How to decipher Year 6 SATs scores

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DD got 120 in maths, 116 in English and 114 in reading. Those figures are then broken down into individual sections like arithmetic, punctuation etc etc but no explanation for what anything is out of or what it means overall.

How do you work it all out??

Several of the small cohort in my DD class achieved 120s (less than 15 children). My DD got 119, 119 & 120. Second year of this style of SATS so there should be an improvement over last year. They have the benefit of being taught to this curriculum for two years and the teachers pushed them pretty hard.

And, presumably, there were only 15 in the class? [jealous]

@Feenie no there are 38 in the class, across three year groups.

In my experience, the secondary schools test the kids again within weeks of them being at their new school. It's these results that they then use to put children in any ability classes. They then get tested at the end of every term. Also at my kids school many of the classes are not properly set until year 8 or even 9, which seems madness to me.

Placemarking

DD got 120 in everything. We had the raw scores too and she didn't get 100% at anything. I think she is the sort who does well in tests (as well as being a general high achiever, which we did know anyway).

She was very pleased (when I opened it I have to admit at first I thought they were showing the maximum scores possible and then realised that the 120s were her scores )

Her school doesn't particularly push children for SATs - no booster classes etc.

Aha ! The stealth boasting creeps in a little earlier than anticipated. We're not getting reports until next week......minimises the time between report issued and end of term.

Anyone else get the Teacher Assessment Results given today too?

Just curious as dd English Reading Scaled Score is 118 and Grammar is 117 - Teacher Assessment is “working at the expected standard”
Her English Writing Teacher Assessment is “working at greater depth at the expected standard”

I know she’s done well, just curious at to why greater depth hasn’t been applied to he Reading

Because that isn't a grade given to reading - only EXS or HNM (at expected or has not met the standard.

Greater depth can only be awarded in Writing.

It makes me laugh, with all these different codes flying around, to think they scrapped the levels system because it was too difficult to understand!

I spoke to our Y6 teacher about this very thing this afternoon. My son scored 120 in Maths, 120 in SPAG and 117 in Reading yet was only given 'exceeding' for English Writing in the Teacher Assessments with the rest being 'working at expected standard' - apparently this is because the English Writing category is the only area where the teacher can award 'exceeding'. The remainder are either 'at expected standard' or 'below' - would be helpful if they sent out explanatory notes with the test scores

Ah right, thanks Feenie, I know she’s done well, but right now all these scores mean for her are the starting point of her projected flight path for gcse’s - which in itself is meaningless Her high school don’t set in any subjects, so no use there either.

Ds has passed all which we’re really proud of and he’s at the expected level which is fab.

He’s not at the level some of your dc have reached but he’s at a level which is comfortable for him and which will hopefully be a firm start for him at high school, he may not be in the top sets but there’s room to improve so we’re happy with that.

His scores were 108, 109 & 103

Scaled scores in relation to raw scores available here:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/723470/2018_KS2_scaled_score_conversion_tables.pdf

dgs got 114, 110 and 108. We are pleased with that. He is a bright happy boy who loves sport and is always in the top 3 in class tests. Well done to all the students, let them play for the Summer now 🙂

I do find it rather depressing as a teacher tat scores which are merely there for government measurement of schools (and mainly another stick to beat us with) become ‘results’ for parents to bandy around (though of course anonymously here is better than at the school gates). Secondary schools will retest to get an accurate view of ability for their actual teaching, and SATs results will at worst either limit pupil attainment later where it actually matters at GCSE (low SATs so not pushed because you will meet gov target anyway) or push to breaking point/demoralise pupils (high SATs so you will constantly be having red targets not met over your reports because apparently scoring highly in English in Year 6 means you should do excellently in Geography in Year 21), or at best be completely irrelevant to your life.

Whatever the child’s SATs results, parents and teachers should be proud and praise them but also should be aware that the whole thing is a waste of time and potentially damaging to their future.

Year 11 obviously!

Agree, Scipio. DS2 told me he 'failed' his GCSE mocks, because he thought he wouldn't hit his ludicrous target of top grades in everything. I don't know whether he did yet and I don't much care. Took a lot of talking down and it's certainly had a knock-on effect on his mental health.

Give it a few years and it will be "My DD has just got a 1st at University; is this good?"

Just for my own curiosity and so obviously not bragging as Ds hasn’t scored as highly as anyone who has posted so far but I’m taking a score of 103 in maths to be ok as he reached the expected standard but not anything to shout out about? Has he only just reached the required score?

He did better in his reading 109 & SPAG 108

If he does better in English how does this affect sets in high school?

He used to be stronger in maths but for some reason he’s slipped down in this subject.

This is just for my own curiosity.

*As he only not HAS!

It depends on each individual high school as to how they set, if at all.

Aha ! The stealth boasting creeps in a little earlier than anticipated. We're not getting reports until next week......minimises the time between report issued and end of term.

Actually the majority of this whole thread is from 2017, and yours was the first post that bumped it for this year.

To be fair I'm a teacher and I was underwhelmed by his sats results until dd1 looked it up online and I realised teacher assessment couldn't give greater depth apart from at writing. Much easier when 4 was expected and 5 exceeding!

Rock I really wouldn't worry about any of this.
DS did his SATS 2 years ago. He did really well in Maths, while others from his Primary got 103-108. Don't get me wrong, he's doing brilliantly in Maths but a lot of his friends in that 103-108 are doing just as brilliantly at High School too.
On the flip side, one of his best friends got 120. She was moved out of top set at the beginning of the year because she was struggling to keep up with those who got a lot lower in their SATS.