So, a DC has to pass the L5 paper to be able to pass the L6 paper; Does that mean achieving 5a?

[Iamnotminterested]

Just curious. Learnt on here that they can only pass the L6 papers IF they have passed the L5, so does this mean ANY level of a 5, or would it have to be a 5a??

I'm curious about this myself. I know some schools have told dc they are taking the level 6 paper but my DDs seem to think they'll be told based on this weeks results

Any level 5.

There is no a, b, c etc in the SATs exams.

I have the impression that schools only offer Level 6 if they feel like it, so some kids might qualify, might pass, but school might not bother unless they are 100% sure it's worth their time.

Really Indigo???? In that case I am a bit and a tiny bit that my DD hasn't, AFAIK, been entered for the L6 reading paper as she is a solid L5. Do I presume that schools have only entered children who have been performing at a 5a for a while then? Ahh, so many questions! What does a school have to lose by entering a child at her level for the L6 paper? Who knows it may be right up a child's street in content and style of questions?

But, a part of me asks why put her through the extra test and she NOT get the L6? would that dent her confidence Anyone else having the same arguments with themselves?

As it's the first year of L6 (for a while) I think schools really don't know what they're doing yet.

ie they don't know who should or who shouldn't be entered.

I think some schools have entered no-one, and some (like mine) have entered too many.......

Also, there was a cut off date in March to register. I think (from threads on here) that some schools just didn't get organised in time and missed the cut off date.....

I'm not 100% sure if DS is doing L6 or not. I think he is, but haven't had it properly confirmed. But tbh right now, I wish he wasn't :)

I was told I should have done the level 6 paper at primary school, but because I was one of only 3 in the class who qualified for it, they never bothered to in the end.

It didn't make a difference starting secondary school, I was still in the top stream - because some schools didn't offer the Level 6 paper at all it was taken into account.

Thanks for the replies. DD's school is not entering anyone for the L6 writing paper and that would REALLY bug me if she hadn't been entered and others had as her writing is stronger than her reading.

I have no idea whether other local primaries are entering kids for the L6 papers.

Bertie you are making me feel very old!

I forget that the Brownies I ran BC did the first SATs. I moved and lost touch, it's so odd thinking of them as grown ups now.

So theoretically a child could scrape a 5c by one mark but go on to have a blinder in the level 6 paper for whatever reason - a subject that they are particularly interested in, having taken a Berocca that morning, the moon entering Saturn, whatever! - and be awarded the L6, whereas another child could get 100% on the L5 paper and not have been entered for the L6. .

Yes iamnot.... AFAIK (ds school not entering anyone for L6 so not entirely sure) the L6 paper is all hard stuff, whereas the normal paper has easy and more difficult stuff. So if you get all the hard questions right, you shoudl get L6 even if you buggered up a few of the easy ones becasue you were careless. If you attempted no hard questions (i.e. didn't do L6 paper) then scoring full marks on easy and slightly harder questions ain't gonna be enough for L6.

Think of the normal paper (l3-5) as GCSE, and L6 as A Level. No amount of 100% in a GCSE paper would get you an A Level, similarly you could still pass the A Level paper even in you scraped a B at GCSE.

What would be the benefit though of sitting the L6 paper?

Any secondary worth its salt would set in the manner Bertie describes (imo they shouldn't be setting at all based solely on SATs, anyway).

Dd1 told me there would be a minimum mark onthe level 5 paper that they had to achieve to have the level 6 paper marked. She certainly thought that was higher than the "pass" mark for level 5. She thought it would be where they would put the 5a boundry if there was one.

When my dm did A-levels there was the special paper you could do on top. (graded 1, 2 fail) They only marked the special paper if you got a C at A-level or above. One of her friends missed out 2 large questions on one of the A-level papers and this dropped her down to a C. She got a 1 in the special paper, so she had a rather unusual result.

DeWe presumably DC would sit the level 6 paper then without them and teachers knowing how they have done on the L5, as clearly the papers are not going to be marked in a week and the results back?

I have been told already by the Deputy HT that my 10yo, currently in Y5, will be sitting the lvl6 paper. The school are giving the lvl 6 paper to all the students that are opting to sit the 11+ exam, that they think have a good chance of getting a lvl 6. My DS1 is a secure lvl 5b in English in Y5, and is teacher assessed as lvl 7 in Maths, but with no sub-level, as the school don't usually have to assess those working on Secondary level work.

I have been asking pretty much the same questions on the other sats thread. It seems that it wouldn't be worth a child entered for L6 even taking the paper if they hadn't done well enough on the 3-5 one, but they won't know that in time. My ds is usually pretty secure in maths, but could easily get a 4c on the day. He has also been entered for the reading, but that surprised me. The teacher has been very vague as to whether they are doing the writing as well.

I know my ds hasn't covered all of the maths topics that do not fall under the regular curriculum, so I feel there is a good chance he'll fail, which seems so unnecessary.

Ooh, just found out our school is offering Level 6 to some pupils (no idea how many). Why so many SAT threads this year in May? Normally doesn't kick off until early July.

Do Grammar school pupils normally start at Level 6+?

Do I presume that schools have only entered children who have been performing at a 5a for a while then?

Schools should only have entered children working at a level 6! They need to have been taught the level 6 objectives, which is the KS3 curriculum.

Does anyone know which test is being done on Monday and which on Tuesday next week?

simbo reading Mon, maths Tues.

Feenie But my DD has been taught alongside the few who AFAIK have been entered for the L6 reading, why then should they be entered and not her? Certainly no mention of teaching the KS3 curriculum at P.E.

Are you sure she hasn't been entered?

I only knew because dd1 mentioned once that she'd been asked if she wanted to. If she hadn't said that I'd probably have been oblivious that they had them. It was mentioned at parents evening but only in a "I'm sure you know" offhand way. I didn't know until that point she'd been entered for them all. All I knew was that she'd been offered the chance at some point.

One local school had its residential trip booked for the week after the sats (they thought) so none of them can do the level 6 papers. Booked before they knew it was going to be an option. School are

Iamnotinterested - the only criteria should be that they are already working at a level 6.

Sorry, but we can't level children based on what secondary school teachers believe. If a child is covering the level 6 objectives, can use and apply the principles covered and achieves a level 6 in standardised tests, then they are a level 6! ( and I've got a year 5 consistently working at level 7, they're going to LOVE him )

It always annoys me when secondary teachers say "we teach to the test" in Year 6. Well' the test covers the curriculum so if we teach the curriculum we are teaching to the test! Does that mean GCSE teachers "teach to the test" too, and I'm sure A level teachers moan that students coming to them "aren't really an A grade"

Rant Over

Secondary teachers need to learn to actually teach something that tests the children. The number of my ex pupils who come back throughout year 7 saying how bored they are would amaze you.

Kim, a secondary maths teacher has been coming to work with the best mathematicians in DS's year 6 class every fortnight this year.

He has revised his opinions radically about whether primary schools really ARE teaching them up to Level 6, and brings along Year 9 -10 problems for them to work on.....

Luckily, DS is transferring to that secondary school in September, so I don't think there will be any disbelief from that quarter if he gets his level 6 as expected.