Any advice for help to give my daughter who did not get expected standard in sats

I'm going to be doing short regular bursts of Nessy for writing/ spelling etc and Khan Academy for maths with mine over the summer. I did it last year and it really helped. Similar position re SATS as you.

spaghetti sounds much more fun fo me!

I wouldn't say do nothing but I would say don't do anything formal.

So reading in general, maybe go back to you reading to her - get some old classics out of the library and read them to her, you can tell her you are enjoying the time together before she grows up and won't like it any more. so it won't seem like working or studying but she will be listening to much more formal and wordy language, older and longer words etc. Modern books aren't the same in terms of the language used.

and I would say try to keep on top of timestables. not sure how you make them fun but we forget them very quickly if we don't use them so worth doing that.

have the secondary school given any suggested stuff to do over the holidays? I know some near us issue a suggested reading list for year 7 and sugest they start some in the holidays, others have project work to do which includes doing science stuff or trying new things, producing a piece of art work. so can be fun (I hope seeing as this is what ours has given) but also a bit educational.

do some cooking as well, can use measuring or adjusting recipes for maths type stuff. (and then get to eat cake!)

Hmmm I’m going to go against the grain here. It’s all very well to say ‘read a lot’ and that’s great advice from an English teacher, but as a maths teacher, that’s not going to help with her maths.

A lot of secondary schools test Y7s in maths within the first few weeks and use these results (along with SATs) to set pupils. If she is rusty due to weeks of no use then she will not hit the ground running.

A pupil who is below the expected standard at KS2 is statistically more likely to be below expected standard at GCSE (grade 4). Lots of parents panic around Y10/11 time and hire tutors to try to get their children over the line. Telling those same parents to chill out in Y7 seems a bit counterproductive. I always say to parents that any maths that can be done at home will be of benefit in the long run.

You don’t have to go mad and hothouse her, but I’d practise these basic areas:

1. Instant recall of times tables including divisions (MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER)
2. Consistently accurate use of written methods for addition, subtraction (inc borrowing), multiplication and division (bus stop)
3. Mental methods for e.g. 20 x 300, 6000/20, 23 x 7 (20 x 7 + 3 x 7)
4. Able to multiply and divide reliably by 10, 100, 1000 including decimals
5. Being able to spot common factors of numbers (e.g. what goes into both 24 and 32, or 25 and 30)

She will probably be ok at this stuff as the SATs are numeracy heavy. If she can do all this at the start of the summer, don’t assume she’ll be able to do it at the end, kids forget stuff.

There are computer packages you can sign up for, like mathletics or workbooks you can buy if you want something more structured.

Mine was below expected for several things ... doing a PhD now. Just read a lot!

Op, what scores did she get? If she got in the 90s she's just below expected, if in the 80s she's further below. At parent meetings what did the class teacher tell you she was working at?

SATs year is stressful enough without you worrying and adding more on over the summer. You seem really lovely and caring OP, but might be worrying too much (depending how far off she was).

The secondary school gets catch up funding to fund interventions with those who start behind so she may well be getting support from September.

In terms of what you can do, promote a love of reading, share books together, talk about what you've read, encourage her to write about any days out you have, if you're cooking have her help you with the maths element, in general just encourage her to be a broadly well rounded student. That will prepare her more for secondary than a child who has had the hothouse sats year and then does very little.

Personally, I would steer away from any formal educational material and focus on promoting a curious mind.

I'd suggest not doing a lot - SATs year is enormously stressful. Doesn't she deserve a rest? Putting her through more work and making her feel inadequate really isn't going to give her the best start in secondary school.