KS1 Sats phased out?

[IndigoBell]

Hi,

Just had a most distressing phone call with SENCO of my DD's new primary school.

She has dyslexia and is well behind where she should be. She just started at a new school last week in Year 2, but because it is an infant school she will only be there for a total of 6 weeks before moving up to the junior school.

She's been there a week and it seems like they've done nothing at all with her, so I asked the SENCO (who's also her teacher) to ring me to find out what was happening.

She said that because it was end of the year they were going to do nothing with her. I am very upset. I know that at the end of term they're doing a lot of extra stuff, but surely they should still be teaching kids to read?????

Then I asked if this school or her previous school would be doing her KS1 SATS - and SENCO said KS1 SATS don't exist anymore. Is this right?????

Either way I'm very upset. She won't have any reading tuition for the last 6 weeks of school, or 6 weeks of summer holidays. So it will be a full 3 months before a teacher tries to teach her to read again. ( And then probably another month while they assess her and decide what to do etc...)

(Yes, of course I am doing stuff with her at home - but why am I sending her to school if they're not teaching her to read????)

Just to add that any children starting a new school in year 2 after the last half term holiday will be teacher assessed by their old school and they will report the results. I am sure you could get a copy from them.

I'm sure she will still receive the differentiation and in-class support she needs to access the curriculum for the last few weeks, just no booster sessions or extra tuition. It is very late in the year to start any intervention programmes, there would be little point.

Thanks everyone.

BY nothing I was referring no teaching her to read. Instead they are doing school prodcution, sports day, transition to juniors, etc, etc. SENCO kept telling me how hard the kids had been working towards their SATS and now they were over and they were going to do other things for the reamining 5 weeks.

As far as I can tell they don't do daily phonics in class, or any 'learn to read' activities in class, and she will not be getting any interventions, because they agree with TeamEdward that it would take too long to put in place, and not be effective.

I can see their point of view, but I was hoping that there'd be more co-ordination between the infants and juniors, so that whatever was started in the infants could be continued in the juniors. And I really can see why they don't want to. But what I also see is DD not getting any support for 3 months. Surely she should still be getting phonics daily as she has not yet learnt all of her 44 sounds.

And worst of all they've put her on the same colour book band as the old school, when she'd be far better off on an easier level. I really really really cannot understand how both schools came to the same conclusion that she could read level X books, when at home she just can't read them. You can look at the pictures and guess the words on any level - but it's not helping her learn to read.

Her old school have not yet sent anything across for her. So, as asked, we bought in her last IEP's. I think it was a shock for her new school. She was getting a lot of extra support at her old school and there is no way the new school could match it.

However all that extra support didn't seem to be helping anyway, so I don't mind that she's not getting the same amount of support. I think it was bad for her to always have a TA on her table. And the interventions she was on weren't working, so she might as well do no interventions as ones that aren't suitable.

Now I'll have to wait till Sep / Oct to see if the juniors care about dyslexia, or if they too think it's perfectly acceptable for her to be so far behind, and so unable to cope with reading or writing. God knows what I'll do if the Juniors are rubbish. Homeschool her I guess.

mummyofexcitedprincesses do you know if that is true for all LEAs? Or if it may vary LEA to LEA?

Okay, you need to talk to the SENCo of the Junior school. Find out what they will be doing in September, what she would like you to be doing over the summer etc. Honestly other than to make new friends and prepare for Juniors I wouldn't bother sending her to school for these 6 weeks, and you could do so much more at home.
My own year 2 DD hasn't done daily phonics this year, they are supposed to be doing some handwriting practise.

I would suggest that you start to work through something like "Toe by Toe" or Phono-Graphix with your daughter. You have a lot of time, and daily practise with one of these over the summer could help a lot. Other than that read to her a lot, and interesting books. Train her ears with audio books. Talk to her about how she sees the words, what she sees when she reads.

Good luck.

Thanks mummytime. I agree - there is no point in sending her to school. But obviously keeping her at home - without withdrawing her from the school systm -isn't an option.

I am going to start phono graphic right away. I was going to wait till the summer holidays so as not to confuse her with whatever the school were going to do. But now see no reason not to start her straight away.

By sep she'llthen have had 3 months of phono graphix. So with an awful lot of luck she'll have made considerable gains by then.

I agree with mummytime, arrange an appointment with the SENCO of the junior school in the next few weeks. In this way you can get the ball rolling and make sure that your dd is on the SENCO's radar before she begins.

My dd is in Y5 and has hypermobility issues. I have been told that I can make an appointment to see a SENCO from any of the secondary schools that I am considering to help me choose the right school. I do not think it is unreasonable to discuss a child's SN with a new school.

Am shocked at the erroneous advice given here - Team Edward, what are you on about? "KS1 Standard Attainment Tests are not statutory anymore. Most schools still do the tests...." I'm sorry, that's just rubbish!

The only result reported is the teacher assessment, BUT it is still statutory that the assessment is backed up by one test in reading, writing, spelling and maths for those children working at level 2 or 3. It has to be backed up by many, many other sources of evidence, but the tests still remain, I'm afraid. The difference is that they are no longer the be all and end all - the teacher assessment is more important.

Op, the rules state that if your daughter began their new school after May half term then it is their previous school who must give the end of year 2 statutory assessment. They should have passed it on to the LEA and the new school, and the new school can take their teaching from there.

I disagree, since the OP was also wrongly advised by the SENCO.

Also, there is enough confusion regarding KS1 assessment already on MN without adding crap advice to the mix.

I can't believe your LEA advised you that a legal requirement, completed by every state school is England, need not be completed. I wish we didn't have to do them - Lord knows they don't tell us anything we don't know already, and if teacher assessment is robust they are completely unnecessary. But there's no way any LEA would tell you not to bother, thereby putting your governors and staff at risk of malpractice accusations.

From the Assessment and Reporting Arrangements document 2010:

"4.2 Use of tasks and tests
Tasks and tests must be administered to all eligible children who are working at level 1
or above in reading, writing and mathematics. The role of the tasks and tests is to help
inform the final teacher assessment judgement reported for each child at the end of
key stage 1. There is no requirement to report separately the levels obtained from the
tasks and tests."

(i.e.children working at level 1 must be assessed using the set tasks).

Also, TeamEdward, I'm quite confused now, because in March you said that your LEA insists on two tests to confirm a level 3 in Maths! (Which is equally wrong, for people seeking KS1 assessment clarification on this thread.)

TeamEdward, you may have noticed that the unions this year had to practically move heaven and earth to ensure the boycott of KS2 SATs was completely legal, so that heads did not face prosecution. Even so, heads were threatened with this up until the last gasp. Only the fact that the NAHT had made absolutely sure that their case was watertight saved thousands and thousands of headteachers from being prosecuted for failing to fulfil their statutory obligations reagrding KS2 assessment.

There is no way an authority would advise schools not to carry out their statutory obligations anyway regarding KS1, but to do so in the current climate would be insane.
And would certainly hit the headlines as heads would demand to know why their LEA was advising them to act unlawfully.

Must have missed that in the TES then.

TeamEdward I'm sorry but you have been misinformed by your LEA

I'm not sure if you have read the ARA (Assessment and Reporting Arrangements 2010)
www.qcda.gov.uk/resources/assets/2010_Key_stage_1_ARA.pdf

Headteachers should:

■■ identify the children to be assessed at the end of key stage 1

■■ ensure teacher assessment levels for reading, writing, speaking and listening,
mathematics and science are recorded for all children at the end of key stage 1

■■ ensure key stage 1 tasks and tests are administered

■■ ensure all task and test materials are stored responsibly and that children do not
have access to the test materials before they are administered

■■ ensure children?s responses to the tasks and tests are marked accurately and
consistently

AND

4.2 Use of tasks and tests
Tasks and tests must be administered to all eligible children who are working at level 1
or above in reading, writing and mathematics. The role of the tasks and tests is to help
inform the final teacher assessment judgement reported for each child at the end of
key stage 1. There is no requirement to report separately the levels obtained from the
tasks and tests.
■■ ensure teacher judgements are monitored
■■provide teacher assessment results to their school?s governing body to enable it
to comply with national data submission requirements and report to parents,
carers or guardians
■■provide parents, carers or guardians with written reports on their child?s progress free
of charge, and provide the opportunity for discussion with a child?s parents, carers or
guardians at least once in each school year
■■ ensure the statutory requirements for the transfer of records between schools
are fulfilled, including the completion of the common transfer file
■■ ensure provision is made to meet the special educational needs of their school?s
children.
1

IndigoBell is your daughter working below level because of her dyslexia if so she would not have to do the test/tasks. If she is working at level 1 or above the tests/tasks must be administered.

It really annoys me when schools start to wind down long before the end of the year of course they should still be teaching her to read...

Headteachers should:

identify the children to be assessed at the end of key stage 1

ensure teacher assessment levels for reading, writing, speaking and listening,
mathematics and science are recorded for all children at the end of key stage 1

ensure key stage 1 tasks and tests are administered

ensure all task and test materials are stored responsibly and that children do not
have access to the test materials before th

ensure children?s responses to the tasks and tests are marked accurately and
consistently

AND

4.2 Use of tasks and tests
Tasks and tests must be administered to all eligible children who are working at level 1
or above in reading, writing and mathematics. The role of the tasks and tests is to help
inform the final teacher assessment judgement reported for each child at the end of
key stage 1. There is no requirement to report separately the levels obtained from the
tasks and tests.

mrz, thanks for your reply. I believe she is working at a level 1, I know she definately hasn't sat any level 2 papers.

But what I don't know is if her new school has to administer these tasks, or whether (as some other posters have suggested) just her old school does.

I've decided not to make a big fuss at the infants, but I am terribly dissapointed. I hope I've made the right decision moving schools....

What's worse than not teaching her to read, for some reason they've had French week instead and they've been learning French. Now part of her dyslexia makes it very hard for her to learn new words, and so she can't learn French. So that's been a whole lot of unnecessary stress for her.

(Does anyone know if there's anyway I can get her removed from French in the juniors?)

IndigoBell, the Assessment and Reporting Arrangements 2010 document states that:

8.4 Children who transfer to a new school
Schools are required to transfer a child?s educational record and common transfer file
to any new school (maintained or independent) to which a child transfers in England,
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Where the transfer is to a school outside England,
the means of transfer must be in line with the arrangements for transfer between schools
in England, as described in the ARA and other guidance.
Additionally:
■■ if a child starts at a new school before the summer half-term holiday (or sixth term), the
new school must report the child?s results to the local authority
■■ if a child starts at a new school during the second half of the summer term (or sixth
term), the previous school must report the child?s results to the local authority.

Therefore, the old school must report the end of KS1 assessment, and must tell the new school. If your dd is working at level 1, they should have used the statutory tasks (not the tests) to support their teacher assessment.

I agree with you and mrz, though - of course they should be teaching your dd in the remaining last weeks.

By law, you may only remove your child from Religious Education or Sex Education (unlikely in Y3 .

A little off track but Mr Gove said yesterday in a speech to the National College of Leadership that he thinks tests need to be refined to generate more data and make them comparable with testing around the world.
So a new reading test for all 6 year olds to begin.

I teach Sex and Relationships Education in Year 2, as do my Early Years and Year 1 colleagues!

What I don't do is mention the 's' word when I am teaching it, and the y2 curriculum is all about communities (so the R in SRE rather than the S, thankfully!)