SATS yr 6

[ShugarTits]

I was talking to a friend at the weekend, she’s a primary teacher and she was saying not all children at her school take the SATS - eg if their SEN means they are behind in subjects.

I thought the SATS were a measure of the school and how well they were doing? how can a school be assessed if children who are behind in reading/writing aren’t counted? This is a mainstream primary so presumably these children are able to be taught in same class as other kids etc.

i didn’t want to sound combative to my friend but I am genuinely curious. She said the children sit a mock test so they don’t miss out - so it’s not even that they are unable to sit a test, just not a yr 6 one.

They are counted in the fact that they are part of the overall percentage e.g. them not doing it classes as a zero score. 29 children passing and one not passing is no different to 29 passing and one being disapplied. I hope that makes sense as I'm not explaining it very well. It means the school is fairly judged.

It's also the right thing for some kids. A y6 child could be working at a y1 level and it would be so cruel to sit for hours that week being completely unable to access more than maybe 1 question. They're just young kids and it would be cruel. However, they can't just disapply anyone. There are very specific reasons.

The reason they will be disapplied is that they aren't working in the KS2 curriculum. I am disapplying two children this year, one with Down's syndrome and one with severe ASD and learning needs. Both will be going on to specialist secondary provision and are working at yr 1/2 level. However, both still count in the school statistics as " not achieving the standard"

Sorry, going to highjack this thread, as I have a child in primary and realise the system is quite different. When I was at school the assessment went up to 5 or 6 (I think 6 was the highest in maths but 5 in English). The numbers I think were roughly equivalent to the year group, but children could progress at different rates. Children working at a lower level, could still do the first few questions and get maybe a 3. Now, are all children expected to be at the same level?

Because at a parents evening, in year one, there tick boxes, but just one level, my child passed them so she's where she needs to be by the summer. Was told how she's being challenged but this is not part of the assessment.

Yes all children do the same assessment now. That doesn't mean your child won't be challenged in lessons. It's the same with the majority of GCSE papers.

Thanks v much everyone. The rationale makes sense!