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Primary education

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

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Original poster

year 2 SATS coming soon - do you do any extra work with them at home?

35 replies

CristinaTheAstonishing · 04/05/2007 12:21

Just wondering how much time to put into this. DS's tests are in a couple of weeks. I am not used at all with exams in such little children and I don't want to overdo it because the only exam practice I have is from when I was much older. I don't want to burden him with 2 hours a night or something like this. How much revision time would be appropriate for a 7 year old? Do I just focus on his weaker areas? Do I give him practice at everything? I bought a SATS pack from WH Smith, it's quite worrying how much stuff they have to go through.

OP posts:

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foxinsocks · 04/05/2007 12:23

there was a thread on this recently. I said we didn't even know they were happening - that night we got a letter saying they would happen some time this term.

Seems like this year it's a lot more based on teacher evaluation.

We were told best thing to do is make sure they go to bed at a reasonable hour and have a good breakfast .

I don't think you need to do any revision at all.

RTKangaMummy · 04/05/2007 12:24

My DS is 11 and did both his year 2 and year 6 SATs

Please do not spend time at home doing it unless he wants to

There is NO adantage to him to do them

Please let him be a little boy and play

That is my opinion and experience anyway

grumpyfrumpy · 04/05/2007 12:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NKF · 04/05/2007 12:27

Personally I wouldn't do any. Not one iota. But sleep and a good breakfast I would. Year 2 SATs don't matter to my mind.

puddle · 04/05/2007 12:27

I only know my ds is doing his at the moment because he came home and said

"we had a really exciting day mummy. Everyone had a seperate little desk and their own special book to read and quiz to do. It was great."

It wouldn't even occur to me to do anything with him to prepare.

RTKangaMummy · 04/05/2007 12:28

puddle DS

puddle · 04/05/2007 12:29

I am really delighted that the school have kept it low key and the children are totally unaware of what is happening.

bad enough to test at this age without cramming them for it.

RTKangaMummy · 04/05/2007 12:30

wheresmysuntan · 04/05/2007 12:30

Agree with Foxinsocks - we have just had ours but had been expecting them in May whereas they started a week after Easter. My dd was off sick on the Friday when they gave out a 'timetable' for the Sats starting the following week. We didn't know they were happening until the Wednesday when I was helping at school and picked up the letter we had missed. By that time dd had done at least three tests - hadn't worried about it and taken it all in her stride. Having initially been a bit peeved at the sloppy communication from school I was then grateful that it was all being done in such a low key manner because the children are not the slightest bit stressed and neither are the parents

Hathor · 04/05/2007 12:38

I beleive that Y2 sats are for measuring the children's progress in school, not like doing a GCSE which will have some bearing on their future.
Just ignore them and let the children play.

DeviousDaffodil · 04/05/2007 12:44

I assmue DS1 is doing his right now. Came home and said 'we did test 8 today. It was all maths and I came top' {burdting with pride emoticon]
School have said nothing about them and I don't even know what they are for.
In this weather I prefer him to be outside playing. Certainly not revising.

kinki · 04/05/2007 12:51

I haven't done any work at all with my ds. I'm interested to know how he copes with just the school's input. By the way, does anyone know how many tests they actually do. I know he has done one every morning this week, would that cover it, or would there be more to come?

magnolia1 · 04/05/2007 12:52

Nope, no extra work just for the sake of Government statistics!! Yes they may use the results for their next school but they soon sort themselves out and change groups anyway.

I have always taught my kids to do the best they can at school and thats enoght in my opinion

DeviousDaffodil · 04/05/2007 12:53

DS said there are 15. Not sure if that is correct I don't have a clue.

ArcticRoll · 04/05/2007 12:59

Agree with other posters.
My ds's school kept it very low key, he had no idea about them.
I didn't do any 'revision' at home.
They have many years ahead of exams and assessment and no need to pile on the pressure at seven imo.

NuttyMuffins · 04/05/2007 13:05

Nothing at all. I knew when they were as Dd told me, she was all excited as they get to go on a trip after they are finnished, but no we don't do a thing for them. Dd has an early night and good breakfast anyway.

serenity · 04/05/2007 13:10

We had our SATs meeting after school yesterday. Ours started doing them last week apparently, and will do them a bit at a time until half term. It's all very very laid back at our school, and their 'results' are based more on teacher assessment than the actual tests. DS2s class enjoy doing them because they get extra playtime when they do the papers (whether real or practise)

So, no revision - he's far too young for that. Surely it's better to get an accurate idea of his abilities than try to cram and maybe get a skewed view?

Original poster

CristinaTheAstonishing · 04/05/2007 13:14

Thank you for the replies. The WHSmith pack has tests in Maths, Reading, Writing and Spelling, some of them with a couple of subsets each, e.g. fiction and non-fiction reading test, short writing a postcard, long writing - a letter I think it is. It has level 2 and level 3 as well (if the child gets certain scores on level 2 they get on to try level 3). It sounds quite complex.

DS is a clever boy but he isn't competitive at all, in fact he's abit of a slacker, and I worry whether pushing him for this will make him hate tests. He used to be more into quizes and displays of cleverness etc but not anymore.

It's reassuring to hear that they aren't expected to do more than what they get in school. Do we get told the individual results, or are they reported just at school level?

OP posts:

MummyPenguin · 04/05/2007 13:19

What with schhol work and homework and reading etc. After school activities.... no no more revision for yr 2 sats.

NKF · 04/05/2007 13:23

Honestly, in most schools it's low key. All this stuff about kids suffering stress - I have never seen it. Not once. Parents get flustered - I've heard of mothers giving out test papers - but teachers and kids children seem to be very calm about it. I don't think they're even compulsory any more.

DumbledoresGirl · 04/05/2007 13:24

You get individual results Cristina. My dd is in Year 2 and doing her SATs sometime now. I don't even know when exactly and I am not bothered as I know she will do as well as she can, no matter what.

Ds1, OTOH, is doing the Year 6 SATs in 2 weeks and the school has gone mad - he gets pages of homework from Science and Maths revision books every single day and it is driving him and me crazy. So much panicking on the side of the school IMO.

Ellbell · 04/05/2007 13:29

Agree with other posters... esp. puddle's ds!

My dd's school said it'd be very low-key, but actually the teacher made quite a big deal of it, and before Easter they did a series of practice tests (one of which was totally disrupted by my dd's tooth falling out halfway through to the accompaniment of mucho screaming!)... and the teacher read out the results in front of the whole class. I was horrified at this. Think it's totally inappropriate.

NKF · 04/05/2007 13:30

That's terrible Ellbell. I had no idea schools did SATS like that.

serenity · 04/05/2007 13:31

cristina - we'll get DS2s results with his end of year report, i'd imagine most schools do something similar.

Ellbell · 04/05/2007 13:32

I know... I am going to mention it at some point. DD was a bit upset, as some of her friends did better than her... but a more sensitive child could have been seriously put off. Still, at least she did her best to disrupt the whole process with her tooth, the little anarchist. [Proud]

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