What kind of assessment was this?

[magicmummy1]

Just curious, and don't really want to ask the teacher because I don't actually need to know!

DD is 5 and in year 1. She and 2 other kids were asked appear to have done some sort of reading comprehension assessment, and I'm just wondering what it was. She said they were given a very long booklet about moving house. They had to read it and then answer "lots of questions" about the text. The three children were given clear instructions to work on their own and they weren't allowed to talk to each other at all while completing the booklet.

I am assuming that this is probably just part of an ongoing process of assessment, and I'm not worried about it, but I am quite surprised that such little children are being formally "tested" in this way. Just wondered if any teachers could throw some light on what kind of test this was, and if this is standard practice in primary schools?

It sounds like an old SATs paper - level 2. We don't use them in other year groups, but many schools do as they can provide evidence of a level that a child is working at. It probably indicates your child is doing well in Year 1 if she can access tests designed for a year 2. As with the tests Year 2s do the test paper itself is only part of the evidence picture a teacher builds up of a child.

Thanks Abigail. I know that she's doing well as the teacher has made this quite clear at parents' evenings etc. However, I'm not terribly keen on the idea of her doing tests at such a young age - it's bad enough that they have to do them in year 2!

I think what bothers me is that she clearly knew that she was being tested. :(

It's actually this years SAT paper

It depends on which year you ordered, no new papers were published for this year. I'm doing Crocodiles for L2. Let's hope the Year 2 teachers at the school know that the OPs DD has done it when they order their papers next year!

OK, thanks mrz. Can't say I'm thrilled about her doing this, though I'm very happy with the school overall. Is there a good rationale for them to give them the test in year 1? Just seems a bit unnecessary...

Yes, our y2s did this last week, it's a Level 2 reading/comprehension booklet.

As AbigailS says it could be an issue next year unless the government publish new papers.

Thanks all. Presumably the school will keep a record to ensure that they don't get the same paper next year?

I just don't really get why the teacher would want to test them. She has already assessed them against the nc levels & has told us what these are. Is it just about providing evidence for her assessment?

We've had a couple of issues this year with some of the class already having done some of the old papers in year 1. The teacher they had last year hadn't kept a record of it, hadn't told anyone else about it, and had retired at the end of the previous year, so it was only when one very honest child owned up to already having seen the paper before that we realised what was going on!

Hmm, bit shocked that a school could give a child the same paper twice! I always just assumed that there were new papers every year. But I still don't get the rationale of why tests are given to children in year 1 at all, really - I'd have thought that ongoing teacher assessment is more accurate than a one-off test in any case. Is this something that a teacher might do if she was unsure about her own assessment?

Can it not be part of her 'ongoing teacher assessment' then?

Well, yes, I assume that's what it is. But only a handful of kids appear to have done the test, and so she presumably assesses the others without this evidence. Unless they are all doing it at different times.

It isn't really an issue. I guess I just don't like the idea of my pfb doing formal "exams" at the tender age of 5!

The school shouldn't be using the current SAT tests in Y1