SATS and primary national tests

[Looloolullabelle]

Are SATS and Welsh national test results etc a reflection of how well your kids will do in the future?

My eldest child is very bright, he scores very highly in all the national tests, he scores 130+ or close to this in all his tests and has done throughout primary.

My youngest is bright, she’s 9 but isn’t as academic, she does ok, scored around 120 in English last year but maths was more low 100s and high 90s for reasoning.

I was just wondering, those of you who had children sit SATS or Welsh national tests, was that a true reflection of how they performed when they sat GCSEs etc.

I hope Im making sense with this post. It’s early and I’m tired 😂

There are many variables and DC mature at different rates. Also SATS test specific things (which can be taught to some extent – huge focus in year 6 at primaries) but a child may have other skills that will continue to develop.

But FWIW my DCs' SATs results mirrored their level of GCSE achievement in a broad way. It's in no sense a fixed factor though.

In SATs which are in Year6 in England, children are given a score of up to 120 as it is a stratified score based on a scale, which measures them compared to others. 100 is "meets age related expectations" - average on this score. I am guessing your kids are un Wales as it is impossible to get 130 in SATs.

I don't know about Welsh national tests but it looks like it is similarly scored for each year group but goes up to 130? In which case both your children are doing well, your elder son is exceptionally good at passing tests, and your daughter might just need to grow into the reasoning part of maths (but is still pretty much on par with average).

Just let them get on with their lives - especially the 9 year old who, as you say, is clearly bright and is also NINE.

There is of course a correlation as in general a kid who is strong academically at 11 will be strong academically at 16, and in England at least schools are judged on progress and targets are set based on those assumptions.

Sometimes it won’t work though. Illness, poor attendance, mental health trouble, ‘going off the rails’, just not doing any work, will potentially all cause a 16 year old who did well at 11 to do badly.

likewise some children may have undiagnosed needs in primary, or be a late bloomer, and may do well at gcse despite not having done well in primary.

but in general, yes, kids who do well early on will also do well later on.

They are a waste of time and pile on an unnecessary amount of pressure on children of such a young age. My ds had to take CAT tests in year 7 so they could then be put in to sets for the core subjects. Waste of time doing the SATs.