Year 5 tests?

[Rachyhayes]

Hi my family and I have moved to Milton Keynes from Glasgow. My son has tests in year 5 which we don't have in Scotland. What are these for? What topics are covered? Thanks in advance

[spanieleyes]

Unless someone can provide a link to the new "optional SATS" tests?

[Appuskidu]

Actually, they’ve updated optional SATs and there are sets to use for the new curriculum.

Hmmm. Have they really. Do you have a link for this?

[reluctantbrit]

DD’s school has tests every term, one week sitting down in a formal way with test papers. The children do not mind, they get biscuits at the end.

They are being externally checked and we get the results at parent evening.

I like it as it shows how the children progress and it gets them used to the formality of it. If a child misses a test like DD did one year thanks to a horrendous cold the teacher just assesses her based on her normal class work.

A friend’s DD is at a different school and they were told by Ofsted that the informal teacher assessment is not good enough, they now also do proper tests but not every term, so it may be something more official now.

[Norestformrz]

Ofsted aren't allowed to tell schools how to assess.

[Norestformrz]

Sorry jubbablub that isn't true.

[jubbablub]

@Spanieleyes and @Norestformrz They’re available through testbase. Obviously I can’t provide a link as you need a login.

[jubbablub]

Actually, sorry. Here -> www.testbase.co.uk/optional-tests/year-2345-tests/

[cantkeepawayforever]

But testbase is just a commercial operation. They are offering their own tests - but these are in no way 'official' or 'replacements for Optional SATs'.

I have used some of them. Their standardisation is....not particularly good.... Some are overly easy, some very hard, and in general the published grade boundaries very low. They have tweaked the papers (without mentioning it in any way) from year to year, so although they look identical they are not comparable between cohorts. Generally OKish, but not tbh all that much better than a group of teachers getting together in a school to produce their own test papers.

[Appuskidu]

Testbase is just something you can buy!

[Feenie]

Yes, commercial scheme, same any other.

They're not great, I agree - used them once and had booklets printed upside down, a teacher's booklet with pages missing and a customer service department who had no understanding of why I could not be pulled out of class to explain all this them for a 50th time.

[spanieleyes]

Once, just for the fun of it, I had my test-mad Year 6 class sit a PIRA reading test, a Rising Stars Assessment and an NFER test in the same week. They came out with wildly different "levels" none of which were anywhere near their SATS level!

[Feenie]

To be fair, using the 2016, 2017 and sample papers gives a v similar outcome!

[Norestformrz]

[spanieleyes]

[Feenie]

You can't spam this board with events you're charging for.