Ks2 sats week 2015

[Catbat77]

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

OK so L6 maths is tomorrow not this afternoon which is better. DS has wandered in said 'yeah it was fine' and now gone to a friends house. I do love our little talks.

DS home from doing the maths level 3-5. He's been passing level 6 tests for over a year now, so its no surprise that he found it easy.

Tomorrow is another long day though with the rest of level 3-5 in the morning and the level 6 papers in the afternoon.

Then we are FREE as its just an easy run to the end of term with concerts, plays, sports days, craft days, special projects, school trips, leaver's assembly, secondary school induction day and the counting traffic morning and then I'll walk out of the primary school gates with him for the very last time and my baby will no longer need me! (sob!)

Interestingly, the handful of his friends that did attain L6 are the ones whose recent reports at secondary indicate progress below target this year. This is having a knock on effect with regard to confidence.

I have also seen this happen in KS3, which is one of the reasons I am glad my younger two are not sitting any L6 papers. Overly high targets in secondary school can be v.demoralising and contributed to DS1's anxiety and depression.

Today, both felt that Maths (L3-5) went well.

Both said they think they have got 18/20 on the mental maths.

mental maths and paper 1 seemed perfectly fair to me:-)
Only did L3-5

I didn't like the mental today. Paper one was on the whole ok but one I thought was unfair and one poorly worded. A cursory glance at one or two papers indicates the some of children have found it harder than expected. Ugh!

I can't get any comment out of DS about today. Another non-event, I guess.

Glad its nearly all over, I think DD 2 has been quite stressed about it all in her own way - the school do try to make it less stressful for them, they all have breakfast together, and once the tests are done they have had loads of playtime, and worked on some art projects. DD 1 sailed through last year, without seeming too bothered, but DD2 is young for her year and less mature, and has found it harder. She does seem very little to be getting stressed about tests. I think they have mostly gone OK. She was glad the reading comprehension was about dogs, as when she got bored of checking and rechecking her work she had some cute doggy pictures to look at. She knows she got the last question wrong in the maths but thought the rest was OK, and she knows she got one wrong in the mental maths but thought the rest wad OK. She thinks she would have to get 10 or so questions wrong to miss a level 5, and she thinks she should be OK. At least this year no-one is saying they have to retake them if they"fail". Who's stupid idea is that?

The mental maths is worth 20 marks
written papers are worth 40 each.You need to score 79 ish out of 100 to get Level 5.

What would you need to score to get a level 4 approximately?

About 46.

About 46.

Thanks. Hoping dd scrapes a 4!

Ds said he found the Maths paper hard today. He finished it but skipped a few questions and didn't have a chance to check his answers. He also only answered 16 questions on the Mental Maths.

Sounds like it could be touch and go for L5 then, depending on how he did on the ones he actually answered of course. Ah well, he's worked hard, can't ask for more than that.

He can't wait for 11am tomorrow when it'll all be over! Can't say I blame him.

proudmama2772 - DD came home and said she has missed out 2 on the mental maths test as she didnt have time to do it - I wonder if they are the 2 questions you mentioned.. She is usually scores very highly on MM tests..

I am really pleased how DD's school has handled this period. DD is going into school happily, a little excited and enjoying being able to take her home made smoothies into to drink before and after tests (normally only allowed to take in water) - it's amazing how the little things make such a big difference :-)

DT1 didn't finish the maths paper, DT2 did and had time to check his answers.

They both said the mental maths was easy and think they've got 18 or 19 out of 20. They don't take after me!

They found the SPAG yesterday easy too.

One more to go and then their birthday at the weekend! I think they've earned some cake.

I also have the joy of my oldest doing his GCSEs. I think I'm more stressed though, my kids are so laid back they're nearly horizontal!

Happy chap here, says todays paper was very good. He's a solid 5B/A hoping to secure 5A so we jokingly told him he had to get them all right we've also told him this is for school not for him, he'll be doing cat tests in July for high school streaming. His primary is insane, they spend so much of yr 6 focusing on bloody SATs. Sigh.

Dd thinks she got all of the questions right today - no issues with self confidence my daughter!

Does anyone know if secondary schools actually look at these results in year 7? I am struggling to understand the importance of these test. It seems, my DD has effectively wasted an entire school year doing practice papers and is quite worried about the whole thing.
I have told her do your best but they simply don't matter to you after July. Was that wrong?

The results are used by the government to set GCSE targets for secondary schools so while many claim that secondaries ignore them and do their own assessments (as some do) they can't ignore them totally as they are the official figures they will be judged by.

As mrz says, the SATS results are to check progress 5 years later in GCSE and are aggregated up to give a guide to the performance of the school.

However, I think it depends on the secondary school on whether they are used before then for setting by subject or even end-of-year target setting.

Many schools use CATS for initially setting the children in year 7 and also for deciding on their targets for the end of year 7. Cats tests are like the 11+ tests with verbal reasoning etc. They look a lot like IQ tests to me.

The CATS tests are supposed to measure ability rather than attainment, so they aren't supposed to be something that can be coached for (unlike SATS), but I see a lot of children going to private tutors for a year before they take the 11+, so I am not sure how true that is.

It depends on the school when the CATS are given (if at all). Some will do them at an induction day this term, whilst others will wait until September. Some won't do them at all.

The secondary schools try to keep the CATS low key and not alarm the children, and they often don't share the results with the parents.

Some secondaries don't even bother setting in year 7, so I guess they may not bother to do CATS tests at all.

What goes the C in CATS stand for?

DS1 showed me his hand yesterday - it has acquired several writing blisters from SATS, another on the middle finger from guitar and the nail on the little finger has finally fallen off after an accident a month ago - looks grim.

Carmel - I have said exactly the same to DS1 and stand by it. I feel the same about it all as you - Ds1 has spent the year getting increasingly bored and disengaged from school and it feels like a whole year has been wasted. I take on board mrz and var123's very helpful info, but that just seems to back up that it's all about measuring the schools rather than assessing the child and meeting their needs.

I have told DS that if anyone in life after school asks for his SATs results I will give him a thousand pounds. With the caveat it applies to as things stand now, not if new changes brought in.

Cognitive Ability Tests?