KS1 SATS Meeting

[Anice]

I've got my first ever KS1 SATS meeting in half an hour with all the other parents. Its a state primary in Surrey. Can anyone tell me what we should expect to hear about?

I sincerely hope to God that they don't get you buying study books. Please let us know how you get on.

I expect it's only being held because anxious parents keep asking them questions. Probably no reason to go unless you're part of the anxious brigade.

Our school never mentions the KS1 SATS to parents at all.

I only found out about it first time round because DS mentioned them after he had done the written paper to confirm the teacher assessment.

They keep it low key at our school for KS1, which is how it should be.

KS2 though is a different matter.

study books why? is it so that we can home tutor??
will they tell us when the tests will be done and when (if) they will report the results back to the parents?

Will they tell us in advance if our child is to be tested at levels 2 & 3 or just level 2?

You have to have the results reported back to you. Children are teacher assessed with the tests there to form part of the assessment.

The tests can be performed at any time - as you are having a meeting I presume they haven't done them yet but they could have done.

They are generally some time in the summer term.

Not sure whether they do say whether you child will be tested at just level 2 or levels 2 and 3. At a recent parents evening we were told what level DS (in year 2) is working at but being entered for different levels wasn't mentioned.

If you are asked to do workbooks I personally feel that would be a waste of time.

what do the ks1 sats get used for anyway? are they of any benefit to the child, say if I wanted to move school (which I do)?

They are there so schools can have their result reported. Some schools may use KS1 results to help put children into groups at the beginning of Year 3, but schools generally do that with results from the previous year anyway.

I'm Back! yes they wanted to sell us study guides whilst telling us not to try to work through them. Mainly the message was "don't stress your children".

They said that in English the children will be asked to do a reading comprehension exercise and if they are considered eligible for level 3 testing, then they'll have to read a long passage and answer questions in a separate booklet - except they can't tell the children what to do with this and they've never done anything like it in school.

I don't like going to the school for anything since I had trouble with the Ht last month so i am just glad that this is over!

That there is no difference at all between the teacher assessments completed all the time from Reception to Y5, other than standardised tests are used as part of the huge pile of evidence used to arrive at the judgement and that the teacher assessment has to be reported to you.

Don't stress your children - but do buy them study guides? Mixed messages, or what?

The questions in the booklet shouldn't be about anything they wouldn't answer normally in a classroom situation - it's the same National Curriculum, why would they never have done anything like it?

feenie - because the teacher is not very good and hasn't got round to it. She does verbal answers instead, but that doesn't teach the writing in sentences skill, does it?

I think it was more a political thing - they nat the parents to coach the children but they want to be seen to discourage it.

What's up with my typing?! Should be "get" not "nat"!

DD got a level 3 so she must have been tested for Level 3, but I never was told anything about it, and she was unable to report anything to let me figure out whether she was being tested more than the others or not. DS1 didn't get a level 3, but he did get 2a in something... I've no idea if he was tested for L3 or not.

Selling you study guides is a bit rich! But I expect the school gets a commission :(. Sadly you can't really blame the schools for scrounging around like that.

Yes you can, it's appalling to expect 6 and 7 year olds to be drilled at home using study guides. Tbh, the fact that there was a meeting at all speaks volumes - since 2005, when KS1 assessment became teacher assessment only, many schools don't bother, because it's a normal part of school assessment. Y6 tests are a different matter, obviously.

Feenie - do you think it's OK to sell study guides for Y6 SATS? (My school does...)

I think that's more acceptable, certainly. I wouldn't like it to happen in my school - I am happy for parents and children to buy study guides if it makes them feel more comfortable about the tests - but I don't think a school should be seen to encourage this. And they are totally unnecessary for Y2.

It's not only teacher assessment is it? I know my DS has been assessed throughout the year but i'm told there is also a paper sat in May (in our school)which contributes to the overall result. At least, that's what I'm told?

As I said, the only level reported to you will be a teacher assessment drawn from,a wealth of evidence - a small part of thus will be a test.

This! Stupid phone

Feenie - is there anyway a child can be reported as having reached level 3 when all the work they've been given in class relates to level 2 but they did well on a SATS test level 3 paper? (I know it sounds bizarre but there is a rational explanation, honestly!)

We PROVIDE study guides for all our YR 6's, why should we expect parents to buy them?

What utter nonsense!!!

DD's school played down the KS1 SATS. The children didn't really understand that they were taking "important tests" and rightly so. I think the teacher is blowing things completely out of proportion.

Sadly, it is because the teachers are under so much presuure to prove themselves. The same is happening at DD's school where she is currently in year 6. Last year the school performed so well that they were placed in the top 100 primary schools out of the 17,000 primary schools in England (and Wales?). Her teacher has set the bar so high that he feels he has to do the same this year. I wish they would abolish the SATS.

I took the 11+ exam when it was still compulsory and I'm sure we weren't under the sort of pressure that children have to endure these days.

Anice - evidence from work in class at L2 would override the L3 achieved in the SATs - after all, the child may have been practising that very paper!

A teacher should know whether to give the child a L2 or L3 comprehension test from their evidence from guided reading sessions, reading level, reading ages, performance in class, etc.

It is scary that you have been advised to buy study guides. I would be a little bit worried about how assessments are being carried out at the school.

I think the idea of study guides at KS1 is absolutely ridiculous and downright idiotic. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

The KS1 tests mean absolutely diddlysquat to the kids and are only there for the school's profile. When dd1's levels were reported back to us, her class teacher actually said she'd scored higher than level 3 for literacy but the teacher had been made to pass it off as a 3a as it would impact on the school's value-added if dd didn't live up to expectations for the KS2 tests later

I'm not saying this for any other reason than to prove that the levels are manipulated anyway and I think it's horrible that parents are being fed the idea that they can 'tutor' their dcs at home to help boost the levels.

And by the way, KS2 SATs are also seen as important to the school, but are very very rarely used by high school anymore as the sole indicator of a child's ability, because they are often so inaccurate. So again, they mean diddlysquat.

oh yes, and agree with stoat. Any teacher worth their salt should know each pupil's ability for all aspects of their learning as they will be doing continual assessment which will be loads more accurate a picture than any KS1 or KS2 results.