Extra time KS2 SATS

[user1471467188]

My Year 6 DD has been sitting assessments all week at school, I assume practice SATS papers to see how they are all doing at this stage in the year. She has taken some of them in a separate room with a handful of others and in some of the papers a teacher has read the questions to them.

I asked the head about this yesterday and she said they were thinking of applying for extra time for her in the tests next year. This was very much a conversation in passing at pick up and she said we would discuss it further. Having looked briefly at the access arrangements for the SATS on line they seem to be for children with SEN and as far as I know my DD doesn't have any, certainly nothing has previously been flagged.

She was exceeding in reading in her Year 2 SATS and at expected in everything else. Since then she has been the same, apart from at the end of Year 5 when she was below expected in maths. She has a reasonably serious health condition which has led her to have a lot of time off school - her attendance in Year 5 was only just over 80%. School are aware of the condition for which she is on daily medication and have been very supportive. They told me at the end of Year 5 that her dip in maths was due to the amount of time she had had off school, leading her to miss whole topics, and they have put strategies in place to try to catch her up, as I have at home. They did not express any concerns about anything else, however.

Can anyone (in particular a primary teacher) shed any light on why the school would be asking for extra time for her? Her health issue means she is not well enough to come to school for a week or so at a time, a couple of times a term, but when she is well, she's not affected by it at all. In any event, as I say, the access arrangements for the SATS seem to apply to children with SEN - is it possible she has some SEN that the school has only spotted now? They have literally never expressed any concerns about her progress apart from the maths at the end of Year 5. It all seems rather sudden and concerning.

This is odd. As you say, it is only children with additional needs who should be given extra time, and I would hope you would have been made aware of these needs already. I would make an appointment with the teacher to have a chat about how your daughter is getting in and to ask why she’s being considered for extra time. If they do apply and get it, they would have to have good evidence of the reasons if they were moderated during the tests.

Any child can request questions are read to them except in the reading paper, so that’s not necessarily a concern.

You can apply for extra time for children who are very slow readers (and maybe writers, can’t remember). I taught a boy who was an incredible reader and extremely intelligent but only ever got half way through the paper. I think the school has to test their reading speed and if it’s below I think 100 wpm they can have extra time. The boy i refer to did not have SEN but he got this. Might this apply to your daughter?

It's below 90wpm.

.the rules for additional time