Low KS1 SATS results

[AllGonePeteTong1]

Can anyone advise me? My DD got a scaled score of 95 for maths, which I understand is not that far off expected standard, but only 85 for reading. I knew her reading was behind (she hates it), but that's really low isn't it? School said she wasn't too far off working at expected level for her age but now I'm worried. Should I be? We read every night and she has a tutor so not sure what else I can do?

It’s a point in time assessment, what do the school say about her reading? Are they concerned she is behind? If she doesn’t read at the assessment then they can’t assess etc

How did she do in her phonics screening?
Would it help if you listened to her read in the mornings when fresher and use evenings purely to read to her?
Has she had an eye test recently?

You do know that reading sats means comprehension? Do you discuss stories and can she recall info?

In my school (I teach y3), we would class 85 as working below age related expectations. 95 would be just below.
Does she read book band books? If so, what colour are they?

She failed her phonics screening the first time but passed it the second time in June.

Her comprehension is really good but she said with the SATS she couldn't answer the questions because she couldn't read the text.

Her eyes have been checked, they're fine.

The school have been pretty useless. There are loads of SEN kids in her class so I think because she doesn't cause much trouble they're not too concerned. They said she's not meeting expectations across the board but she might just be a late bloomer. She's leaving the school for juniors next week otherwise I'd have pulled her out.

She's on Gold band books now, which I understand isn't too far behind the level she should be at?

It might be to do with her stamina in reading. The text is very lengthy and that needs to be read in order to answer the questions. She might be able to answer basic retrieval questions but could she answer literal ones eg. What time of day is it? when in the text it says it was going dark.
Is the junior school not linked?

I'm surprised that she got that score if reading gold band books. Did you get a teacher assessment level too?

I would try to have a blitz over the summer. We had the RWInc phonics cards, made a post box, and posted in ones DD could do.
Another thing is to sound out words - do you want m/i/lk . Set reading time, star chart, rewards for doing it.
Maybe go back and read easier books to start to regrow confidence?
Any signs of slow processing or working memory issues?

All we got was the score of 10/40 for reading equating to a scaled score of 85. I have checked her literal comprehension to be honest

The junior school is linked but a different school, different head, different site etc

What would slow processing look like? Sorry, not familiar with that term. Her memory is awful. For example, she can't remember words from one page to the next. She still doesn't know the days of the week and often doesn't recall her teachers' names

It’s so stressful when you feel they are behind or your not sure how much she is vs an assessment. As she is changing schools I would focus on reading over the summer. Don’t bother with writing/maths/spelling eg . Reading well supports all the others. Write out the red/tricky words ok cards and show them to her and then read as much as possible. Both my children had to be bribed until it clicked that it meant they could read in real life.

my DS it literally clicked for him overnight reading (having been behind) where as for DD she has been on a much more steady pathway

Just saw your update OP my Ds had slow processing, it’s also very very common for them to not remember one word when literally the book could be 8 pages of

i see mum
i see dad
i see biff

each time they have to sound out ‘see’ I can’t remember what this is but it’s something to do with childrens brain development or something (someone more educated will tell you.

my DS caught up just fine by 8

If she has poor memory it will be an uphill struggle I'm afraid, it has been for my 17yo. However, regular practice and repetition can help a lot up to a point.

I would post on the SEN board for advice. Definitely talk to senco at new school.

DD 'suffered' by me being an involved parent which meant she too 'wasn't as bad as some of the others' which hid her difficulties in class.

That raw score doesn't equate to a scaled score of 85. Have a look at this...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1080312/2022_KS1_raw_score_to_scaled_score_conversion.pdf

Not sure if this is any help and maybe a little off topic but KS1 scores are very low at my grandson's school (I parent him). He got expected in reading and maths and working towards in writing. No SATs scores but I am going to ask for them because I want to query maths. Writng is no surprise - he is probably dyslexic and dysgraphic and his handwriting is illegible. They included a school overview sheet compared with 2019 national results with his report. His school results are shocking 65% achieved expected or better in reading, 63% in maths and 61% in writing. The school I teach at also had similarly low results (though a much more deprived catchment). So I googled and it appears KS1 results have massively dropped this year due to the effect of 2 years of disrupted education. My grandson is very young in the year and still 6. His headteacher commented that his hard work had resulted in expected standards in maths and reading. I was a bit miffed by this comment because he is a bright boy and should have got expected without working hard (and in my opinion should be greater depth in maths), but from her perspective, expected attainment is a good result this year. with more than a third of the cohort not achieving this.

If your daughter is on the right book band level at gold, then for me this represents reading attainment at expected standard and her SATs results are more of an anomaly. I suspect across the country, the present Y2 will be very carefully monitored and many interventions put into place by their schools to make sure they have caught up by Y6

I am hearing very similar about yr2.

My son is that age and is doing ok but he's very much the exception to the rule (being one of the eldest in his year and an only child i think are significant factors in this).

His class are wild and the other class in the same year are challenging but not quite as bad. Many are being treated as SEN but its more to do with behavioural issues steming from never learning the skill of sitting still and listening and then falling behind with reading / writing and that having knock on effects, rather than learning difficulties and proper diagnosis. There is an unusually high number in his year requiring extra support as a result.

And its not just his school. I have primary age teacher friends and friends with kids a similar age and they are all saying yr2 are the worst they have ever seen.

There is one girl in my son's year, who is the daughter of a former deputy head and very much minded towards education during lockdown. Even she is struggling and behind where she should be (she's a summer baby which has compounded it)

I don't know what the SATS are like for my son's school, but Ive heard they are down at other schools, and I do know that a number of parents in my son's year have expressed concerns about their child being below expectations. Its a good school and its not what you'd expect.

I know the class well as Ive helped out with them. Lovely bunch of kids, but yeah just wild. You could see it very clearly on sports day against the other classes. I reckon there's probably 6 of them who are about where they should be. The others are below what they are capable of, or struggling with behavior, for various reasons.

So my feeling is not to panic. It is an issue, but its across the board. Its hitting all levels of socio-economic background. Its undoubtedly worse in some areas, and even some parents who are trained professionals couldnt manage to teach their own kids adequately from home. Yes, she has a lot of catching up to do, but she's not alone and even if she wasn't directly affected the impact of others in the class who are struggling badly, has a knock on effect. If it really is across the year, she isn't going to be significantly disadvantaged. Schools will be forced to put more effort into that year and they will be watched carefully.

ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2022/07/attainment-at-key-stage-1-following-the-pandemic/

Thanks so much RedToothBrush, everything you've said about your child's class, I could have written. So many issues in my DD's year - the worst the school has ever had apparently. I can't access the link you sent on my phone but will take a look later and I found your words reassuring, thank you

We are exactly in the same situation we got very good parent meetings all the way, very good year end report as well, only positives, not a word about needing to improve in anything, merits which most kid didnt get etc so I thought DS is around middle/upper middle overall.

Then we got KS1 results low 100s for math and 94 for reading - while everything is on expected in the year end report, how is that possible with that reading score.

To be fair he made a MASSIVE push with reading in the last two-three months - he jumped 2 levels and last time teachers gave him a white book, that is 3 levels overall so I want to beleive that his reading improved so much in two months that they can only say expected regardless of KS1 scores. I am OK with the math score as we never practised maths, but I expected a bit more there as well.

The thing which worries me that regardless of the few miracle stories there are actual statistics on the school comparison website which inludes progress based on former attainment and it seems to me kids are hardly moving from their KS1 points, even if there are jumps with the exceptional kid it's max 5 points, so whoever was low attainer basically stays low attainer and its a good school (in top 20-25%). I also read some other papers where they actually scale up KS1 results to university places and there is correlation.

On my side I would be happy with maths towards 110 at the end of ks2, reading around 105, maths might be achievable, but reading 94 to 105 looks impossible based on stats.

We dont have $$$ for private tution and there is no point as the local state school is similarly good as well and the selective private ones are so expensive we couldnt pay it anyway, but I really want a better KS2 to see kid will be able to get a college/univesity degree.

Thing is though, is they will be competing against their peers for university places. So if there is a marked drop in attainment that continues all the way through school then it will affect university entrance that year too.

Most kids in Year 2 lost a staggering amount of classroom time during reception and year 1 thanks to Covid - I really wouldn't worry too much about KS1 SATs results.

Look at their weaknesses and do some light work on them over the summer (e.g. 2x sessions a week). Look towards the future, don't worry about the past!

Just anecdotally my son is in Year 5, and has to do some consolidation work in maths over the summer as advised by his maths teacher. He's been doing this through CGP books I got from WH Smith, and I discovered that while addition & subtraction is solid (learned in Y2 & 3 before lockdown) and his long division, algebra, geometry is solid (learned in Y5 after lockdowns) he has this very precise gap of the things that they "learned" in lockdown, mainly multi-column multiplication. He CAN do it, but he is notably less quick, confident or able than with the stuff they learned in physical lessons.

It's amazing, even though the online provision the school provided was excellent - full teams teaching with their usual teachers almost from day 1 - I can pinpoint exactly when the lockdowns came in and he just didn't learn as well through the online teaching, even though I can't fault what they provided. Other parents have noticed similar gaps related to the lockdowns.

That's where we as parents come in though - find the weaknesses and work on them over the summer/evenings/weekends as best we can.