KS 1 Year 2 SATS approaching - parent evening next week !

[alisonmc]

Hi all, I'm new to this board but would like to gather some thoughts from those who are interested. My DS is currently a YR 2 pupil and will be doing his KS1 SATS in May this year. He is a G&T child and have been told since reception his is a more able child and have received above average reports for his two years schooling. Nothing to worry about I hear you say - but the other day I was having a conversation with DS teacher who said she has marked him as a 2B which is average for year 2. I have been a teacher myself in the past and have been doing practice SATS papers with him since before half term and he consistently gets 2A in both English and Maths and when he does the level 3 papers he passes these too. I am confused with his teachers grading - we have parents evening next week - what do you think my approach should be - I don't want to come across as a pushy parent, but I do want my DS to be recognised for his efforts correctly. Any advice would be great.

But as far the the parents evening goes, I'd probably see what the teacher said in terms of where his levels were, and ask about relative class position. He may be in top set and working at that pace - the teacher may not be able to set him work at at level 3 say, but can only cope with so many sets in a class.

Or - ahem - maybe the teacher's right?

dd1 has just done hers but there was so little fuss about them (teachers warned us at the beginning of term that they'd be treated just like any other assessment, but on special paper) that the children hardly noticed.

I think 2B is expected attainment at this point in time (ie second term in year) IYSWIM. Next term it would be 2A.

You have to trust the school to do the best for your son. Don't you trust his teacher? The school will certainly do what they consider to be the required SATS preparation. The children don't sit an exam like older year groups would, and a lot of the mark given will be teacher assessment.

As for older children with literacy problems, your son is not suddenly going to turn into one of them! Of course parents should support their children, but there's a fine line between support and teaching at home.

If your son thrives on pressure, is it possible that he performs better in tests than in the day-to-day that the teacher is assessing?

day-to-day work

I'm a little annoyed at being described as "not bothered or interested" to be honest (but then I am quite tired and thin-skinned today )

I am extremely interested, both my children scored well above average in their SATs but I don't care, I really genuinely don't care about SATs. They are an artificial snapshot of where a child is on a given day, they are used for political point scoring by the schools, and if you can tell me how they are going to help my children, I'd be thrilled to hear about it.

As it is, I remain heavily involved, and interested, in my children's development - blimey, we've even read every night since BEFORE THEY WERE BORN.

Right, I can feel my blood pressure gently rising - a cup of tea is in order

What a to-do. I'd never dream of making dd2 do anything other than her homework, unless, of course, she specifically asked to. Life's too short

DD1's teacher kept very hush-hush about the fact that they were sitting their SATs. I think dd's teacher has the nouse to do the same. She can't read her sister's old Horrid Henry books yet, either . And her SATs are sometime this year .....

Orlando -
"blimey, we've even read every night since BEFORE THEY WERE BORN."

With you on that. Choose a school wisely. Support the school. Let the teachers do their job.

lol

yes, you see this is the reason mine go to school - so that the teachers can teach them

We learned maths in a completely different way to kids today and I wouldn't even want to meddle with what the teachers are doing (I'd only confuse dd, I'm sure).

I also send DD1 to school to make friends and hang out with them, learn all sorts of things about the world, enjoy doing music, get an idea of how people deal with each other, play Superheroes in the lunch hour...she's six. SIX. Six is very little.

The 2b could have been given for one piece of work or one test done on a day when your son was tired, feeling unwell or more interested in looking at something going on outside. It means very little. I am a KS2 teacher and I think that you don't know as much as you think you do. This mark means very little and frankly I am amazed. No offence

I'm not sure I understand the stuff about SATs only being for the school's benefit and not affecting the childs future in any way? I was given to understand that the SATs gradings were used as the basis for streaming in key subjects as they went into Junior school?

Can't say I'm against having a look at a few papers together per se, just to understand if they've got the right approach to the questions etc. From what I've seen of the past papers there is a definite 'way of answering' the questions to ensure the most marks are achieved. Don't see any harm in anyone wanted to help their child with this?

may I put an end to this thread with a well-placed

SATS are bollocks - don't waste your time teaching your child to take a test

Save extra tuition for GCSEs or similar...

Well, I don't know much about KS1 SATs, but it's certainly true in KS3 that knowing how to answer a question helps.

But I just don't care about them. I trust the school to base any setting on their overall assessment of ds, not just a SATs paper.

If you want to practice, then I don't have a problem with it. But any secondary school Science teacher will very quickly distinguish between a coached level 5 and and an uncoached level 4 and I'm sure it'sthe same at the KS1-2 transfer.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you over-coach, you may be storing up disappointment for yourself and your dc.

Yes, because if a child gets a coached Level 3 in Year 2, chances are they will appear, on paper, to make very little progress in Years 3 and 4. Realistically, most Year 4 children will be achieving a Level 3b by this stage!

A level gives the teacher some idea of 'where' a child is but it certainly is not the whole picture. If you coach your child to the test it tells us very little at all! Apart from which his year 3 teacher will very quickly make her own mind up. Year 3 teachers are always complaining about how the SAT mark bears little relationship to what the child really do.
I understand that you want to help and encourage your child and for him to have confidence but forget the tests. they are not important. Instead have fun sharing your own enthusiasm for maths for example and work together on things that he can be excited and enthusiastic about learning.

Here, here Berrie!

Sorry, was I confusing? I meant I absolutely and utterly agree with your last post

No no just sharing an eye roll with you!