Ks2 sats week 2015

[Catbat77]

I have a very nervous dd this morning, wanted to hear other parents thoughts or experiences this week!

Ctrl - why do you think it's been made harder ?
Ds sitting L6, highly unlikely he will get it, he had a moment on Friday but was fine going in for sats breakfast today, said level 6 was hard and he didn't finish it all, will look at this letter on Facebook that's been mentioned, can't wait til Friday!!

Purely a hunch
IMO, the SPaG has been so poorly thought through. As it stands, it's a solitary test that doesn't contribute to the English level of the child. And in my experience, with good SPaG teaching and a high achieving class, you can get almost every child up to L5/6....but then a significant number of those children will not apply it in their writing.

niminy neither of my twins are sitting any level 6 papers. DS is hoping for all level 5s, DD is hoping for a combination of 4s and 5s.

Thanks ctrl, it's interesting to hear a teachers perspective on it all

Agreed mrz.

DS has a painful tooth right now & he had a nice football game at lunch.

I think the test will depend on whether the government want to show their policy is working or if they want to do some teacher bashing.

I was wondering whether that will apply to all of this year's SATS.

I would say so ... not that I'm feeling cynical.

I'm reading this thread with great interest as I have a DS currently in Year 5. I have no idea what papers he will be entered for but wondered whether today, for example some children sat both the 3-5 reading comprehension and then the level 6 paper? Is that how it works? When the results come in do the children simply get a level, 3, 4, 5 or 6 ie no sub levels?

The importance of SATS to the propaganda war waged by the government over the 'failure' of schools and teachers can't be underestimated. If they were simply a diagnostic test to assess where children were at the end of their primary school years there would be no revision, no booster groups, no practice papers, no teaching to the test.

... and there would be no tweaking of the papers so as to produce pre-determined results, she says cynically

Everyone working above level 3 sits the level 3-5 paper, the more able will then sit the level 6 paper. When the results come in we are just given whole levels ( so 3,4,5 or 6) but schools then work out the sub levels as we need these to measure points progress from KS1 to KS2 ( one of the measures we are judged against) To achieve a level 6 a child needs to achieve level 5 in the 3-5 paper and then pass the level 6 one!

However all this will change next year!!

My DD found the Level 3-5 much easier than the L6 test. She said it was very difficult and she didn't answer many of the questions. (She just scraped a Level 6 in an old practice test they did a month ago.) I've told her not to worry, sometimes the this sort of test seems harder when you understand it (though not answering the questions really isn't a good thing.) Also, very few children achieve a Level 6, so it's not a reasonable thing to expect of oneself, although, of course, worth trying your best and having a go.

I mostly feel for her teachers, who would probably be even happier than she would be, if she managed a Level 6.

Thanks Spanieleyes. My school year was the first year to sit the SATS exams. I still remember them now! and how difficult I found the maths. It's strange because I have more recollection of the SATS than my GCSE's/A Levels.

Mandz next year there will be no levels so basically its whether of not the child meets expectations.

Next year will be different - no levels so no levelled papers. Yet to hear how that works.

The SPaG is a joke, and next years is even worse, having looked at the sample. Rote learning of facts. But we have no choice but to go along with it!

My proudest moment was a little girl in my class with severe SEN completing the paper with a positive attitude and a smile on her face. She cried when we first put a test style piece of work in front of her, hysterically upset. Was so happy to hear her say today 'well as long as I try my best' and have a good go at it. She was a little star.

Well dd isn't talking about today which isn't a good sign, I'm reassured by the teacher's input that 3-5 was a reasonable test, the level 6 sounds tricky for a kid whose had no extra coaching or practice. Just from this thread the way different schools "prepare" kids for these exams varies enormously, how can they be a real view of where your kid is at when the preparation varies so much. When we get to maths I'll be pulling my hair out!

I got nothing beyond a 'fine', and I haven't asked for any more details. But, I'm glad she seems to be relaxed about it, and sees it as a test of her teachers rather than of her. I doubt whether the teachers are as relaxed, as Ofsted gave them a tough time last year for not stretching more able pupils last year (their words, not mine) so they have quite a sizeable group doing all the level 6 papers this year. Not even sure what papers they had today.

My DS was very unsettled last night. He went to bed at 9pm (a bit earlier than normal) but was up and down for a good 3 hours! He was ok when he woke up though. He is doing L6 maths and reading.
Will be glad when they are over!

DS did the 3-5 and 6 reading tests today. He said the 3-5 was easy but he found the 6 a struggle. I only found out he was doing level 6 reading the other day. He has always been better at maths (knew a while back he was L6).

Doesn't the % who pass the level 6 reading test each year round to 0%? So it must be less than 0.5% ... fewer than 1/200??

(This is how I plan to console DS in July...!)

Maths is different. The pass rate statistics were something like 3% the first year, 6% the 2nd year and 17% since then.

It was 0.14% last year.

In my LEA, there were something like 160 level 6 mathematicians, 78 writers and 12 readers.

But there's nothing wrong with the reading test, oh no.

Maths is different. The pass rate statistics were something like 3% the first year, 6% the 2nd year and 17% since then.

That's not right - it was 9% last year, up from 7% the previous year. The number of entrants doubled, maybe that's where you read it?

I have twins doing the SATs. They were made to promise they would revise over the weekend. Like hell they did. They went out on their bikes, read books, played with friends etc. They've done enough past SATs paper to last a lifetime, since September.

They both said the reading paper was easy, they finished it with time left to check their answers. I don't think their school enters anyone for any L6 papers.

They're too laid back to be stressed, but I've told them constantly it's nothing for them to worry about.

I hate SATs.