What percentage of kids get level 6 in KS2 SATS?

[Dodo76]

How common is it to score level 6 in SATs? Do many kids manage this or just a few?

DD is taking the Level 6 papers in Maths, Reading and SPAG. This is because she has been a Level 5a in all three for a long time.

The Maths one is considered the easiest by far, and I think she's guaranteed to get it. But she did the level 6 Reading yesterday and said it was hard. DD scored very highly on her verbal reasoning paper for the 11+ too. I've seen a couple of the Level 6 Reading past papers and they are very tricky, even for a very bright 11 year old.

Only DD and two other girls took the Level 6 Reading. And only DD and one other boy will take the Level 6 Maths. And, they're at a very successful small primary where the majority of parents are middle class professionals, and a high percentage of pupils go to local grammars.

I think the difficulty with the Level 6 Reading is that it requires a high level of emotional maturity and perception in children who might still only be 10. I have seen a few of the past papers and you have to sift the text for hidden meanings. Identify irony or sarcasm. Compare and contrast metaphors.

My daugher is taking the level six in English and Maths. She did the Reading part yesterday and said it was really hard. There are about six or seven out of a class of 27 doing level 6 in Maths and English. The majority of these kids have been tutored for the 11+ earlier in the year. She is at a successful Primary School where the kids are pushed. Last year only one child ended up with a level 4, the others achieved level 5 and 6.

DD told me 5 children did the Reading Level 6 (that's out of a year group of about 45) - I would be surprised if they all passed. One of her friends who was supposedly Level 5A at the end of Year 4 has not sat the test so clearly the benchmark is very high. DD was 5B at the end of last year but having seen the Level 6 papers for previous years there's no way she would have passed and no attempt has been made to push her to that level.
All of that group is going to be sitting the Level 6 Maths papers plus some others.

Hi,

My 11 year old DS is sitting the level 6 maths. He also did level 6 reading yesterday but he said it was tough. I was only told that he was doing level 6 reading last week. To be honest, it will be a miracle if he gets a 6 in reading. He is a good reader but has bad comprehension.

He has always been good at maths (from nursery) so I did expect him to sit the level 6. We have done a few papers at home and he is fine but struggles with the pressure of time running out. I think it is looking borderline 6/5 but it depends on the questions and how he is.

Will be glad when they are over!
[tea]

My DS is doing them all this week, said Reading was very hard, SPaG easy and Maths is on Thursday. We've done very little prep as its seems all a bit pointless after the 11+. Quite enough stress for one year, thanks.

I think around 15 out of 45 have been put forward for Maths, the same for SPaG and around 6 of them for Reading. The writing is teacher assessed and DS has been given his grade.

I'm not sure the school has ever had anyone get the L6 Reading, but a fair few get Maths each year. It's a bog standard state primary.

My dd's at the level 6 reading (comp) yesterday and thinks she did ok, comprehension isn't her strong point, her writing is her strong point, she did grammar and spelling today and thinks she did well but we shall see.

Did is sitting all the level 6's and is one of 3 children in her class who are sitting them all, her teacher tells me this puts her in the top 5% of the country but not sure how true this is. She scored 5a on most of the practice papers but we are not getting her hopes up on achieving a level 6 and tbh it won't make any difference to her or us if she gets the level 6 as we don't plan to get her into any top school ( she's going to local comp ).

We were told that achieving a level 6 in English writing is almost impossible as not many achieved it last year.

You do realise that KS2 SATs are not that well respected at secondary and much of this angst both for pupils and teachers is unnecessary. Poor old Y6s having their last year at primary ruined by test coaching.

I don't know about nationally but here are the stats from the secondary school I teach at:

% sat L6 paper/% of those who sat paper who passed/% of L6 overall/% of students who didn't sit L6 paper but achieved at least the same marks as those who passed L6 in L3-5 paper (some did significantly better)

Grammar: 13.0/22.9/3.0/7.0
Reading: 10.7/3.5/0.4/2.6
Maths: 16.3/47.7/7.8/6.7

Sats count for very little at Secondary school. Basically they will start all over again in year 7, and most of those who achieved level 6 at primary will find themselves downgraded by the end of the first year!

totally agree derxa...

Secondary is soooo different anyway, so enjoy Y6 - mine did, her teacher was astonished when we said no to after school coaching for L6 and no to doing the L6 paper - our secondary tested for setting at end of first half term and she was a solid L5 anyhow so we had the luxury of knowing it did not matter. In Y9 now, just done her Sats and on target for A*s or whatever they will be when they come - despite no L6 in Y6.

Sorry - just realised my last 'column' is incorrect, should be:

G 7.7
R 2.9
M 8.4

for % of students who didn't sit L6 paper but achieved at or above the lowest L6 students score in the L3-5 paper. I previously gave stats for % of whole year group, including those who sat L6...

I agree though - secondary schools really aren't overly interested in L6 results and I definitely wouldn't assume a student coming in with a L6 was automatically 'brighter' than one with L5.

I'm at secondary and we still use levels. The govt hasn't given us another option. What are we supposed to use?? Every school I now is still using levels. I don't think that's going to change any time soon. We're all too busy planning the brand new English curriculum to even bother with changing levels for KS3. It's just not a priority.

The pressure on us to continue the levels from KS2 is insane. PP said that average/expected for yr9 is level 6 but that's not really how it works. The end of year 9 in most secondary schools needs to be 2 levels higher than KS2 for it to be considered as making progress. So if they get a level 6c we need to get them to an (imaginary) 8!

I work in a very deprived area and we still have kids coming in at L6 in yr 7 (they never ever are a L6 really)

The whole levels thing is total BS and all teachers loathe them

Typos...sorry. *know

Also estimated GCSE grades and progress indicators come from the KS2 levels

Name the school.

happy2nhomely,

I have reported your post as it gives answers to questions. Not all sit the papers today.

Well, I should imagine my daughter is going to do reasonably well in her SPAG test she sat today. She did the level 6 test this afternoon. According to my daughter, the head of school sat next to her throughout the test and told her the answers to 4 of the questions! Now, I know I wasn't there but there is no reason why she would make that up!

You need to blow the whistle on the school.

That needs reporting, happy, it's absolutely appalling and makes it all the more bloody difficult for those schools who DON'T cheat.
Am actually angry.

Shit, I will also report my post. I just assumed that because the test was over, then it would be ok. Shit.

Who do I report the incident to? I absolutely do not want my daughter to have to face the teacher in question.

I trust as much as I possibly can what my daughter has told me. There was too much detail for it to be a lie. She has also told her best friend.

I'm angry too. DD is a solid level 5. She has been pushed to do the level 6 papers when she isn't ready. She has already been saying that she doesn't want to only get a 5! I've told her that what the teacher did was wrong and dishonest, but it's important not to discuss it with anyone else just yet.

Any advice?

It sounds like the test was maladministered to your daughter.
There's info on GOV.UK about that sort of thing here.
www.gov.uk/national-curriculum-assessments-reporting-maladministration

Thanks. I'm going to take a look. It was blatant cheating. No other way to look at it. I've quickly googled, sats cheating, and it seems teachers have actually lost their jobs over stuff like this. Why would that teacher risk that?

I'm also angry that she has put my daughter in the position to have to 'grass up' her teacher. I'm very proud of DD, for telling me what happened. I know DH will tell me to just keep it to myself. I know I can't, but I'm nervous of the consequences of reporting it tbh.

I reckon you could probably report it anonymously if you are worried what might happen

More than you'd think. ...