So here we are- KS2 SATS Week...

[ampere]

Feeling more nervous than DS2!

He's 'borderline', particularly in Literacy. He'll be so happy if he gets a 4 (as will I!) so off he went just now with me offering my last minute bon mots ('Read carefully! Most of the answers are in the text! If it doesn't make sense, you've not read it properly' etc).

Not followed the rest of this thread, but DD told me today that there are six children out of 28 who had readers.
I wouldn't accuse any of them to be cheating.

Were they in a separate room? Because if they weren't, then I would.

DS is in a separate room with a few other likely lads. None of them have a reader though.

For the Venn diagram, the smaller circle was multiples of 4, all of which are multiples of 2, so the whole subset is inside the multiples of 2 circle. So 12 should go in the multiples of 4 circle, which is already in the multiples of 2 circle. So it goes in once.

I've not seen ds yet so I don't know what he made of the Maths today.

It was amusing chatting to him last night though; he was rather taken aback that I knew about the dragon and the hot air balloon

I asked what spellings he'd had. The only one he could remember was "em-bur-lum" apparently. I don't think he did particularly well there

Or even.

Can I ask a question? I can see why the perceived cheating is a bad thing, And the taxer misleading SeaHouses daughter is outrqgeous!

But it's not a competitive exam- so does the other cheating really matter?

Well all the maths questions I've asked dtd2 about she has clearly got wrong :(

She did say that she knew 12 went in both parts of the Venn diagram so put a 1 in one side and the 2 in the other...sigh...

Oh and I want hugs too cos I have had a bereavement too...

Well, as the results are published in the league tables and are scrutinised by Ofsted when making their judgements......

But no, the cheating doesn't really matter to the children unless it's giving them and their families a falsely inflated view of their abilities/achievement and then they get a nasty shock at secondary school.

Yes, Seeker - because schools are ranked against other schools in league tables. If the playing field is uneven because of cheating, then it matters a great deal.

Also, why should some senior staff be prosecuted or sacked for malpractice, when others' similar cases remain undiscovered?

It makes me very cross.

(((((HauntedLittleLunatic)))))

((((hugs)))) Haunted.

It was a nasty Venn diagram question. I bet it confused lots of DC, not just your DD. Remember, it's a measure of the school, no employer will ask you about your Y6 SATs and secondary school will suss them out.

But secondary school have to set GCSE targets from them.....

But an inflated target shouldn't affect the children's attainment, should it? I was talking to haunted, really. Don't worry too much if your DD hasn't done as well as you hoped, it's not the end of the world.

But it's not strictly true then to say that SATs are there just to test the school.

Teacher assessment has 50% weighting anyway - or 100% in the case of writing, hurrah!

Yes of course, feenie. Ignore me. A temporary moment of brain failure!

Not followed all of this thread, but do SAT scores have much impact on secondary school streaming? Our local state comps do CATs in the second week of year 7 and use those results for setting and attainment targets for key stage 3 and beyond. Aren't SATs only useful to the primary school?

Haunted yes. You can have grown up hugs ((((((hugs)))))) and some and too for me leaving you out

((((hugs)))) for Haunted and her dd :(

Emphatic, all schools are set GCSE targets based on Y6 test scores.

Whether they set or not using the results is down to the individual schools - I have seen all case scenarios here.

Emph the school ds if off to use them plus their own tests alongside teachers' judgment to stream from Y8.

There's no streaming in Y7. Other schools we looked at used all manner of methods.

The school dd is off to doesn't take note of y6 sats as they assess them all 2 weeks into the new term anyway. Phew!!

SAT scores make an enormous difference to children with SEN. Although it is illegal LEAs have 'blanket' criteria of attainment/progress that are not related to the child's needs. Progress is measured by SATs attainment and so elevated scores makes it appear that progress has taken place. In addition they are locally set and so different eligibility criteria exist in different regions. Falsely elavated scores have the practical effect of reducing the perceived need for day to day support.

They also have an enormous effect on self-esteem - DS's problems with school phobia were a direct result of Level 3 in maths at KS1. His year 3 teacher would refuse to believe him when he said that he did not understand - 'you got a level 3' became her mantra - she was convinced that keeping him in at morning and afternoon break as well as lunchtime was needed - when I objected she said 'we need to do it for longer' . He was labelled as having an attitude problem (lazy, manipulative) as a consequence of bad parenting!

That is absolutely disgraceful! I hope you reported her.

simbo No. I was naive. The school reported us - using the emergency help line - to the social services!!! We were subsequently visited by a lovely social worker who had been led to believe that there were no problems at school and was furious with the school for wasting her time when there were others really in need.