SATs extra time letter out of the blue

[Summatoruvva]

my daughter has come home with a letter stating she qualifies for 25% extra time for all of her SATs. She is 10 and working at a greater depth and age 12 reading age. I’m just a little baffled! She’s not anxious at all. Obviously I’ll be checking with her teacher but it’s thrown me. What could it be? Will she be on a SEN register?

No, not necessarily. They do various tests and checks to see who would qualify for extra time. One of them is reading speed. Perhaps she didn’t quite read the set number of words in 60 seconds.

Thank you. She is a bit of a procrastinator. She’s since told me 3 others in the stretch group got one too so I’m not too worried we’re about to be landed with big news.

🤔. Do you think school might be doing it for their own benefit?
Four of the top group needing extra time when they've shown no prior need is a bit sus.

That did cross my mind. One of the boys gets 100% in the past papers. DD got a scaled score of 117 in the last maths mock and 114 in Eng.

This is from the Gov.uk website. It seems very suspicious that the school has deemed your daughter needs extra time if you have never been informed that she struggles in anyway, and she does not presumably have a diagnosis of dyslexia, or similar difficulty.

Schools will need to respond to each of the following 7 questions about the pupil. These questions draw on the teacher’s assessment of the pupil’s abilities or needs and do not relate to a specific diagnosis or condition. Schools should think carefully about the questions and how they relate to the pupil and must have evidence to justify their responses to the application questions in case they receive a monitoring visit.

1. Can the pupil understand and respond appropriately to a simple request or instruction given in English, without being prompted or aided by an interpreter or translator?
2. Does the pupil have a hearing impairment that prevents them from being able to respond appropriately to a simple question or instruction given in English, without being prompted or aided by a communicator, sign language interpreter or having to lip-read?
3. Does the pupil need braille and/or enlarged print in order to read and understand text?
4. Can the pupil focus on a task, which requires them to work independently and without interruption, for at least 15 minutes without being prompted to stay on task?
5. Is the pupil prevented from being able to write independently at a speed of more than 10 words per minute by a physical, motor skill or learning disability?
6. Can the pupil read age-appropriate texts aloud and fluently without making errors, or with very few errors?
7. Does the pupil have difficulty processing information, which prevents them from being able to answer questions on practice key stage 2 tests, even when they are allowed to refer back to the questions?

I can't see why the school would choose to do that with children who are already going to do well in SATs within normal time. I could maybe understand if they were children who were borderline -although still totally unacceptable to fraudulently claim it's needed.

I would ask the school why. If they are moderated and they have to give evidence for these children needing extra time and they don't have any, they'll be in trouble.

I will update tomorrow with what they say. She has worked so hard throughout primary and I worry this will take the shine off her results if she thinks she had to be helped in some way.

I wouldn't ordinarily expect a GD child with no SEN to need extra time. Very odd.

Definitely question if they are working at GD. Exam Access Arrangements are not for the purpose of conferring unfair advantage but are meant to create a level playing field.

Intesting comments here that kids working at higher levels shouldn't get extra time. Both my DC got it . One academic the other less so. The extra time was for slow processing speeds ie they can't read and process information at the same.speed as others. This maybe your daughters issue. If it takes longer to read and process information they can't finish the paper and do not show their true academic ability. Maybe not worrisome with sats but not finishing a GCSE paper or A level has significant effects . That's why bright children should still be considered to level field.

Not suggesting that higher attaining children couldn't qualify for extra time, but the OP has never been given any indication that her daughter has any learning needs that would qualify her. There's no way a child should get to the end of primary school and the parents not to have been told of any additional needs.

I did question why a school would risk fraudulently claiming extra time for children that are not struggling to reach expected standard.

While I agree that you need to know why she's getting extra time, please don't think that will "take the shine off". My dd's about to do her GCSEs and gets extra time. She's entered for all higher papers. She's super capable. But she also has many ADHD traits and has worked her backside off from predicted 1-3 in everything at the start of Y10 to predictions of nothing lower than a 7.

Not saying that there hasn't been an "error" of course, but bright children might also need extra time for a multitude of reasons.

Aged 10 there was no indication that my dd would need extra time but after spiky CATS testing at secondary various issues came to light. It was to do with handwriting speeds and processing (she turned out to be asd with hyperlexia). She has a very high (Mensa level) IQ and after measures were put into place she gained very high GCSE's and A levels. She had been a high achiever before, but the issues meant she wasn't achieving to her potential.

So it is entirely possible that a school may have carried out testing on children to find out potential issues.

I agree with the last 2 posts if youbschool is good and carried out testing having picked up an issue better now than in year 10 or in my sons case yr 12 . Tooknhis 6th form college 2 weeks to pick up issues his secondary mossed and he went from grades 4/5 at gcse to straight B's at a level. The OP does however need to know why extra time is needed.

I know someone who was at Cambridge before being given extra time. She hadn't realised that you were supposed to be able to finish exams in the time available, and had been getting good grades by doing very well on most of the paper.

Four able kids picked up at the same time sounds like they've screened everyone, and I am a bit cynical about whether they all really need it.

Similar in my own life - I'm academically very bright (Mensa level IQ when officially tested), but I have an incredibly "spiky" cognitive profile with very poor ability to retain text I've read. I got round it in younger years by having really fast information retrieval skills - the information didn't stay put, but I could scan a text and pull out the answer and get it down, but when the psychologist took the text away and asked me questions - I was absolutely fucked. Was picked up at uni age, and yes, I was entitled to extra time after that was discovered.

DD2 is getting extra time in her SATs - she's a bright kid, academically at expectations - but her ability to concentrate is terrible, plus she becomes incredibly anxious - so they're giving her extra time in a room on her own with an adult there to refocus her where required. Yes, she could probably do "OK" in the main classroom - but school want to give her the best chance to show what she can do (and it's not a SATs pressure heavy school at all), and I'm all for her being given that chance.

DD didn't do SATS due to COVID but she's top of the class in every subject and always has been (apart from Art and Dance) she'll have extra time for GCSEs she has a spiky profile where her processing and working memory are comparatively substantially lower than her other extremely gifted scores although still in the normal range shes autistic but we didn't know that in year 6. She has no problem with content but works to the bell and doesn't always have time to check her work, it's about levelling the playing field and helping children reach their potential not just coast

It sounds like your DDs school have tested the whole cohort to flag this up, it's worth asking for the actual scores so you know how to best assist her in the rest of her academic career. If she does need support then it's no bad thing it's been picked up early.

It was a lower score around processing and reading speeds. She’s was below in the flitting back and forth to the text. Her answers are very good but she seemed to be reading and answering very (too) methodically so she ran out of time on timed exercises.

She won’t be on SEN register and will have to work on her exam technique at secondary.

However her brain works is awesome and makes her who she is. She is very chill about it all. Thank you all for replying.

Wow, that amazing that they even noticed that. Is she at private school?
My DS, who did well in his SATS, was largely ignored for year 6 because they knew he would be fine.

Not private. Just a good small primary in the suburbs. The teaching is excellent and I’m very thankful they’ve been so proactive for her.

Your DD is just like my 2, though son just finishing his degree used a computer due to poor writing skills too. Dd is very bright a collection of 7/8/9at GCSE'S but in year 10 this bright kid started to really struggle couldn't finish papers, words hard to pick out., lots of headaches. Her brother had been the same.but only picked up at 6th form. Often kids on target are missed. I and DH had a real fight with school to have her assessed , they said it would have been picked up year 7/8 in school. She was at home due to covid at theis time doing 12 hour days, I know why now. Having fought for assessment the SEN lead rang me to apologise for missing her issues and sorted extra time for exams. She also has coloured glasses/ lenses which help her focus on text now too. Your primary school sound fab and need congratulating of sorting thos now for the future, though she will need retesting for secondary and sixth form.