Teacher Talk for Parents

 

Teacher talk

Here are some of the words and phrases you may hear teachers use - and what they mean.

attainment target

Each National Curriculum subject has one or more attainment targets. Attainment targets help teachers decide how well students have learned what they have been taught. Each attainment target is made up of eight level descriptions and ‘exceptional performance’. They are a kind of measure. Each level is like the rung of a ladder - students should move up through the level descriptions as they grow older and make progress

breadth

National Curriculum subjects have a section about ‘breadth of study’.

This says that your child is entitled to be taught through a range of important learning experiences. For example, in English the National Curriculum says that your child should study drama, fiction and poetry, from classic and contemporary writers, and from different cultures and traditions. These deepen and broaden your child’s experience of the subject.

CATs

Cognitive Abilities Tests. These are tests which we run for all students at the start of year 7 and year 9. They come from the British based National Foundation for Educational Research and give a snapshot of students’ acquired abilities in thinking with number, with patterns and with words. We use these to help us to identify and build upon students’ particular strengths and preferred ways of working and to provide an indication of their potential in various areas of the curriculum in order to set challenging but realistic targets. Broad results of these are reported to parents with the usual school reports.

English as an additional language (EAL)  English as a Second Language (ESL)

Students who speak English as an additional language, rather than as their first language, may need extra help with their reading and writing tasks across the curriculum. They will need lots of opportunities to talk with English-speaking adults and other students about their work, thoughts and feelings. Often what they need most is varied, vibrant teaching that involves visual resources, sound, speaking and writing to make it easier for them to learn in English while developing their academic skills in the language. We may recommend that some students take separate EAL lessons while others receive extra support in their other lessons. Some students for whom English is an additional language may also have special educational needs.

ICT

This stands for information and communication technology, which includes the use of computers, the internet, and video and sound recording equipment. This subject used to be called ‘information technology’.

key stage

A key stage is a block of years in your child’s schooling. Key stage 1 covers the first two years a child spends at school (aged 5-7), key stage 2 the next four (aged 7-11), key stage 3 ages 11-14, and key stage 4 ages 14-16.

levels (level descriptions)

Each level is a measure teachers use to check how much your child knows, understands, and can do. See ‘attainment target’ above.

Programme of study

Every National Curriculum subject has a programme of study. This sets out what your child is entitled to be taught in schools. The main part of this guide summarises the programmes of study and the attainment targets (see above).

‘SATs’

Many people call National Curriculum QCA tests and tasks by the name of ‘SATs’. Some schools use National Curriculum optional tests in other years, to track students’ progress.

Special educational needs (SEN)

Students have special educational needs if they have learning difficulties that make it much harder for them to learn than most students of the same age. SEN includes students with a range of physical or sensory difficulties, emotional and behavioural difficulties or difficulties with speech, language or social interaction. These students may need to be helped more than other students of the same age, and perhaps in different ways. If you think your child has SEN your first step should be to talk to your child’s form Home Room teacher.

year 7, year 8 (etc)

Because students in a school year have birthdays in different months, it is simpler for schools not to talk about the year by referring to the age of the students in it. Instead, they talk about the number of years since students began key stage 1.