SAT's (year 6)

[Endler32]

Sorry to post again ( posted a month or so ago ). Dd1 will be sitting her SATs in May, her teacher has said she is capable of level 6's in English and maths.

At parents evening a few weeks ago, teacher says he's unsure if dd will get the grade she deserves as she is i. Too much of a rush and often skips information in the questions leading to mistakes being made.

Teacher has been given the class mock papers for level 3-5 but so far has not tested them ( the ones sitting the level 6 ) on any level 6 mock papers. Because so few are taking the level 6 nothing has been done to prepare them for what might be in the paper. For this reason I managed to get hold of a level 6 paper from a previous year, I set down with dd and went though the paper, most of the questions she could not answer as the topics ( algebra , long division, how to calculate angles, and stem charts) has not been taught in class.

Am I wrong in thinking ' if they are not going to prepare her there's no point in her sitting the level 6 paper?'.

It's got to the point where she's getting upset as I have been trying to teach her ( not easy when I'm not that good at maths myself ), although I would love for her to get a level 6 I don't want her getting stressed and having to sit extra tests when she doesn't stand a chance of getting the level 6 anyway.

So do I tell her teacher to ditch the level 6 paper? Or do I work hard with her at home to get her through it? Is it really worth the hassle as the SATs are mainly for the schools benefit and not hers ( a level 5 will get her into the top maths set at high school anyway ).

Anyone else's dc sitting the level 6's, what prep has been done with your children?

DSs don't even know their SATs scored :) DS2 knows he got the L6 maths but only because he wanted to beat his brother.

It does get quite competitive despite teachers trying to stop it. Dd isn't very competitive at all but wants her level 6 in English. I'm sure in a couple years she won't remember the SATs at all.

I think I'm more competitive because I was never capable of coming out at top with anything ( useless at sport and most over things ), I often feel my dd's are being judged because they have sn's ( people assume they won't do well ) so in a way I want to prove people wrong. I don't want to push her too hard though, I want her to be happy and not totally stressed out over the SATs, we will be pleased when they are over and we can concentrate on transition to high school and enjoying her last weeks at primary school.

Its really difficult to get a L6 in reading. Last time I looked, 0% got it - which probably means less than 0.5% passed.
I don't know about SPAG though. Maybe that's easier.

The writing is teacher assessed isn't it? So, she/ he will have already found evidence of L6 writing, or your DD will be running out of time on that one.

Does anyone know how SPAG, writing and reading get combined to make an overall English score?

DS2 is doing the level 6 for SPAG and reading. Unless he breaks his hand or something, he should get the maths. However, I'm not holding my breath for the reading.

Two years on DS1, still knows exactly what he got in the SATS. He's forgetton most last July's levels though. I think he'll continue to remember the SATS until the memory is obliterated by the GSCEs.

I'm not sure how it works this year as it's the first year writing has been teacher accessed. Dd said they have been doing comprehension and grammar tests, her teacher said reading will be mainly tested by comprehension ( im sure that's what her said ).

Dd seems to think she will get a level 6 reading and writing but I don't have much faith in what her teacher says, he told us she is gifted in writing and years ahead but I'm not sure how much of this is true. Her reading level has always been high due to her being a book worm. I have heard it's almost impossible to get a level 6 so I'm not holding out much hope.

Writing was teacher assessed in 2013 too (that was the year Ds1 did his sats).

You can find out a lot about what is expected of them by looking at past papers (which are free to download). I just googled "level 6 sats past papers" and I found this site:-
www.satspapers.org.uk/Page.aspx?TId=5#ENG_SATS_6

I just googled the SPAG level 6. It looks like its just a guided writing piece where the child has to write showing mastery of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

As far as I know, reading is all about being able to comprehend and interpret after level 3. Being able to read aloud fluently and pronounce all the words is more for the early years in primary.

Thank you all for you advice, dd got quite stressed out about the SATs so I backed off a bit, she had been doing a bit of revision in her own time (her choice) but I decided not to mention SATs too her. She has been doing weekly practice papers at school and scoring 5b in maths but this week she came out of school looking very pleased as she managed to get a 5a and scored 96% on the paper ( level 3-5 ), her teacher is now giving her and a couple of others extra help in a separate group, working on level 6 work in both maths and English.

"Dd seems to think she will get a level 6 reading"

She might get that from a teacher assessment, but I think the L6 Reading SAT is a technically poor exam and it's something of a lottery for capable children. When my DD did L6s last year I went to some trouble to manage her expectations around L6 Reading so she wouldn't treat it as a significant failure if she didn't pass.