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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

SATS - zero marks??

24 replies

var123 · 11/07/2015 08:40

DS2 got 0 for his level 6 spag writing assessment, as did another DC in his class.

The teacher told the children that she does not know why.

Has anyone else experienced this? Or have any idea why it might be - apart from the obvious that maybe everything they wrote was wrong?

OP posts:

Report

WishUponAStar88 · 11/07/2015 08:43

Could it be that he forgot to write his name on the paper? Otherwise unless the paper was left completely blank I would've thought he'd at least get a couple of marks for attempts. I presume the teacher will be looking into it for you/ ds?

var123 · 11/07/2015 08:53

He is adamant that he did write his name on the paper. The other child would have as well, I'd have thought, knowing them. And, it would have been a n/a if no paper had been submitted, not a zero.

The teacher hasn't said anything at all about finding out why. She's leaving, as is DS2 (obviously).

I'm torn about whether to bother following it up. It means making an appointment to see the teacher, and I don't want to make trouble about it, especially as she is leaving (and has been great).
I know it doesn't count for anything if he gets a 6, as far as DS's future is concerned. He was only a few marks off though, so it might make the difference.

Then again, both children worked to prepare for the test and sat doing the test, rather being out relaxing from the morning exam with the rest of their class. So, it would be nice to have had their papers marked.

Or maybe they were marked and they were so bad they didn't even get a single mark between them??

OP posts:

BetweenTwoLungs · 11/07/2015 08:57

To be honest, one of our very good writers scored 1 on that paper... We were shocked.

Fourarmsv2 · 11/07/2015 09:02

What did they get overall? I thought L6 wasn't marked unless they got a 5A on the other paper?

var123 · 11/07/2015 09:04

He got 5B for writing and reading. Wasn't the L6 spag in 3 papers though? DS got a near perfect score on the spelling test so i know that was marked.

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Finola1step · 11/07/2015 09:07

Do you mean 0 for the writing paper only or 0 for the overall total (marks from 3 papers).

If it was 0 from just one paper, that was a tough paper. Our strongest writer scored 0 on paper 1 because her composition did not match the question.

Finola1step · 11/07/2015 09:12

Oh and wrt to possibly requesting a meeting. It is the Headteacher who will have access to the papers online and can make decisions about whether to appeal or not. A class teacher will have little or no say. So speak to the Head or if s/he is not available, the Deputy.

slkk · 11/07/2015 09:41

If he didn't meet the criteria for 1-3 marks he would score zero. The criteria for the writing element are very specific about use of grammar and the way children embed it in their writing etc. 5b is very good, I wouldn't worry about it.

var123 · 11/07/2015 09:44

They only got 0 on the writing part, they were scored fro the other parts.

It seems a long time ago now, but I have a vague memory of Ds2 coming home after the SPAG exam day and telling me what he'd written, and me thinking that he didn't answer the question. e.g. if they said write a report, he wrote a essay about his views. (Its so long ago that I'm not sure whether that happened or I just imagined it though). So maybe that was why?

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spanieleyes · 11/07/2015 09:45

my best writer, moderated by the county chief assessment officer, who is a clear level 6 writer in her day to day work, scored 2 on the l6 paper, a couple of others scored 1 and one boy scored 0. Not sure anyone really knew what they wanted!!

Effic · 11/07/2015 09:47

It is marked against a very specific set of level 6 criteria. The criteria are very tight and it's not "doing level 5 stuff better" it's a different curriculum. I suspect their writing just didn't match it. The teacher should know however! If she's been teaching them L6 skills, she should be able to see why their work didn't match the mark scheme!

var123 · 11/07/2015 09:48

slkk - honestly, i am not worried. I know he's doing well and I've an odler child so I know how (un)important the sats really are.
I am just wondering whether to ask the school to clarify why for Ds2's sake. I think he was a little disappointed not to get a level 6 in neither the reading nor the SPAG and I'm thinking that maybe I should show that i value how hard he's worked this year by taking the exams seriously??

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SuburbanRhonda · 11/07/2015 09:56

Why on earth they brought back level 6 papers I'll never know.

If the threads on here are anything to go by, all it's done is make very able children doubt their abilities.

Feenie · 11/07/2015 11:13

They're gone again, anyway - and good riddance.

proudmama2772 · 11/07/2015 11:26

SuburbanRhonda

all it's done is make very able children doubt their abilities

'very able' what does that mean exactly? I don't think we should be telling children at the age of 11 so much about their levels. It really should be bullet list of things they need to improve with their writing, grammar rules they need to use more consistently, spelling mistakes they shouldn't make.

My year 5 ds's teacher made a great list of improvement points that she put on the back of his his organizer. These were goals he could understand and attain.

They can't control their level and it causes anxiety when you are asked to do something outside of your control. And they shouldn't be worried so much about was expected as average for a student a key stage ahead. It's not so much about their natural ability but what is age appropriate

mrz · 11/07/2015 11:33

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/436489/2015_KS2_L6_English_GPS_mark_scheme_PDFA.pdf

Really can't see how zero marks would be awarded

missme10 · 11/07/2015 18:15

We had some 0 marks given too. A couple of 1 marks and 2 marks.

You can score a L6 without this paper, incidentally.

SweetCharityBeginsAtHome · 11/07/2015 18:19

I see that this appears to be possible because of tight marking. But another possibility that they were worried about on DS's paper was that his writing (in pencil of course) was very faint so might not have been picked up by the scanner.

mrz · 11/07/2015 18:22

Any papers that couldn't be scanned were marked on the hard copy which was then returned to the school

spanieleyes · 11/07/2015 18:23

If papers couldn't be scanned for whatever reason, they were marked "live".

var123 · 11/07/2015 19:36

I have to confess to still being confused! If its not possible to get 0, then how come Ds, his friend and several other children have got them?

How bad does it have to be to get absolutely nothing at all?

Is it likely that the school are trying to get answers but just haven't told the children or their parents?

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mrz · 11/07/2015 19:52

The fact that so many children have scored zero seems odd. I would hope the school is investigating.

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YeOldTrout · 11/07/2015 20:24

wait, if next year there won't be Level 6 papers, or Level 4-5 papers... what will there be instead?

mrz · 11/07/2015 20:28

An end of key stage paper with a score out if 100

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