What are SATS for exactly?

[YouGirl]

My DC is in a private school yer 2. They still have SATS....I heard that not all schools do them anymore...so why does ours? What are they for exactly? If notall schools participate what good are they?

Will it be bad for DC to miss them? We may travel in the new year and return ready for year three...will it mess DC up? We have plans for DC to attend a school while we are abroad...(with work) but if DC misses the SATS will the school mind? I just read on another thread that by year 3 schools are using results and levels to predict what level the kids will be on by year 6...is that true and what impact will not sitting year 2 SATS have?

[Feenie]

If your dc's school are using the Y2 assessment system properly, then they will just be reporting teacher assesssment, carried out from September to July with lots of evidence with one test in each subject area to back it up. So taking a week off in the middle won't matter.

If they are just using the tests than they may get upset at your dc's time off.

[YouGirl]

Oh Feenie its not a week! Its 6 months!From Jan to July...so DC will simply not be there for the last two terms of year 2....but will return ready to begin year three.

[Feenie]

I see - well, I would expect them to reassess him when he enters Y3.

[YouGirl]

Right...that doesn't sound too bad as long as I get a good tutor and support him a lot. What do they asess them in at that age? Is it the basics like Maths, English and Comprehension? Also WHY do they do it?

Thanks for helpng me.

[Feenie]

They are teacher assessed to find what they know, and where they need to go next from Reception onwards. Otherwise, how would we know what we needed to teach next?!

They are assessed in Reading, Writing (content, spelling, handwriting, etc), Maths, Speaking and Listening and Science.

[Feenie]

No problem - glad I can help.

[YouGirl]

That is so helpful...I think that many parents fear some kind of secret "special book" which lists all of our kids failures...

This book will of course follow them throughout life...so when they have their first interview for a job, the prospective employer will read "X Bit Z at playtime and made Y stick a crayon up their nose" and think "Oh ho! So X is a bully...no job for him then!"

Think I should relax asap!

[Feenie]

Me too!

[IndigoBell]

YouGirl - it's not so much the kids that are being assesed, as the schools.

Statistically you would expect so many kids to reach a certain level in reading, writing and maths etc.

If far less than this reach that level, than OFSTED and other people would want to be assured that it was for a good reason - and not down to poor teaching or a badly run school.

[Feenie]

But the assessment procedure would be the same, except possibly without the statutory testing, whether the results were reported or not, Indigo - assessment is necessary for reasons other than the schools themselves being assessed.

[IndigoBell]

Hmmm. Feenie I'm sure you work at a good school and can't imagine how bad some schools are.

I guess you are assuming that assessments are done correctly and that if kids failed to make progress that would trigger interventions etc.

This has not been my experience. All teacher assessment grades reported to me have been inflated or just plain lies and total lack of progress over two years has not 'been a cause for concern'.

For example some kids scored lower in ks2 sats than they did in their y5 school report. Unfortunately lying to parents is standard in this school and has not just been my experience.

However yes, in a competent school accurate assessments of students would be useful. But these assessments are not just done at end of key stage.

[Feenie]

I know that you've had truly terrible experiences, Indigobell. But it's definitely not the norm (thank goodness).

[iloverainbows]

YouGirl, DD's school doesn't do SATS but as everyone has pointed out there is constant assessment. This happens in both the private and state sectors. DD's school does test but doesn't use SATs papers it uses a different assessment paper. Your DS will be re-assessed in year3 anyway however the only thing you need to be mindful of is that in many private schools the children are streamed from year 3 for at least english and maths. If I were you I would go and discuss what happens from year 2 to year 3 so you can understand the process etc.

[IndigoBell]

Feenie - I don't think it's the norm - but if you venture over to the SN board you will see none of my experiences are the least bit unusual.

I think a school can be terrible but if your child doesn't have SEN you don't realize. Most of the parents at my old school don't agree with me that its a terrible school because they are constantly told their child is doing fine.

A bad teacher can still do OK by all the 'average' kids and totally neglect the kids who are more work

I wish my old school was a particularly bad school. But I fear it is not. I fear an awful lot of 'satisfactory' schools are this bad.

In fact their SAT results are fine as well - because of the cohort. The CVA results are terrible the ofsted was bad but most people don't look past the raw league table score.

[minimathsmouse]

Indigo, I have experienced this sort of dishonesty too. Feenie, your school may be fantastic, your assessments spot on and your dealings with parents honest, but not all schools are good.

Why? Some schools have been assessing children to have SEN they actually don't have to bump up their value added. Some are believe it or not dishonest.

The Sats tests are more useful to Ofsted in their assessment of the school. The teacher assessments are just that, carried out by teachers. Although not always impartial, they should be. The sats tests are not popular with schools as they are very keen to hide any potential weaknesses in their teaching. This is why individual teachers are also apt to over-inflate their assessment of progress made. It is not unusual that a child should arrive in sept in the next yr and the teacher conclude that the child has not reached the level stated. Seems a shame then that teachers should now be trying to undermine the Sats tests, but it doesn't take a genius to work out why.