KS1 SATs

[avocadosandwich]

If you have a child taking KS1 SATs this term, how much preparation has the school done with them? My son seems completely unaware that they're happening, whereas my nephew, who is in Yr2 in another area, has been doing past papers for weeks. How can the test be accurate nationwide if some schools are preparing in depth while others don't seem to mention it? Wondering if I should have done some preparation at home.

Your son may be unaware but will have probably been doing past papers without realising. Our school keep it very low key with the children. In fact the deputy told us that last yr one of the yr2 children asked her when they were doing "those tests you told us about" a month after they had done them!

I'm sure your ds is being prepared even if he doesnt know it.

My DD told me yesterday that the Yr2s were doing their "special learning" for the next fortnight and asked me what it was. I said it was to help the junior school work out what they should teach them when they went up to juniors.

I don't think you need to worry that your child isn't prepared. His results affect the school more than him, it's not in their interests to have him unprepared for them!

It's meant to be based on teacher assessment anyway, with the test papers just informing that assessment.
You don't need to do anything special, and you don't need to mention them. They may not even do the tests next week, they can be done anytime (just many schools align them with KS2 SATs).
DD2 never even noticed she had done them.

DD says they do "books" and from what we gather they are some kind of practice papers. But she has no idea that there is anything special happening in the two weeks starting next Monday.

I like it that way. First, it is not about the child but the school and secondly the less stress they make the more the children enjoy doing this little tasks.

A friend has her DD in a different school and from what I heard, already last year about the phonics test, raises my hair. They have lots of practice and the children know something is going on. They actually push the children to gain a better level than they think they would achieve. Grrr.

The preparation part of it is up to each school - my DD's school did some prep last couple of weeks. We did some mild revision of maths at home. But her teacher asked me not to! I hope she doesn't tell!

My Y2 son has done some past papers - he's not aware of it, but has told me he did a 'fun maths quiz' or 'a reading quiz'. I only know he's been doing them as I am a TA at his school. I know he'll be doing his reading test on friday but he has no idea at all and probably won't know about it.

The KS1 tests are not compared nationwide. The level given and reported to the LA is based solely on teacher assessment of the work they have done in class throughout the school year.

There are tests, but these can be sat anywhere between September and May. Some schools use them in September to gauge a starting point and see what needs to be worked on. Some use them in January as a sort of midpoint assessment to see how well children are progressing. The results of the test are not reported but might go towards making up part of the evidence a teacher uses to make a judgement.

I'm not sure why any school would be doing multiple practice tests or 'books'. Scoring much higher or lower than expected would not make a difference to the level reported.

We had a meeting about KS1 SATS today. It was just to inform parents what would be happening and also to reassure us that no extra work was necessary other than the normal recommended reading, spellings and times tables. The school keep it as low key as possible and they do not want the children to be stressed or anxious about it.