What are CATS in secondary school?

[gorionine]

DD1 came back yesterday saying they had CATS. I gathered it is some sort of test but what is it/what is it for exactly? they have only be in school for 1 month.

CATS are Cognitive Ability Tests. They assess the child's reasoning skills, looking at verbal, quantitative and non-verbal reasoning. You can find out more about them here.

Thanks very much prh47bridge. I will have a look!

I thought they were Continuous Assessment Tests?

My son has just taken these in yr 7 (state), they sound the same as the end of year tests he took at (private) primary.

Should I be expecting to see the results of these yr 7 tests or are they just used internally?

They are often taken in year 7 as a baseline. They do things like predict GCSE results. They often pick up students with ability who are currently underperforming which often suggests special needs that may be undiagnosed or that the child may need more help in some way.
You can usually get the results if you ask. Different schools do different things with regard to sharing the results with parents.

"Should I be expecting to see the results of these yr 7 tests or are they just used internally?"
I Have no idea OneMoreMum I aked DD but shwe does not know either.

You surely don't imagine your child's secondary school will keep you advised about things affecting your child do you ?

You don't need to understand much about the results of the tests. Basically they are ability tests, which test verbal and non verbal reasoning. It is normal to take them at the beginning of year 7. There are also some similar tests that year 10s do. It allows the school to set appropriate targets for the children, ie how much progress they should be making between year 7 and year 9. If someone has achieved a high CAT score but is only getting average results at school, it indicates that they are not reaching their potential.
They are used internally so that the school can measure how well it is doing when they see if each child achieves the results that the CAT test predicts they will.
Equally, children should not worry about the test. you can't prepare or revise for it really.

Cats are a measure of raw ability in key areas, they provide schools and teachers with extra information to help set targets ( and also highlight areas for concern) they are a useful tool and nothing at all for pupils or parents to worry about. The average score in any of the areas is 100 do anything above this indicates good ability and anything below means it's an area in which a pupil may struggle. Verbal reasoning is one of the areas, can't remember the others at the moment, they also help highlight a pupils learning style.

"Equally, children should not worry about the test. you can't prepare or revise for it really."

Indeed as until they were actually led to the eamination room, they had no idea that this test would take place.

Thanks Kat2504and Bulby, your posts give a good idea of what the tests are for. I am quite happy that they will make DD education really suited to her needs/abilities.

Ours sent us a letter in the post which arrived on Friday telling us that they would be taking them the following Monday but not to worry as there was no nothing they could revise for.
In which case I'm not quite sure what the point of the letter was.....

LOL Ginger do I have a lot to learn about secondary schools??

On the tests he's done at primary he scored average on maths & english but really high on non-verbal reasoning (the patterns one). I like to think this shows untapped potential but how the hell we dig it out I have no idea..