KS2 SATS - not sure what to expect

[peachpudding]

Waiting for results of the KS2 Sats and realized I dont really understand them to well .... After some research I still dont understand them.

My DD did the level 6 papers in both English and Maths, no real idea how difficult that level is! I found the this years grade boundaries for Level 5, which I am more familiar with.

Eng lvl 5 - 36-50, Maths lvl 5 79-100 and Spelling lvl 5 - 54-70

Sorry if I am being ignorant but is this percentages? Do you only need to get 36% to get a level 5 in English (seems a bit low), or a 54% in spelling? 79% in Maths sounds about right but its confusing!

Then what about level six? My understanding is that as long as you pass level 5 (ie 36% in Eng, 79 in math, 54 in Spelling) then your level six is marked. But I cant find any level six grade boundaries, maybe there isn't any in which case what is the minimum score you need to get to have passed the level six paper? What is you pass level 6 but fail level five?

My Primary school isn't much help as I asked the Y6 teacher and she gave me some waffle that I took to mean she didn't really know.

Any one know more than me?

[Feenie]

Level 5 in reading is anything over 36 out of 50 marks.

Maths is 79% to 100%, or between 79 and 100 out of 100.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar level 5 is 54 or over out of 70.

Level 6 boundaries refer only to Level 6 papers - 21 out of 35 was needed in Reading, would have to look Maths up. It's not possible to achieve level 6 unless you also have level 5 on the level 3 to 5 paper first though.

[Feenie]

Okay, Level 6 reading 22 or over out of 33, not what I said.

Level 6 spelling, punctuation and grammar - 37 or over out of 50.

Level 5 Maths - 33 or over out of 50.

[peachpudding]

Thanks Feenie,

Ok I think I got that. So you could get 36 (72%) in reading for lvl 5 (which I think would be 5c), then 22 in level six and your given a level six grade? is this banded into a-c?

But if you got 50 (100%) at lvl 5 reading but only 21 at level six, then you are given a level 5. Seems quite a cliff edge there.

Do we (parents) get to see the percentages/marks or is this secret? Can we appeal any decision?

Am I right in thinking there is no level 6 in Science, or any other subject? I remember my DD doing extra Maths and English exams, could she get lvl 6 in spelling or was this a separate paper as well?

I know the Primary school didn't even do lvl 6 last year and there was zero extra classes this year to prepare her for it (only one other child sat them both, it really was a punt in the dark for my DD!

[Feenie]

Ok I think I got that. So you could get 36 (72%) in reading for lvl 5 (which I think would be 5c), then 22 in level six and your given a level six grade? is this banded into a-c?

The levels aren't banded - although some schools may do this unofficially. But yes, a child could scrape a 5 then get a 6. I have a careless child who is also a little bit 'this is all beneath me' who did exactly that.

You can ask to see the marks, but they aren't reported.

There is no ceiling in Science, or any other subject, so a 6 is possible. KS3 Science tends to work better with a lab though

There was a separate Level 6 Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar paper.

[peachpudding]

Thanks again Feenie, I wish the Y6 teacher has explained it that coherently!

I will have to ask if she did a Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar level 6 paper. Why dont teachers tell you these things sometimes its almost a fight to get information from school, why aren't we all on the same side, it feels like there is a hidden agenda.

[Feenie]

No idea why some schools are like this!

[AlienAttack]

Why would you want to "appeal any decision"? Your DC does not have to record her KS2 SATS levels on their CV nor ever think about them again once they have started secondary school.

[Feenie]

Teachers can appeal, but only they find a mistake which would affect the level.

[peachpudding]

I have no reason why I would appeal, but I just want to know the facts in case something comes up when I get the results. I just dont trust the school to tell me the truth.

[PinkyCheesy]

Agree, I find it amazing that schools seem so unwilling to share info that, in a few weeks time, will be on the Ofsted website on the school's data dashboard. Our primary sends out the child's results, plus the school's overall results as compared with (last years) national results. I believe this is how they are presented to the school initially so its surely no hardship to photocopy this and send it out to parents? I believe it really helps some children to see where they 'fit' in their school as regards their results compared to the whole cohort. And why don't most schools explain that the official marked results will come back as raw 2/3/4/5/6 levels with no sub levels?? I know of Y6 kids distraught that they 'only got a 5' while their sibling in Y5 did teacher-assessed SATs-type tests and scored a 5a.

Its not a competition!! All any of us want is for our kids to get a good education and be happy! Why the secrecy and mystique? That's one of the things I think Ofsted is really good at: stripping away the facades that some schools have managed to build up over the years and proving to be actually no better than anyone else.

Rant over

[lljkk]

I'm surprised your DD couldn't tell you herself whether she did the SP&G L6 paper. It was one of the afternoons, Tuesday? Back in May.

Some schools did do optional science SAT papers, I think maybe up to L6(?)

[AlienAttack]

How sad to get to the end of Y6 and not trust the school. And sad that you think the Y6 teacher doesn't understand the levels. Threads like these make me realise how lucky we are with my DD's school (state).
I mentioned appealing because you had asked in an earlier post " can we appeal any decision" and I was just wondering why you would want to do that or what makes you think that you might want to do that?