Any year 2 Maths teachers ? SATs advice please

[laughalot]

My little girl is in year 2 and has just turned 7, she is struggling with her maths and finished year 1 below the target of where she should be. She started year 2 a little better but teacher has said she has started to struggle a bit again. I am now starting to panic about her SATs and want her to have a bit of a understanding of what she may be expected to know. What sort of questions should she expect to get asked ?

My DDs class had a mock maths SATS yesterday. She was off school with a cold though and I didn't find out about it until this morning so no idea re. content, sorry. It seems they do have mocks though if that allays your worry somewhat.

I'm an ex-Deputy Head and assessment co-ordinator of a primary school.
I can hear how worried you are and I know the prospect of the SATS can seem to be stressful on the surface but the SATS really aren't something you should be preparing for or thinking of in terms of an 'exam'. They are a tool used internally by a school which shows the value-added by a school's performance. A skilled Year 2 teacher will ensure that the children don't feel pressure during SATs assessments and the classroom atmosphere shouldn't change. The children should feel that this is a normal daily activity. The assessments cover a full range of the Key Stage 1 curriculum - everything from place value, simply addition and subtraction, data handling, shape identification, recognising patterns. This isn't something you should be panicking about or preparing her for at home. It's just one tool used by teachers alongside all the other assessments they do every day. This tool happens to be externally measured and used as a way of judging a school.

If you want to make her more confident in maths, there are loads of options: games you can play at home, resources you can use alongside those games, people who can help you. You want it to be fun and low-pressure without any mention of the SATs at all. I would have a chat to her teacher about how you can help her with maths at home and have a look at the practical resources that they have in the classroom - numberlines, methods of jotting thinking down to aid calculations, practical aids. Ideally the school should have maths meetings to help you talk through the methods that they use.

But really don't think about this in terms of SATs. On a very practical level, if you were to prepare for the test and she received an elevated score through preparation for the question types, that may not help her enter Key Stage 2 as she would potentially be grouped incorrectly and not get the support she needs. Key Stage 1 SATS are not designed to be prepared for. You really want them to show the true reflection of her abilities so she gets the help she needs from the school and when she makes progress in Year 3 and Year 4 that value can be seen and 'added'.

Hi. Adding and subtracting one and two digit numbers, doubles and halves to 10 or 20, a few money / coins type exercises, simple multiplication (2, 5, 10 timetables most likely to turn up), simple geometry (recognising 2D and 3D shapes), basic division (eg 10 socks make how many pairs). 5 minutes practise over breakfast (DD, do you remember how many 50p in one pound? How about 20p? Oh dear it's 8.20, we need to leave the house at 8.30 so ready in how many minutes?). Makes a difference IMO. Good bookstores will have KS1 maths workbooks and practice SATS papers if you are so inclined. Not a big stress, all you want at this stage is for DD to be comfortable with numbers and not afraid of them.

I wouldn't worry about SATs but to make sure her general basics are ok.

DD's school uses these websites for ICT maths lessons:

ictgames.co.uk/

www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/multiplication-and-division

DD loves them and they are quite fun without any stress. The BBC has a couple as well, www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/

I would just play lots of games and incorporate it into her daily life.

Hi laughalot:

strongly agree with what Tambajam had to say about KS1 SATs.

If you haven't come across it try visiting BBC Bitesize KS1. These are games devised for English/ Maths/ Science KS1 (Y2) SATs - and you can control the level of difficulty.

Link: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/

Now a few things:

1. My DD1 finished KS1 with NC L1 results in English/ Maths/ Science for KS1 SATs and we found that playing these games on BBC bitesize KS1 were all really difficult for her. So if that is your DDs situation - don't be upset by that - but take it as a warning that she's not learning as fast as other and may need more support at school & if possible, from you.

2. in KS1 SATs are teacher assessed - so it may be that your DD's SATs score is already decided upon (she may have already sat the exam papers and not even realised).

3. As I said DD1 did L1 on KS1 SATs in all areas - and our solution was to do a lot more at home. I effectively went part-time. There is so much out there now - on-line e-books, on-line maths tutorials, APPS galore - that really the issue isn't how to support - but what works best for you and finding it. MN is a brilliant start - you can literally post how do I get my reluctant 8 year old reading questions and get tons of advice.

4. Does it make a difference for your DD if she doesn't get NC L2 at KS1 SATs. Well yes - in theory it means she's not working to expected level - but once that is her official score the school will label her as 'low achiever' and they need to show that they are getting her to improve at at least the expected level - so in theory NC L1 at KS1 SATs predicts NC L3 at KS2 SATs. But will be hugely rewarded if they do more than expected - so get her to NC L4 or better at KS2 SATs. (MN has a blurb on what NC Levels mean & progression through NC Levels (click blue box) here: www.mumsnet.com/learning/assessment/what-national-curriculum-levels-mean

5. What you can do now - there's no time to start a project like the present. Work out (perhaps by talking with the teacher) where the area(s) of weakness are - and start to do a bit more with them. For us - we opted for an on-line maths tutorial (about 1 hour of extra work over a week) and more reading (daily reading with DD1, sometimes to her for a bit of variety - but really working on helping her learn to sound out words).

There's lots of advice here on Mumsnet - try the search engine on particular subjects.

I'm genuinely in a situation where 4 years on (DD1 is Year 6 now) my DD1 is a strong NC L5 in English/ maths/ Science - because I just kept plugging away at it, slowly, steadily, patiently and positively (well as best as I could - sometimes I did hit my head against the table) - day by day working with DD1 to turn things around.

My main advice is just keep assuring your DC that you believe they can do it. It's going to take time. It won't always be easy. But you believe they'll get there in the end....

HTH

Thank you everyone for all your help and advice. I will take a look at the links this evening when she is in bed. I feel a bit guilty as I have spent so much time trying to get her reading up to a better standard that I let the maths slip.

I now realise I need to help her with both so thanks again for the advice.

In KS1 SATs are teacher assessed - so it may be that your DD's SATs score is already decided upon (she may have already sat the exam papers and not even realised).

The tests may well have been completed as part of the assessment 'journey', but the assessment cannot have been already decided on - it's along time between now and June, when the final assessment is due.

Advice not to worry about the test itself and to help your dd become more comfortable with Maths generally is appropriate.

I think my DD did a mock SATS yesterday too. She mentioned a maths paper she had to do. I had no idea it was coming and nor did she and that's the way it should be, I think. I'm not sure why it would matter to me where DD ends up in her SATS for KS1. On the other hand, if you want to practise maths with her, there are lots of ways to do it including the websites mentioned and games (shut the box is a good one).

I know I've just said a less eloquent version of what tambajam said but I think we should focus on helping our children get on top of the fundamentals of maths through games and other ways of learning, and ignore the SATS - the exam and the outcome. I'm perfectly happy for DD to do it but I don't need to get involved in it iyswim.

Mock? We did our SATs today.

Hi

Try not to worry, but you may find these useful. I don't for one moment suggest you start practicing them, but it will give you an idea of the sort of thing that may be included.

www.wiganschoolsonline.net/curriculum/maths/blockassess.shtm

Do speak to her teacher though, there will be things you can do at home that may help and will support what they are doing at school.