Y6 SATS prep - how can I help DD prepare?

[VashtaNerada]

Any tips on books etc? I’m really looking for some bits I can do on the weekends with her to help her through. She’s fairly bright and should be fine but I don’t want to make that assumption and then it all goes wrong! Thanks.

Don't overdo the prep, they'll be doing too much lots at school. The best books (imo) are the CGP ones.

Thanks - I really won’t overdo it with her, just want to check she’s prepared. Her school seem fairly laid-back in that way so I don’t think she’s under a lot of pressure or anything.

Why would you do extra prep? These exams are a test for the school not your child! The results count or nothing for your child. Spend your free time doing fun stuff to give her a break from sats!

Don’t mess up her weekends with SATS work - school will overload them so much during the school week and you’ll be adding to the pressure.

We are in wales so I don’t understand the SATs stress!!
Ours do welsh national tests but nonparents strsss about it or even do tutoring or extra prep. They do a bit of practice in school but even the school don’t make a hoohaa of it. All years from year 2 upwards do the tests each year so it’s not a big deal.

My advice is not to do anything. It’s a nonsense. Tell her to relax, have a bash and enjoy your time at home.

I agree its all a "test" for the school not the child. Its all for OFSTED. To be honest when they get to year 7 the school will assess where they are anyway! DH is a secondary teacher and sats results are a load of twaddle. We did nothing for ds, it was a miserable time year 5/6 for him. Those years were just practise for sats and the pressure was stupid ( I did have a word with the school about it as I couldve lamped the TA that told my ASD ds that he needed to do well or hed fail!". there is NO pass or fail mark. so whoever says that needs their head wobbling. Think about it; private prep/ inndy schools don`t do sats at all. Only state schools because they have to. Its just a government thing.

Honestly?
Read to your child, hear them read, talk about the books, ask open ended questions and allow them thinking space.
Mathematically, they need to work things out logically and always be checking that their answer could make sense.
Schools however are in SATS overdrive right now. Your child is probably doing a minimum one one practise paper most days, and everything else is a precursor for those tests.
Let them be at home just now.
And I’m normally a huge advocate for helping your children learn outside of school!

Teacher here.

Do interesting non-academic activities together, get her outside into the fresh air, have a good night's sleep, a decent breakfast, get to school on time, be supportive of the school, and don't burden her with worries the adults should be taking care of.

Well done for picking a school that doesn’t over-hype these tests.

I’m doing nothing more than making sure DD has done the homework the school set her, it’s not necessary to do extra SATs work at home. DD took the 11 plus back in September, that was stressful and involved lots of extra work, there’s no way I’m doing that for an exam where the results are of no consequence to her.

Remind your daughter frequently that whatever the teachers say, the SATS tests are testing the school and the teachers to see how well she is being taught, and that all she has to do is do her best, it's not her being marked but the school and teachers to see how well they are doing.

Then go and do something fun instead.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but we will be doing the grand total of zero prep and any specific homework labelled as "sats prep" will be going in the recycling bin.

Fair enough! What’s worrying me is the idea that it might affect streaming in Y7 but you’re probably right that schools re-assess them anyway. Okay, I will chill

My son has asd. I wanted him to know what to expect so that he didn't panic. We got the practice papers and did one a week and made few notes from them. He sailed through them and was very proud of himself as at the time there was talk of him not sitting them altogether because we weren't sure he could handle the pressure.

How does she feel about doing work at home? I did no prep with DS1, he just wasn't interested in doing work at home.
However, I'm a TA in Year 6 and have had a few children ask me for either Maths arithmetic or reasoning questions to do at home, I don't see any harm in doing a couple of these if they want to.
For the reading, just read and ask questions.
We use CGP books for homework and they are quite good if you want them.

Secondaries retest them. Sats cou t for nothing! Play chess or tennis or go to art gallery or a concert or learn golf or windsurfing or hang gliding or whatever. Don't spend weekends doing extra sats!

Don't bother.

Don’t do anything academic towards it! The school will want to do a fair bit of boring practice. Your child will be sick of SATS.

Instead, have fun at weekends, get enough sleep and good food. If your child gets anxious remind them the test is of the school rather than them, and no one ever asks “how did you do in your SATS?” an adult.

Schools don’t do anything with the results. My son goes to a selective school...they conducted their own assessments to stream them (which led to a funny email because some parents were moaning their sons weren’t in the top set despite their SATS results 😂)

honestly OP it doesn`t affect streaming year 7!! MOST schools in year 7 are just mixed ability while the school assesses their ability and then stream later (year 8 +). School will know kids are drilled to pass a test and NO MORE, not actual ability in work. Streaming groups change all the time, moving up and down as required. Year 7 is for transition and settling into a new grown up environment, learning general new skills. SATS mean nowt.

You`ll find most teachers children do nothing for SATS for the reason that it means nothing, except for the OFSTED/ government for the primary school itself. For some bizarre reason lots of parents get their knickers in a right twist with wrong ideas about it!!

OP. In my opinion some of the information you are being given is wrong. My advice is however still the same as theirs (don't stress).

1. Some schools will use SATs to inform some initial setting (or even streaming) e.g. maths. How often they reassess is up to the school but sadly some schools seem quite rigid in reassessing once set.

2. The results do impact the child ongoing. Again, partly depends on the school. The y6 SATs are used by the government (and thus the school) to measure he starting point for progress at secondary.
   So under achieving at SATs could mean that school is less 'bothered' about pushing the child in secondary (so less likely to do interventions for example).
   Over achieving in SATs might mean that the child is forever being told they are 'behind expectations' at secondary.

It does depend on the secondary school to what extent they let SATs results impact their streaming/setting and their progress reporting to parents, but it is clear from reading the secondary boards that some schools let it impact quite a lot.

My advice, consider SATs prep as learning how to approach tests (v. useful for secondary) and making sure basic grounding is done as prep for secondary. Encourage child to do their best, but don't stress about getting particular score of 100, or 110, or 120.

SATs are the work of the devil, it is true. My DSs secondary school does its own testing for setting when the children go for their settling in days at the end of Y6. But another local school just uses SATs to assess for streams. So, they can be important for when children go into Y7 and start new schools.

Even so, primary schools do the prep, not parents.

Thanks - I should have mentioned that I am also a teacher (albeit in KS1). I suppose I was thinking that books could help me assess whether she needs extra support or not. I do trust her school but I so rarely see the class teacher it’s hard to know how she’s getting on for sure. I won’t stress about it though, and I certainly won’t let her get stressed. She’s one of those odd children who enjoys their homework and is happy to do other bits with me, I really wouldn’t even consider it if I felt it would turn her away from learning or make her feel stressed.

Don't pressure her, SATs are all about the school teaching/progress and nothing to do with your child.

Most secondary school re test Y7 children anyway.