or that
way. I feel that is possible that both may be right. A child's progress is
not necessarily a linear one, moving forward at a steady pace.

Anyway, we feel that our tracking systems provide the evidence of what we
say about a child, as the assessment books show the development in a child's
writing or mathematical thinking over time. It is then, as Diana says, up to
junior schools to provide their evidence in support or to the contrary, as
the case may be.

I wonder if this is also an issue at KS2-KS3 transition? Do secondary
schools also experience this problem when they look at KS2 SATS results and
compare with Y7 performance? I know that when my own son transferred to
secondary with pretty respectable KS2 SATS results, he came out as
distinctly or even barely average on his Y7 CATS scores. Could it be that a
small amount of regression in some children could just be a feature of
transition? 

Regards

Di Slader
Infant school Senco

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Diana
Sent: 13 March 2007 22:18
To: Janrolnick at aol.com; senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: RE: [senco-forum] Ofsted

All the time Janice, and no they didn't!

We now collect very detailed evidence on entry including screening test
results and a sample of unaided work. Miracles happen in KS1 SATs.
Try and find similar evidence if you can and make the point.
Regards
Diana

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of
Janrolnick at aol.com
Sent: 13 March 2007 18:55
To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: [senco-forum] Ofsted

We have an Ofsted this week. As we are a junior school the progress the  
children make is based on the KS1 -KS2 SATS. We know that the KS1 resukts we
get  
from the Infant School are unreliable. We do NFER tests at the beginning of 
Year  3 and they are much lower.

Has anyone else had this problem? Did Ofsted accept that the KS1 results  
were unreliable?

Many thanks

Janice Rolnick
SENCO/AST