Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Year 2 SATS Help

36 replies

ClareL · 25/01/2007 18:04

My DDs school still test their children with the SATS tests even though it is no longer required. I think they use it as a idea as to how the children are progressing etc. I was wondering if anybody could give me some kind of idea as to what these tests involve - as least I will know roughly where my DD will need to be concentrating.

Does anybody know if SATS are still used in Year 2 - or is it just year 6 now?

Any help please.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Saturn74 · 25/01/2007 18:06

How old is your daughter, ClareL?

Original poster

ClareL · 25/01/2007 18:16

Sorry - she was 7 in December.

OP posts:

doddle · 25/01/2007 18:17

Look her for some sample materials QCA

If you look on the left just click on the links for English and Maths.

I'm assuming you're talking about England, here.

The tests still happen in Year 2, but they are not so full on as they used to be. There is a much heavier emphasis on Teacher assessment, and as long as a teacher has evidence that a child is performing at a certain level, then this can override what actually happens on test day. There is no need for all the children to take the tests simultaneously or even on set days any more. It should be a much more gentle approach.

I hope this is useful.

Original poster

ClareL · 25/01/2007 18:19

Will have a look at your link - thank you.

Yes it is England - Essex.

OP posts:

spudmasher · 25/01/2007 18:22

The teacher is meant to assess the children as the year goes on and make a judgement as to their level in late May/ early June.

Part of this process may be to give the child a task which is test like. There are reading tasks and maths tasks. The reading one consists of a story and usually some information and the child has to answer questions about what they have read.

The maths paper uses characters in different situations to present the child with different mathematical problems. This is often read to the child if need be.There is no time limit. The children should not be put under any stress about it.

All very low key and just another assessment tool.... At the end of yeat two the average child will be achieving level two. Look on DFES Standards website for more info.

It is all to test the performance of the school so teachers do sometimes put pressure on the children to achieve higher than they would have. This can result in children seeming to make no progress in year three when really it is teachers over inflating KS1 sats results.

pianist · 26/01/2007 14:43

Haven't heard of any schools that don't do SATS in Y2. There will be English, Maths and Science. They will start testing from about Easter onwards. I'm sure the teacher will be happy to talk over wth you what kind of thing they do. You can buy sample papers in WHSmith to practise at home if you're that kind of person.

Ronniebaby · 26/01/2007 17:25

My 6 year old will be sitting his Sats this year.

Can anyone help, I want to find some printable sheets for him to use as homework.

I have found some great Maths one's but cant find any literacy/english ones.

Anyone know of any good ones

Freckle · 26/01/2007 17:29

SATS are used to assess how well the school is teaching, not to assess the child's ability. There really is no need to get your child to do extra homework - and in fact it is probably undesirable as it will distort the results. If your child does better because of extra homework, it will look as though the school has been teaching to a higher standard, IYSWIM.

spudmasher · 26/01/2007 17:31

I agree, Freckle. No extra work needed. Sounds strange but it's true...

Kittypickle · 26/01/2007 17:44

Totally agree with Freckle. If the school do it well your DD should be completely unaware she is doing them. DD's were done over a month apparently, she didn't have a clue about them and we had a quick parents meeting after just to explain how the gradint system worked.

Feenie · 27/01/2007 20:50

I'm a Year 2 teacher and agree with previous posters regarding the low key administration of tests in Y2 now - I have to use them but they are used to support my final judgement, and children just see them as 'normal' classroom activities.

If you want to practise skills at home then \link{http://ictgames.com}is an excellent games site which I use all the time in the classroom to support my Numeracy and Literacy teaching. Hope this helps - and that the link works!

Ronniebaby · 27/01/2007 21:28

Freckle - I have to disagree only because his teacher has given him homework for us to do with him, and said that if he does ok with these sheets then she will give him some slightly harder ones.

She said he only did as good in a test the other day as he did in year 1, which wont see him thru his Sats.

He unfortunately is like me and very distracted at school and hates numeracy. So he doesnt listen or like doing it.

Freckle · 27/01/2007 22:00

But, if he hasn't improved since Y1, isn't that more to do with the teaching than his ability? And it is the standard of the teaching that is being assessed by these tests.

Feenie · 28/01/2007 07:37

The tests measure children's progress, Freckle, not the standard of teaching. Ronniebaby's son's teacher has identified that he has not made progress, and is addressing the issue, although I would hope that as well as involving parents in his learning, measures are also being put in place in the classroom. Either way, his progress is being monitored.

I've had plenty of Year 2 classes who've shown fantastic progress and others who've progressed in less startling way. Did teach the higher achieving classes differently? I don't think so, just that all children, and therefore classes, are different.

If a class made no progress at all the figures may be used to highlight a teacher's poor teaching, (plus lesson observation evidence, monitoring of planning, etc) but it's very unlikely that a whole class of children would make no progress in one year. The fact that one child has made no progress and that the teacher has spotted this and is addressing it does not necessarily point to bad teaching.

Steward · 28/01/2007 08:38

My 6yr old son is doing sat's this year. His teacher do leave some old sat papers out one day for parents to look at straight after school. My son is one of the top children in his class, but must admit it is not the cleverest classes. The class is slightly behind to what they shuld be. My sister is a teacher and has helped me to work out what he should be doing. She provided me with some old sat's papers for me to work with my son. So far I have only done the level 2 math's paper. The first time he did it I suddenly realised that he wasn't as god at his math's as I thought he was, even though it is his strongest subject. His english practise paper is a no ni at the moment. I don't see anything wrong in doing a few extra bits of work at home. It will help you find the childs strenght and weaknesses and therefore you can then discuss with the teacher how to improve in ares of concern.

Ronniebaby · 29/01/2007 00:05

I would just like to add I wasnt getting at Freckle. I was just asking really if there were any good websites to get some free sheets for us to do at home.

Thank you feenie, I really like his teacher for bringing this to our attention, shows she is doing her job, she said if we can get him up a bit more on his maths then he'll do really well, she says he can do it and he can overachieve, but when he's at school he gets distracted by the other kids, and is a nosey lil s*d and wants to know what is going on in other parts of the class.

We sat down yesterday and I said to him, his teacher said you dont have to do it all in one go, do a bit at a time, he did half of it last night, then tonight he picked it up and finished the rest of it off, all I did was help him with a few words, or explained the question, which is what his teacher told us to do.

He completed all this work and really enjoyed it, and I hasten to add he did it very well.

So he can do it, when he sets his mind to it.

Freckle · 29/01/2007 07:00

S'OK, I didn't feel got at!

You say he can do it when he wants to. So what is the point in giving him extra work? Surely it's more a question of attitude and application rather than ability, and I don't think they do worksheets which help with that. If they did, I'd be getting them for DS2!

Having said that, if he's prepared to do the worksheets without too much hassle, go for it. What you don't want is for extra worksheets to cause stress and arguments at home as that's all counter-productive.

Steward · 29/01/2007 12:41

Did the level 2 math's paper again with my son this morning and has iproved abit more. He was quite happy to do it. If your child is quite happy to do a few extra things at home now and again, go for it

Teachers can only do so much, so if you can help by doing some at home, it will help in the long run.

I do it with my son, because his class isn.t the best and he is one of the top kids in his class. My worrk is that he doesn't start to lapse at school because his teacher is concerntrating on the weaker kids to get them up to where they should be and not keeping the clever kids clever.

SmileysPeople · 29/01/2007 12:59

My son is also doing his SATs this year. In yr 2.

I am trying to remain chilled about them, my son is doing Ok, making good progress and the teacher is hapy with him. What's to worry about?? I thought.

BUT I do admit to looking recently at some past tests. I didn't get him to do any just for curiosity.

Is it just me, or are they really quite hard?

As I say my son is average, probably in top half of his class, in a top acheiving school, but I thought some of it was really hard.

level 2 maths had a division question He hasn't done anything like that yet.

I wish I hadn't looked, I'm feeling less calm now.

janinlondon · 29/01/2007 13:03

SmileysPeople do you mean he hasn't done division of the sort in the paper you saw, or hasn't done division at all?

fortyplus · 29/01/2007 13:05

What a shame parents feel stressed by yr2 SATS. Treat them as a useful indication of how your child is performing in relation to what is expected at his/her age... nothing more.
Don't go buying practice papers etc - your child will start to feel pressured.
They are 7

SmileysPeople · 29/01/2007 13:08

Well I'm not entirely sure TBH.

In the paper,was the question

20(division sign-can't see it on computer)4

with 4 possible answers to choose.

I'm pretty sure he wouldn't know what this meant, and wouldn't be able to do it.

Obviously I don't know all he has done and just judge it from his homework etc, but the paper did scare me a bit.

What do you think?

batters · 29/01/2007 13:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SmileysPeople · 29/01/2007 13:11

Worse than that Fortyplus mine is still 6!!

I know you're right and was determind not worry about it. I shouldn't have had that 'look'.

I am keeping in perspective (honest)but just interested what those in 'the know' think.

I have a friend who is a Yr2 teacher, she said she also thinks the papers are hard, and reminded me they don't need to get them all to get their level2. is this true?

fortyplus · 29/01/2007 13:11

Smiley - there are questions in the paper that are designed to test the most able children but which the 'average' child is not expected to be able to answer.

Honestly, you lot - stop stressing [smile}

Been there - done that - you're just teaching them to worry about exams. You'll be suffering for it when they're doing their GCSE's!

Flip

1 2