How important are Year 6 SATs?

[catsarenice]

DS is in yr 6 and SATs are obviously approaching. The school are going on and on about them so much and I know that they are important for their data. How important are they for the children? Every secondary school we looked at said they will look at the results but do CATs (think that's what they're called) within the first couple of weeks of term to determine what sets they will be in anyway.

You might want to ask MNHQ to edit your title as you refer to the KS1 SATs in your title but the KS2 ones in your post.

[Message from MNHQ: We've edited the title now]

They are important for the school. They aren't as important for the child.

Ooops thank you - it's because I was thinking about how the school as been talking about year 2 SATs results predicting the year 6 ones!!!

They're very important for schools data, not so much for secondary as most secondary schools sit their own tests to determine groups. However, they are used to predict GCSE grades, which means if your dc gets high results in the SATs they will be expected to achieve high grades come GCSE time.

Y6 days mean bugger all to the kids. They are merely a data tool to assess the schools performance

They may be used to inform or even decide setting at secondary. They will be used to set GCSE targets and the secondary league table measure is progress made since KS2 against the national average for those KS2 results. Because of this, if your child achieves highly but doesn’t do so well at secondary, they will find themselves under pressure to do better at KS4 - intervention classes, mentoring and so on. If they underachieve at KS2 then they may be allowed to coast at GCSE.

Firstly I'm a TA and not teaching staff so may not be privy to everything when it comes to how data is used but from what I've seen I'm going to go against the grain, unfortunately they are quite important in Secondary school along with information on reading ages. In my school we set top and bottom and have mixed classes in the middle based on SATs results. students who have received a low grade in their English and Maths SATs may not be chosen for triple science if they want to do it as an option as they are likely to find the content too difficult.
Obviously if they have improved massively and are working at a high level now we would discount it but unfortunately their SATs grade seem fairly accurate in most cases. It's also used to predict where the higher achievers should be aiming for and if they aren't on track intervention is put in place and probably told that they are underachieving.

They seem to affect all their targets, ALL the way through secondary. So yes, it does seem important.

Any secondary school which is still using KS2 SATs to set for GCSEs ought to be ashamed
If current data agrees with the SATs,fine - use the current data,no need to consider how a child was doing years earlier.And if it doesn't then it's unjustifiable to consider earlier results.

They aren't important for the kids; only the schools.

Many secondaries make them sit their own tests at the beginning of treat 7, which override the sats results.

Internal tests don't override the SATs. The SATs are used by the government to set targets

The secondary school that my son started in September put them all into sets from day one based on their SATs results. There has been some movement since then based on their own tests, but not much. If your son wants to be in the top set with other hard working, focused children who want to do well, he needs to take his SATs seriously and do the best he can.

DS has HF ASD and is really bright. Doing advanced maths ... He though doesn't test very well and will be in a room alone for his SATS!
I'm shitting myself about them and the pressure they are putting in him! They already stay until 5pm in a Friday to revise !!!!

We don't have any choice in setting targets in high school-ofsted look at the progress made from the ks2 SAYs. I would love to be able to override the over inflated SATS scores. Would save an awful lot of kids being labelled failures cos they got a 5 in sats on a good day with help and have no chance of attaining a 7 or 8 at vase.

I don't think they are important to the child at all I think they really are just for the school. It's like a prove how much you have taught the children test. My son's secondary school never used the sat results for sets they had the children sit cat test sort out sets so they weren't even needed for secondary school. I think the sats are unnecessary.

Its a mix of responses - so secondary schools are doing different things

Our local secondary does stream and set targets on a combination of SATs results and CAT results. But initially they are set on the SATs until Christmas.

My dc should do well but I find it sad that so much pressure is put on 10 & 11 year olds. Yes the government may use the data but the local secondaries have all said they set based on their own tests so the government data will not actually matter to us. (Obviously it will to the school). One of my friend's dc is really worrying because of what the teachers are saying about how important it is and the amount of testing they are doing. It shouldn't be like that 😪

A target is a target and doesn't actually mean much in real terms. More important is how the secondary sets their kids, which is often done by their own internal tests.

the local secondaries have all said they set based on their own tests so the government data will not actually matter to us

This isn't the case. My school sets based on its own tests, however come Y10/11, the kids who are underachieving relative to their KS2 results get pulled out for intervention/mentoring regardless of their starting set.

Then surely it is better to under perform in the sats tests as you'll get more help/interventions whatever your ability?

What's the effect on setting and targets at GCSE if a child just doesn't do SATS at KS2?
In a similar position to IceBear. DD could do very well but I may have to withdraw her.

No you'd get less help surely?

No, if you underperform in the SATs then you'd have lower targets that would be more easily achievable at secondary and you'll get no special intervention/extra support beyond what's offered to everyone because you'd be meeting your low targets.

If KS2 results don't match the child's actual ability which then remains uniform throughout secondary, then targets generated by them may become a problem.

If the child doesn't sit KS2 SATs then the secondary school will come up with their own targets for them.

Children who don't sit KS2 SATs aren't included in league table data calculations for secondaries but still may be used for performance management of teachers/departments.

If you have a bright child who doesn't sit KS2 SATs then I think that will affect the primary school's league table data unless you withdraw them entirely from the school and home school (can't remember how long before the SATs you would need to do this, there were loads of threads about it when the new KS2 SATs came in, a search of the Primary section would provide answers).