Is it yr 2 Sats?

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

We haven't had any notification school but DS is in tears and very stressed tonight about all the reports and writing he has to do over the next two weeks. I am going to phone school tomorrow, in the mean time what can I say to a child who doesn't want to go to school tomorrow?

Why is he doing reports and writing for ks1 SATs? They are just short tests. They are not held over 2 weeks and were probably held in week beginning 11 May - the ks2 ones were. Ks1 do not have to be at the same time though. I think this could be something else, such as teacher assessment. Although ks1 SATs are teacher assessed too. I would speak to his teacher though. They surely told you when the SATs tests were being held.

Unlikely to be Year 2 SATs - they need marking and assessment levels decided upon and submitted to the LA really soon, so every school I know of has finished them.
You mention reports - many teachers are busy writing them now, ready for sending out before end of term - is your DS worrying what the teacher is going to write about him? Maybe you could open the conversation with him along the lines of "what do you think the teacher will be writing about your (reading / maths / writing / science / how hard you are trying / behaviour / etc.) in your school report?" He may be concerned about what is being written about him in one of those areas and discussion with you could help put it into perspective.

Reports and writing he has to do .... The child. It appears to be the child writing, not being written about. He could mean the teacher though!

Thanks for the replies, They have had their reports already as a teacher left, will phone tomorrow. when DD did hers it was the week after half term so assumed it was the same.

He is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to presentation so it may be that they have to do some work and he is struggling with making mistakes.

My DS did his before half term (y2)

The deadline to get all that work marked, levels decided upon and submitted to the LA is just over a fortnight away - so that's one brave teacher thinking they have time for the children to do all their writing and the teacher having time to mark it all by then! It takes hours to mark the SATS writing tasks! That's what makes me feel it can't be SATs.

There are only 17 in his year, small village school.

Thanks for the replies, thinking that it is a project and he is getting stressed about getting it right.

Our school hasn't done the year 2 SATs yet and won't be this week as we're still on holiday for a week. Teacher has been off sick for months though so suspect this is why we seem to be behind other schools in not having done them yet.

Seems very strange that he has been told that he has two weeks of reports and writing? Doesn't sound like SATS to me which are typically held over one week. And in my DD's school the children weren't aware of ks1 SATS at all, it was all very low key and presumably some assessments but much based on teacher assessment. And like others have said, my DD's school and three others I know locally have all done SATS/ assessments in the shame week which was before half term. Definitely worth trying to explore with him what is causing him such stress.

Same week not shame week although I like the idea of the latter as a theme!

They might be doing a fortnight focusing on literacy, or some sort of project.

Did his report include National Curriculum levels?

There's nothing in the KS1 tests that require two weeks of writing. The writing tasks could easily be completed in a morning.

I'm a Y2 TA and we did the literacy says before half term and are starting maths this week. The writing tasks are only 30-45 minutes long and most of our children finished in around 20 minutes.

DD1's school are doing the Y2 SATs this week, at least maths and reading. Not sure if they've done the writing yet.

Dd s school are doing them in the week starting the 8,th of June.

Our school are doing them next week.

We have to use the 2007 or 2009 tasks and tests to assist in reaching level judgement for end of ks1 this year.

The 2009 long writing task is a non chronological report on night time.

Sorry posted too soon

So he might be preparing for that, learning features of reports etc.

Absolutely nothing to worry about.

Fwiw the short writing task is a character description if I remember correctly. I always choose 2007 for my class as I prefer those tasks.

You aren't allowed to prepare for the writing tasks

You are in a sense.

The children should have experience of writing a non-chron report.

And they can plan their work.

The children shouldn't have been taught using the same genre for a period of one week.

"Children should not have had any kind of information or character description writing taught or modelled for them within the previous week, although they will have been taught it as part of the KS1 literacy strategy. For the longer task, children should not base their writing on a particular book, but should decide for themselves what they are going to write. They should not have a written model in front of them as they work (for example, in their books or as part of a display). (pg 12: point 2, 2009 Teacher’s Handbook)."

DD did hers after Easter.

Mrz or Nectarines - my DT's did 2 writing tasks prior to the school hols - one a non chronological report about night time animals and one a character description of Buzz Lightyear. At the time I didn't think these were their SATs as they reckon they were allowed to ask for help and the year ones stayed in the class ( they're in mixed 1/2 class). But now reading what has been said on here I'm wondering if this sounds like their actual writing SAT test. Their regular teacher is off long term, and the day they did these tasks the supply teacher was substituted with experienced teacher from another class. Are the children allowed to ask for help or does it sound like they're being a bit sneaky and preparing the kids to do the same tasks after hols as actual SATs?

No it's meant to be independent work.