SATS support thread for parents

[simpson]

As yr6 SATS start tomorrow, I thought it might be a good idea to start a support thread for parents to say how their DC are finding them.

DS has had a very chilled day due to the lovely weather: loads of water fights and he walked to the corner shop with his younger sister for the first time (with no adult) and loads of ice cream etc.

He went to bed very chilled but am sure the nerves will kick in in the morning!!

At least they're already half way through
My DD hates maths. I am trying to be confident

Morning! DS was a bit droopy first thing this morning. I thought he was flagging a bit . Thankfully, he perked up! It's pissing down here so I was nice and gave him a lift to school. It's about 500m or so . 3 papers down. 3 to go. Roll on tomorrow afternoon!

I hope everyone's DC's are ok this morning. Good luck to everyone!

From what I've been told, there is no pass mark yet. They plan to take average score and that will a standardised 100 score and then they scale up and down according to that somewhere between 70 and 130....and the papers are designed to test (in last years terms) from level 3 to level 6. If that is the case surely lots of children won't be able to answer some of test questions, because last year they wouldn't have been able to sit the level 6 tests, these new tests surely put all children on the same playing field, and they need to be told that they're not expected to get them all right, somewhere in the region of 60% is expected to be a 100 score or have I been steered completely wrong.

ExLtEveDallas ""But what if it's nothing like the work we have been doing and they try to test us on algebra". - let's hope it is as my son would love it! He is looking forward to the maths (odd child doesn't get that from me) but is incredibly tired - he's ok with the SATS but not with the strained atmosphere around it. He's loving Michael Rosen's take on it though. Hope your DD has a better day today.

DS's teacher has been amazing at keeping pressure to the minimum.

When I dropped DS off this morning they were all working on her to allow them to have a water fight once the SATS are over

Went for a meeting at DD's school yesterday about a totally unrelated matter and her headteacher told me she had to finish the first paper in the staff room as she was getting so upset! I have absolutely no idea why as we've not even mentions the tests to her and school have been very relaxed about the whole thing (in front of the pupils anyway).

Could it just be that it's the first time she's had to sit a proper test under exam conditions?

By all accounts the first paper, reading comprehension, was a stinker. In theory the questions are meant to get harder as you go through the paper, but this one appears to have had some hard questions to begin with so threw quite a few children.

Think DS's school sat the mocks in exam conditions to help prepare the children for the real SATS, but you can't always replicate the exact conditions. DS was telling me everything they had to write on the front page of the paper, school details, number, date of birth etc., which most of them won't have had to do before, so that could have caused anxiety to kick in.

Morning all. Boogers its totally understandable that your DD was upset. Exam conditions are just WIERD when you are used to a lovely kind school. And normally you can ask your teacher anything except today YOU CAN'T. Which is crap when you are so young.

e.g. One child at DS's school thought they would be told to start reading and then when to start writing, but of course they were only told to 'start' and the child got confused.

Oh bless! It's must be a shock when they're suddenly faced with such strict exam conditions at 6 and 7. DS did his yr 6 SATS last year and he coped fine once I decided he wasn't doing a level 6 paper. I'm just glad it's not raining so that DD can run around outside with her friends when she gets home.

First few comments on TES website are saying that maths papers weren't too bad today.

Fingers crossed DS feels the same. Always seems to muck up Paper 2 and then redeem himself in Paper 3!

Exactly how many papers do they take in each subject? DD is in yr2. What will she be taking this week?

www.theschoolrun.com/KS1-SATs-in-2016 this tells you the KS1 tests.

It was just like a normal morning for us this morning, dd seemed to have had a better sleep and wasn't obviously nervous despite being poorer at maths than English. Wonder what her mood after school will be?

That might scupper DS then!

Boogers many of the comments on this thread will relate to KS2 SATS as all Y6s will be taking them this week, whereas KS1 SATS have a slightly more flexible timetable throughout May eg. comments about Reading Comprehension paper and the recent ones on Maths all relate to KS2, and also you can pretty much ignore any of my previous posts as DS is in Y6

KS1 SATS are meant to be much more low key, so much so that my DS can't remember doing them. Unfortunately as with everything SATS related this year things have got harder for KS1 too, so as much as the teachers will be trying to keep them low key it will be much more obvious that they will be doing tests, so no wonder your poor DD got upset . I would have a chat with DD's teacher and find out what they are doing when, as I assume they won't be telling the children what the exam timetable is.

Oh dear, i got called to my DS, I'm a teacher at the same school, as he realised in the last 2 minutes that he'd missed out a double page of the first test and had become hysterical. Because he has extra time and his answers are then transcribed he didn't have long till the next paper started and they worried he might not calm down. Luckily by the time I had managed to leave my class he was calm enough. I'm so proud of him for carrying on but I suspect he will be v upset tonight.

Ineedaholiday DD also had a massive hypo yesterday morning and that might have had an impact on her ability to concentrate fully. I don't know how many tests they've had already (I'll ask when I puck DD up) but yesterday was a particularly bad day for her, though she said she felt she did well in the afternoon test.

Oh why do they have to test children in this way at 6/7?

Hairy oh bless him! Is there anything you can do to calm him down when he's feeling like that? Which KS tests are they that your DS is doing?

My child in a room with children who have readers,
Sat very close to them. [One on his table].
Said he is coping with it and I seem more concerned than him...
Too late to make a fuss now and ds would probably not thank me for it.
Mmm.....
And Mmm again!

I think our school has tried to keep children with readers as far away as possible from other children, subject to the constraints of a very small school. I think some children have to do the tests in shifts so that there are sufficient helpers to go round

DS has been in a room with readers too...

Maths was "OK" which is high praise indeed from DD2 who has been getting hysterical over maths homework all year! Really hoping she sleeps better tonight - last night she was cooked up like a spring and still awake when we went to bed.

Ds said in Spag a bit bothersome.
However, today in maths he said he went into a bit of a daydream and voice of reader woke him up!!
Swings and roundabouts!!
Perhaps he needs a bit of noise to keep him in the land of the living....

Dd thought arithmetic ok but reasoning hard - missed some q's out, said she thinks she made a mess of symmetry question; if they'd been allowed to use rubbers she'd have rubbed stuff out and started again but it was too messy to try and score bits out and re-write.

DS is fine. Although he seems a bit 'high' . Maths is his strongest subject so I wasn't anticipating in problems. Although, after Monday's debacle you can't be 100% sure.

I hope DS is OK, Hairy? And everyone elses DC's?

DSS found it all OK. He is excellent at maths though.

DSD found arithmetic ok but reasoning 1 hard. Which is on line with the feedback I have heard.