Year 6 SATs

[islandmum8]

I’m a nosy (English teacher of a…) year 6 parent.
Any idea what was in this year’s SATs papers? Any of the spellings? Sort of thing in the reading paper? Child can’t remember and not going to pester on at them to remember just because I am so keen to know! :)

From what my child said quite a lot of the class didn’t quite finish. There was obviously the one child who said they finished 25 minutes early and that it was so easy 🤪. That made them all feel really good about themselves…

My son said he didn’t finish the questions from the third text - said he left 5 or 6 at the end of the test , from looking at practice papers with him though I had expected this as they are all 3 texts with questions after it so only allowing 20 minutes per text

@nogainjustpain thanks for this.
Really appreciate it.
Please could you add your take for the last 2 days as well?

My friends daughter pretty much said that when asked 🤣

She said she thinks she got a couple of spellings wrong but the reading paper was fine. She seemed to like the topics and didn’t say it was too hard or anything. Not much else!

I work in a school. So far teaches have saidnthe tests are as expected. (Nothing like the reaction a few years ago when there were horrified gasps at one paper. But still 2 days to go. But parents please keep these in proportion these are 10 years olds sitting a test which is used to measure progress now and at the next school. It doesn't determine if the child is a doctor, or a lawyer, or an actress or a musician or a chef or a gardener....it is very good at showing which teachers can teach to test and which schools can teach to test. It doesn't measure if your child enjoys learning, or if they have an interest in space or science or arts. It doesn't measure their curiosity or their character or their commitment or perseverance - all things that will stand them in great stead at Secondary school.

My daughter has found them to be similar to what they’ve seen before too. Grammar and reading are her strengths though, maths she finds harder and has been on the border of expected. Will see what the maths brings but it is what it is. I’ve told her even if it’s a horrible paper just have a go and then that’s it done. It really does need to be kept in perspective, makes me sad to hear ten year olds stressing out about them.

My DD was unfazed by the SPAG and Reading papers and said she was able to finish the reading without any issue. She is far less confident in maths though so we will see how the next two days go.

Our son has some SEN and gets extra time to help with reading. Based on mocks and school feedback I am expecting him to be ‘working towards’ in some areas. He said SPAG and reading went ok. But based on past experience I’m not sure he finds it easy to judge.

Then he had a massive wobble at bedtime and said he needed help with ratios and was crying. Poor thing. It’s so much pressure for them even though to be fair to his school they don’t put as much pressure on them as I know some do and we have been very careful to say he can only do his best and he is worth so much more than his SATs.

DD said yesterday’s paper was actually a little easier than some of past papers & said she thinks all the children finished it. Comprehension was her least favourite, she’s much happier now we’re on to the maths papers.

DS found the spag ok and the reading very hard. Hopefully the grade boundaries will reflect that of the paper really was as hard as he said! But I’m not sure because he actually finds that paper the hardest. He’s glad to be onto maths today as he finds this easier!

I got very little from DS other than one spelling word he could remember and that the tests were “ok” so far. He is my second so I’m much more chilled this time around. DD’s high school did their own tests in year 7 anyway.

At the time DD sat her SATs she only just got greater depth in maths (& was quite upset she didn’t in the others - it was that tough reading one) but as high school has progressed, she’s now predicted 8/9’s in pretty much all of her subjects, so I now look at SATs (& the result) quite differently

Oh, thanks so much everyone! This is my first time using this forum and I felt a bit self-conscious in my original posting... It comes from a place of my own nerdy interests, impatience, and general wondering how kiddo would do with what's in the papers.

I also did not realise there was a 2 week window in case pupils absent etc. in which not to post... different from GCSE where if it's missed, they wait for the next round! Makes sense when the kiddos are in primary school. Just want them to have a good experience.

Yes, hope no great surprises in maths today and all these kiddos come home having taken it in their stride.

Totally agree @Mumdiva99 they aren’t a measure of how sweet and brave and creative and and witty and courageous these kids are. It’s an unfair pressure at such a young age.

I thought today’s papers were more or less ok, arithmetic nothing unexpected. A few kids were stressed out by the reasoning and it’s horrible seeing them get worked up that way. I felt like there was a lot asked of them in the time given, some kids didn’t finish, however some breezed through, so quite a mixed bag. I have told my son not to worry, these tests do not affect their lives in any way no matter what they may have been told. When they go to year 7 they’ll be assessed in other ways and re-set if necessary, so it’s just 4 days to get through and then forget about.

Year 6 teacher here. Just my tuppence thrown in here, so obviously not trying to discredit or gratuitously contradict anyone's view!

SPAG - I thought was largely very predictable and reminiscent of all the practice papers we had done. No surprises and the kids seemed confident. Spelling was reasonable, with maybe 3/4 red herrings or tricky words. Largely seemed OK and the kids came out of it not seeming too perturbed!

Reading - Very interesting this year. I thought the distribution of reading skills across the paper was peculiar. I analysed the test as the kids were doing it and realised that inference made up a good chunk of the first text, despite them being a majority of 1-mark questions. This text was (in my view) the easiest of the three, in terms of lexical density and word-count, but I thought the questions were the hardest; this interplay made it challenging. The middle text had more of a mix of inference and retrieval, with a higher word count which meant that by the 40 minute mark some of them were looking like not finishing. The final text was very dense but the questions were mostly retrieval so oddly a lot of the kids found that text easier. I didn't think it was a particularly unfair paper, compared with the past papers (particularly the likes of 2023). What I would say, however, is that the DfE are clearly trying to save money by keeping word count high but printing smaller text over double-page spreads! This visual aspect of words condensed onto a page definitely didn't help those with neurodivergent conditions.

Maths - Arithmetic - predictable, formulaic, easy to prepare for. No surprises really.

Maths - Reasoning - Paper 2 - Some curveball questions, but largely OK. Some of the basic skills, however, were tested in a very oblique and round-about way which I actually thought was a bit unkind; I had some kids failing to get the full complement of marks on particular questions because they hadn't fully understood the question's form and structure. This isn't really all that fair when you have a solid sense that a child knows something (according to your teacher assessment).

I hope that's in some way helpful!

Interesting the difference in expectations of teachers and other invigilators reading test papers.

I monitor SATS, unannounced visits, on behalf of an LA as part of the statutory duty in reporting to the Standards and Testing Agency. I also conduct investigations into maladministration.

For the integrity of the tests and to protect staff and volunteers we advise that staff and invigilators in the test room do not read the papers (other than if a pupil asks for support).

When I have carried out investigations for malpractice (breaches of content, claims of pupils being helped by staff etc) it is much easier to secure a positive outcome of the investigation if the headteacher and staff can each guarantee that it is consistent practice that nobody reads the papers. Interviewed separately staff are easily able to confirm this and means content has not been shared.

Clearly your school does not expect this as good practice in protecting staff.

@OutBy can't the teachers look at the paper after the test?

Thanks for this.
My son enjoys maths and he seemed ok today. He gets complacent and rushes so I am hoping he did his best

Contrary to some posters, I actually think a little bit of exam stress is good for children. If they are protected from all life’s stresses they will not develop coping skills. They are shortly going to be tested repeatedly (when they move on to Yr 7).
SATS are a great opportunity for parents to teach resilience: to teach their child that in life you sometimes have to do difficult things and educate them in how to get through life’s challenges.

General consensus not that bad in the 2 schools where I work.
A lot of inference in the reading paper

As I explained above - integrity of the test in terms of not knowing about the content of tests.

If you mean completed test papers, absolutely not. Collecting, counting, completing registers, safely storing, head teacher declaration, logs signed for locking them away until collection…then documentation to follow is immense.
(With very serious consequences for maladministration. In the most serious cases headteachers and teachers sacked and struck off).

Reading and actioning test guidance is why we all have to be graduates…😂😉

Printed off, the guidance fills a file, links here to all guidance documents are here, if you fancy a taster. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-key-stage-2-tests

My year 6 says the papers have all been straightforward and as expected. He thought spelling and arithmetic were both easier than he anticipated. There were a couple of tricky areas that he expected on reasoning but said weren’t there (I’m just hoping he didn’t miss a page…) 😂🙈

Glad they’re all done now. They didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary for my dd. Grammar, spelling and reading fine. Reasoning hard but she always finds the reasoning hard and arithmetic not too bad. She finished arithmetic which she doesn’t always do so she felt good about that.
Cant believe that’s it and primary is nearly finished!

I think people need to remember that there needs to be some content that is challenging for the majority of children, and only those children who are actually working at greater depth should be expected to get anywhere near full marks. For example in reasoning papers there should be some questions that require deeper mathematical skills than the majority of Y6 children have.

I also monitor SATs and am a former LA Assessment Lead.

I was also very surprised that the governor posted that they had read the paper as I was that teachers had been looking at and analysing the tests.

Some of the maladministration investigations every year come about because a child goes home and tells a parent (sometimes a parent who is a teacher) about something that happened in a test without realising it should not have happened and the parent then flags it with the school, LA or DfE.

SATS results doesn’t go towards the children, it goes towards the school, wether a child gets a low score or high score, the child doesn’t take that result away with them, it’s all goes to grade the school!
None of my children done them, why put a child through all the stress for something that won’t benefit them??
Its not affected my children by not doing them at all,