Is your child really failing at writing?

[jennielou75]

If your child can't use an exclamation sentence or spell words with the suffixes ment ful ness and ly oh and use them freely in their writing on at least three seperate occasions then your child will not achieve the year 2 standards.

This basically means that a child who would have been a level 3 last year will now only be given working towards year 2. What do other parents know about this and what should be done? It seems rediculous that these children are being used as guinea pigs.

As a direct resultbofbthese changed my pre-school children won't be going to school unless we have a change of government. I can't bring myself to send then given how much pressure is being applied. If you think it won't matter, you're naive. Ofsted will demand a certain % of children meeting expectations. Schools will struggle because the levels are far too hard. So teachers will be under huge pressure, ergo children will be under huge pressure. Children will be made to feel like failures when they might be the next JK Rowling (a friend says her writing would be the right level as not enough punctuation..fffs).

Apologies for garbled writing! On my phone and also livid....

WBDmadness your child's school is talking nonsense I'm afraid. feenie is correct there isn't a writing test. All KS1 tests (SPAG, Reading, Maths) are marked by the class teacher they aren't sent anywhere and the results aren't reported.

I never said there was a writing test? We've been told there is a spelling and grammar papers, two English papers and two maths papers.

We've been told that the results are sent somewhere and of course the results will be reported - the whole point of these new tests is to provide data on how KS1 children are doing.

The test results aren't sent anywhere the teacher assessment is reported.

8.6 Reporting results of the end of KS1 assessments
Schools, including academies and participating independent schools, must report end of KS1 TA to their LA by Monday 13 June 2016. Some LAs may ask for the results earlier than the end of term. For all pupils, schools must submit TA judgements in English reading, English writing, mathematics and science

It's total bollocks, I'm afraid. The children's writing only affects their writing assessment, it isn't sent anywhere and doesn't affect any test score.

of course the results will be reported - the whole point of these new tests is to provide data on how KS1 children are doing.

Nope, as the ARA mrz is quoting from shows, you will only get the teacher assessment.

PaperMover in key stage 1 the tests are marked by the class teachers as they always have been and the results used to inform Teacher Assessment based on day to day work. It is the Teacher Assessment that will be reported not the test results. Of course if there is a huge difference between the two the teacher will need to investigate.

I think at the end of the summer term our Yr2 teacher will most definitely deserve a bottle of wine.

My Dd can't even read the questions on her practice papers (KS1) sent for homework so I don't think she will do very well on the actual test. I keep telling her how well she is doing and how far she has come, she couldn't write her name at the beginning of reception, but she sees that everyone else is doing well and it is knocking her confidence.

The teacher won't be able to read them if they are reading comprehension questions.

One last - if it's not a reading paper - read any questions to her (they will do this at school) if it is reading - for our lowest ability we have worked lots on question words and finding the key words in the text (rather than trying to access the whole text) obviously this is alongside teaching of phonics.

I can't get worked up about this. These are not exams or tests but assessments i e they want to know where my y2 child stands in respect of the expected levels. If he will not reach expected (which he won't probably as he does struggle a bit) he will get extra support in ks2.

I am doing extta work at home with my ds but not for the sats sake but because I want to help him improve / consolidate what he sees in class. I am happy he is working hard and is slowly but steadily gaining confidence.

Y2 teachers have told us the children won't be made aware of when they are doing the 'test' as it will just be a similar kind of exercise as the ones they are doing everyday in class.

Teacher will help read questions if required.

I have a DS in Y2 and a DD who will be Y2 next year.

I really don't care what level they are assessed as being at, my only hope is that they do not realise they are being assessed and that valuable learning time is not wasted 'teaching to the test'.

We haven't had any practice papers or so forth sent home, although they did introduce weekly spelling tests shortly after the KS1 guidance came out. However, the Y2 teacher is fantastic, so I'm hopeful she'll shield the children from any pressure. Although at what cost to her, I do not know.

Hopefully this isn't normal classroom practice!

I am sure a good teacher can invent something so that the children are not aware or already used to these test conditions.

Yes I'm sure some teachers are letting their class experience test conditions regularly before the actual tests