How did your year 6 find the reading SAT today?

[Thingsthatgo]

My DS did well in all his SAT practice papers, but said the reading paper today was tough.

My friend's SIL is a Yr6 teacher and text her to say the first maths paper today was hard 😳

Oh no these poor little ones. It'll just knock the confidence of those who are "average" like mine who try their very best, it must be super deflating for them to sit and struggle

I asked my sons teacher about the reading paper and she just said she can’t comment as she hasn’t seen the paper .. surely they know

They know as they are there. They can help with bits

My daughter came home from the reading paper yesterday with a migraine, she has dyslexia and therefore extra time. Her teacher said it was a very hard test.
Picked her up early today as still slightly under the weather and they said maths was ok, and a fair test!

@Littlepic that’s good to know . Hope your daughter feels better soon . Our school don’t like to communicate much so it’s not surprising they won’t give any info re the reading test

Really reassuring to read this thread as my daughter found it hard yesterday. She’d been scoring well in all past papers and got close to full marks in the mocks which were the 2022 papers. She came out of school with a very long face yesterday and said it was the hardest reading comp she had ever done and she barely had enough time which is something she’s never struggled with before. Surely if so many people are finding the same, the threshold for pass and for greater depth will be adjusted down. Not looking forward to pick up this afternoon if maths has been the same!

Exactly. Why wouldn’t the teacher say?

@empee47 my ds was exactly the same . Only missed a few points in the mock the test yesterday really got him down , he didn’t sleep well and said he will be lucky to pass . I emailed the school and they basically said no comment !

It’s so wrong and 11 year old having sleepless nights about test at their age

My DD struggled to get off to sleep last night and was awake super early this morn. Roll on school pick up tomorrow!

DD had been fine and wasn't bothered by them at all until last night when she struggled to sleep and was afraid that the maths paper would be hard too.

Oddly enough I overheard dc teacher talking to another teacher this morning saying it was the hardest reading paper they've ever seen. They've specifically taught Y6 for at least 10 years so have a fair history with SATS

@Sweetie1980 indeed it is, so wrong, an 11 year old shouldn’t be stressed for he extent they can’t sleep. Let me know what your son says about the maths. I’ve half a mind to email my daughter’s teacher to get her take on it although it’s done now.

My confident, chatty DD hardly spoke all evening and finally, at bedtime, broke down in hysterical tears and said she had let ME down.

She had performed really well in all the past papers, put lots of extra work in and was actually looking forward to the SATs.

Whoever wrote that paper needs to give their head a wobble. I can see DD's mental health suffering before my eyes - she's never been like that before.

Luckily, a friend posted a link on social media about how hard others had found it and I read lots out to her as soon as she woke up this morning. Hopefully knowing she wasn't alone gave her the chance to face the Maths paper today with more positivity.

I am so furious that she has been broken at 11 years old - and for what?!!

@tadpolecity and @empee47 - Good practice is for teachers NOT to look at test papers, to preserve the integrity ofthe test as far as possible.

They may see odd question, if they are asked to read to a child if a child requests help, or if they are trained as a reader for a child where the application for this to happen has been agreed by the Standards and Testing Agency.

Training includes not being able to talk about the content of any test. This is due to timetable variations, where there will be children, who for one reason or another hasn't sat the test yet.

Tests have to be administered to the guidance.

Maladministration is really serious and that would include leaked, known content.

I heard at pick up today that our headteacher commented to some year 6 parents that the reading test was the toughest she had ever seen :-(

Maths seems to have gone better.. DS said it had some tough questions but overall was ok.. kept out smiling, unlike the devastation yesterday.

I cannot wait for this to be over.. what an awful, stressful week.

There are versions threads on forums about the reading being hard & the last spelling. Twitter has a lot of education content. I'm not suggesting our teachers have said anything but there's lots of commentary out there

DD1 normally breezes reading tasks (to the extent of rushing a bit too bloody much) and had been really rather cocky going into it - came out with a "was alright" and then a "I only finished it 15 minutes early" compared to her usual finishing it in 10 minutes bodge job. So this could go one of two ways for her really - she's normally a solid GD reader.

She's not unduly worried about any of the SATs though - more concerned about the end of SATs treat and who she's going to sit next to on the bus to get there.

DC found it much tougher than expected and any of the revision we've done. They are normally very capable.

But as ever, all I ask is that they do their best.

@MarnieCres interesting. Wonder what the implications are then for the headteacher from Cheshire who has been in the national press to give her opinion about the difficulty of the test.

Think opinions on the test have always been OK - content details not... that was always the line the TES took on its forums about discussing during the week of the tests.

Reasoning today was "really horrible" according to Maths-avoidant DD1. So horrible she forgot about the school post-SATs treat bus arrangements for a few minutes.

There is an embargo in place until May 22nd regarding the content of the tests.