I have a 2 year old. I have had no conact with education for 25 years and I do not understand anything about sats etc. I don't even understand the fact that junior/senior school are called something different now. Please can some kind person explain to me how the years and the sats (i.e. when children take what sats) work or point me to a previous post or other source of information to explain this all to a newbie. Many thanks.

It goes:

Reception (aged 4-5)

Key Stage 1(old infantss): year 1, year 2 (optional Sats, just little teacher-administered tests at end)
Key Stage 2(old juniors): year 3, 4, 5, 6 (Sats at end; bit more focussed but most schools keep them as low-key as poss)
key Stage 3 (in high school now): year 7, 8, 9 (more Sats, quite high profile now but still not main indicator of progress in most schools)
Key Stage 4(GCSE years): year 10, 11. GCSEs at end year 11.

Children start school at age 4 and go into Reception (Year R). Then they move into Year 1 (which used to be the first year of school at age 5). And so on. Primary school covers years R to 6, with SATs being taken in the May of Year 2 (end of Key Stage 1) and Year 6 (end of Key Stage 2). Secondary school goes from Year 7 through to Year 11 (old 5th form) or Year 13 if you stay on in the 6th form. Further SATs are taken in the May of Year 9 (end of Key Stage 3). GCSEs are taken mainly at the end of Year 11 (although they seem to take various exams linked to GCSEs in Years 9 and 10 too).

So external tests are at ages 7, 11, 14, and 16. PLus AS levels at 17, A levels at 18.

Hope this helps!

Yr 1 = age 5+ in September (1st yr primary)
Yr 2 - SATS
Yr 6 (age 10+) SATS
Yr7 = 1st yr secondary (age 11+)
Yr9 SATS
Yr 11= GCSE's (formerly O levelks)
Yr`13= A levels

SATS are supposed to ensure your child is achieving expected level for his age.

Does this help?

Thanks to all who posted - that is great. It has really changed since I went through school. Is there somewhere I can find out what exact level they are supposed to be at each stage of SAT so I know what I can be doing to help at that time - i.e. what they are expected to be doing at each stage?

Please don't stress about it. Your child is 2 - enjoy him/her and let him/her develop at their own pace. But oif you want to know,Govt target scores are:-

KS1 - dunno, not my field. I'd guess level2?
KS2 - level 4
KS3 - level 5
GCSE - 5 A-C grades.

I am not stressing I am just trying to understand what is expected at each stage as until now I did n't understand any of this. Ok so it is done in levels - where are the levels to look at at them - that is if you can look at them? Thanks

Thing is that you will learn all of this as your child progresses through school. I'm from the era of O levels and no year numbers and I have managed to assimilate all the information OK.

Chances are that all this will have changed by the time your child is in school anyway. And each secondary school seems to have its own programme for exams, so there's no point in boning up on what happens generally as it may not apply to your school.

I think all you need to be concerned with at the moment is making sure you apply for primary school at the right time.

Thing is that you will learn all of this as your child progresses through school. I'm from the era of O levels and no year numbers and I have managed to assimilate all the information OK.

Chances are that all this will have changed by the time your child is in school anyway. And each secondary school seems to have its own programme for exams, so there's no point in boning up on what happens generally as it may not apply to your school.

I think all you need to be concerned with at the moment is making sure you apply for primary school at the right time.

Oops, not sure what happened there!