Any advice for children sitting Sats KS2

[paul2louise]

My son will be sitting Sats this year. He is fairly bright, a bit lazy and makes mistakes. Bit laid back tbh. Are any of you parents doing any extra work to get them ready for the tests. I don't want to make it boring but can you help them practice the technique. I know they do some stuff at school.

There are some very rude posters who don’t seem to accept that progress can be improved.

Absolutely Progress can be improved - lots of schools have positive progress.

My point was that this progress is an accountable measure, and to state that it absolutely wasn’t was ridiculous and plainly wrong.

DD’s school cancelled their PE lessons to do extra SATS prep.

Unnecessary and just mean. We don’t cancel anything. Y6s are as entitled to a broad and balanced curriculum as anyone.

Can I just check, what difference does it make to the child, rather than the school? Obviously if the SATs results are high and so a high predicted grade at GCSE would be a problem for a secondary school if it the child didn't achieve it, but if its low then a child appears to do much better at secondary, would a low SAT'S mark hold them back in any way?

I can see that it's important that primary schools can show progress from KS1 to KS2 sats. I can see its important that a secondary can show the children who arrived with high levels at year 7 get decent grades at GCSE, what I cant see why any of this matters for the child, other than to give an indication at 11 of ability.

Some schools may rigidly set based on predicted grades which are set using SATS results, though as mentioned here, a good school will move children around based on their actual performance

@MargosKaftan because some schools simply don’t allow the kids who didn’t do well in SATs to move up sets on merit. They will never be able to get better marks than the set 1 kids in assessments because they haven’t covered the same range of content.
So when it comes to gcse those kids won’t be given the opportunities like doing triple science, or a second language which are only given to the top set. And they won’t be entered for higher level papers so their performance will be capped.
By this point in yr 6, you need to have a clear idea about if this is the picture at your prospective secondary school. If it isn’t, then it doesn’t matter so much to your child. But if it is, then it makes a huge difference to your kids next 5 years.

Ofsted have driven these ways of working by allowing outstanding schools to not have inspections so long as they maintain results (inc progress 8).
It will be interesting to see what happens next time our school is inspected. Will ofsted notice the lack of movement in sets?

@BlackishTulips
I truly think that’s rubbish. So you are actually saying schools don’t move the children into different sets. Plenty of parents have said they do. The idea that schools don’t teach the full curriculum to lower sets is also ridiculous. Of course they do.

The lowest sets might present bigger issues regarding progress. Many secondary schools find it difficult to improve their low achievers. As primary schools do.

Around me we have state grammars and secondary moderns. The secondary moderns do not see 11 plus score or sats results as a limit on teaching or aspiration. Thank God! No child has attainment capped due to sats. Continued assessment makes sure that doesn’t happen.

Progress is accountable to Ofsted. But no one else. Even then not much will happen other than being asked to improve. If schools cannot see that a lower sats result from a non tutored DC is better for them, they are very dim. If schools really limit the progress and attainment of DC they are even dimmer. It just proves what ofsted have said: not enough high quality SLT to go round.

@Feenie
You have now dropped your assertion that progress was “obligatory”. You now use the word “accountable” to describe progress. These words don’t have the same meaning. I can agree to data being used and schools held to account but progress has never ever been obligatory. Maybe it should be and crap schools closed immediately?

Why would i say it if it were rubbish?
I’m sharing my last 5/ 6 years experience on here. If you were to talk to my kids about their last 5/6 years, they would be far more emphatic.
You can chose not to believe others on how things pan out in authorities with poor track record on education: these issues clearly don’t affect you.
Others may not be so dismissive. I hope our experience will be useful to them.

I haven’t dropped anything. You just don’t understand what accountability means - of course it’s obligatory. It’s what every school has to set out to do. They have to do it. It’s compulsory. It’s their raisin d’etre. They are required to do it. I honestly don’t know how else to explain it!

Raison d'être - cheers, autocorrect.

Lots of people simply don’t have your experience. You talk as if it’s the normal situation. It absolutely isn’t. I can point you towards many schools who assess constantly and move DC appropriately. They even get great grades at gcse despite less than stellar sats or 11 plus results. Just because you have a crap school you cannot assume every child is in the same position. In fact most parents wouldn’t accept the rubbish you’ve been fed.

No, actually in my posts I only talk about my experience. And you will have read that i’m talking about an oversubscribed school. So actually parents are accepting the rubbish that we’ve been fed.
Are you threatened by the idea that hiding in plain sight, in an ofsted outstanding school, with laudable progress 8 results, uninspected for years, is a school which inhibits mobility from SATs scores? Because it means they can focus their efforts, they are so under resourced that they just aren’t in a position to do anything else?

If your school isn’t like this, be grateful.

Looking back I have no idea what level my 4 children achieved in Yr 6 Sats. We encouraged them to do their best, show all their workings and to check their answers. They all did well at high school.

[quote TizerorFizz]@CoastalWave
I really didn’t care. I had a bright child. I did nothing. Children move sets. You are way too over invested. Who cares what they are predicted at gcse. These are so often wrong. It’s not a stain on any future career to be less than brilliant at sats.[/quote]
Sadly that is not the case in the high schools where I live. If you arrive with a poor SATS score, and do not do well in the initial catch up CATS tests, you will stay in a lower set.

That's it. Zero chance to move up. I took one child on in Year 7. He just didn't understand maths, but he was bright. We made massive progress and IF he had been allowed to move sets, he would have achieve a Grade 8 or 9. As it was, he wasn't even allowed to get that opportunity.

I don't disagree that it's bonkers. Some children are late bloomers. But the way the system is, if you're not 'performing ' at 11, forget it.

@CoastalWave then someone needs to do some complaining. To the schools, and then to Ofsted if schools aren't differentiating appropriately.

We used the Collins workbooks which were useful, but at that stage we only encouraged them to use them, not made them. We gave them small rewards for finishing sections and a slightly bigger reward (eg trip to waffle/ice cream cafe) for finishing each book.

Thank you. I will have a look. I have no intention of making him do extra work without fun, treats. We did his arithmetic homework together this weekend which looks like sats style. Had a competition to see if I could get more right. I got 36/40 he got 34/40. He took 16 mins and I took 24 mins. He likes little challenges.

Schools usually prepare for SATs. We never had to do anything for my daughter and schools said that they will prepare everyone.
Having said that there are online platforms like Twinkle, KidSmart and SATs papers that you can use to prepare for extra help.

This thread is crawling with parents that are telling you to "not do anything", "they do it all at school" etc, pushing the mantra that SATS tests are 100% evil. It reminds me of that bunch of psychos at More Than a Score. Thankfully, I can see that some here are also a bit more reasonable and measured.

I take the view that it's a test and hence an opportunity to show off how good (or improved) your child can be. I've also found this to be quite motivating for the kids.

IMO, the best thing you can do is support them at home with a little extra help. It doesn't have to be much, just focus on some of their weak spots that I'd have thought you'll already know about from 6 years of going to school. It's a far better approach than burying your head in the sand while screaming that they "don't matter".

There's no shortage of past sats papers out there or even practice sats papers if you're feeling particularly enthusiastic.

Remember, whatever your opinion on testing in schools, the best thing we can do as parents it to just help make Sats (or any tests) a positive experience. It may well be his first experience of being academically judged and since there's no shortage of these in later life, it would be great if more parents made it a positive one!

🙄🙄🙄 As I’ve already explained, there is a shortage of past papers. Only papers from 2016-2019 match the new curriculum. Before that they were too easy and after that they were cancelled. Use CGP or something instead!

We use CGP workbooks for a bit of extra practice without overloading DS. I want him to show what he is capable, but I also want to be confident he is reasonably up to speed and ready for secondary school. However, his school is v v focused on Sats, lots of boosters, pushing for greater depth. There is a fine balance. I don't want him hating tests before he has even started secondary school.

What he is capable of

Withdraw him from them, they are a pointless box ticking exercise that exist only to assess the school.

Ooh yes - do that, get the school minus 4% in the measures they have absolutely no control over and which Ofsted will pore over in the most minute detail. Yeah, do that. Excellent idea.

@WaterBottle123

Withdraw him from them, they are a pointless box ticking exercise that exist only to assess the school.

Why on earth would I withdraw him?! It is, all stuff he needs to know anyway, and I wouldn't want to undermine the school - the last couple of years have been tough enough for the school and staff.

It isn't like rocking up and taking a few tests will damage him!