If your child did get any 5s in Yr6 SATs, then

[lljkk]

1. Congratulations, I don't blame you for being pleased.

2. How did they do back in the Yr2 SATs?

thanks milliways
I know she is capable, she just needs to apply herself
god, i sound like a teacher

What if they get higher than 5s in Y6?

Then they get 6s! Can only get that as teacher assessments though - tests only go up to 5.

dd1 (Y5) got 5s in her voluntary SATs. She got 3s in her Y2 SATs.
Just to balance out the boastfulness of that statement - dd2 (Y3 and has SN) is still on p-scales and working toward the foundation stage. Dd2 actually seems to have much more common sense and is far more organised, tidy and helpful than dd1.

Aah, I see! Thanks Feenie.

The Year 2 teacher assessment does mean a lot, because it is a judgement by the teacher, drawn from their every day classwork aswell as the tests, so it is a very accurate measure of where they are.

Y2 teachers have to use same assessment procedures as the rest of the school to arrive at this judgement, so a level 3 at Y2 is the same as a Y3 level 3 teacher assessment (but not a Y3 optional SAT, since the test is timed for the first time in their little lives).

I am not terribly surprised that CAT scores may be lower than SATs - CAT tests do not so much measure what the school has "taught" them, they are more a measure of ability.

Furthermore, the scores are not reported nationally, nor put into league tables, so schools do not feel the need for all sorts of shenanigans to make them look better.

DH is a Deputy in a comp, and he feels they give a truer indication of ability, whereas the SATs scores can be massively overblown for individuals.

No idea.

Children at our school have done well in their KS2 SATs this year with 50% level 5s in maths and English and 75% in science. Our KS1 results tend to be average or below, with few level 3s and 20% not reaching level 2 in some years.

It is certainly possible for children who are average at KS1 to score level 5 at KS2.

My daughter got all 5's at end Year 6 except Maths where she struggles and got a 3 (missed a 4 by one point apparently) but her secondary school takes more notice of CAT scores and they have put her in the second to bottom band for year 7. We are shocked and upset because on the one hand the SAT website says that a score of 5 is average for a 13 year old (our daughter is 11) and that, at age 11, it indicates a gifted and talented child. So, our "gifted and talented" child is going in to the second to bottom class for her first year of Secondary school. The only explanation I can think of is because she was level 3 at maths and maybe you have to be level 4 or above in all subjects to get into a middle stream at secondary? The school just spoke statistics at me when I phoned and I didn't feel any more knowledgeable at the end of the phone call. DD is devastated and has gone from looking forward to September to absolutely dreading it as she feels she will be in a class with children who will be disruptive and that she won't be able to concentrate. She loved her time at primary and wants to do A levels and go to university - she talks of becoming a vet! How can she hope to achieve this in a second to bottom class? The school says they move children up and down the bands if appropriate but, in reality, we are told by other parents that this happens very rarely as we would have to wait for one child to move down so there was a space for our child to move up and there might be too many children for the places available. We now have 6 weeks of holiday to get through and DD is so miserable, such a shame and I can't seem to be able to cheer her up. XX

What were her teacher assessments? In reality, these are suppose to have equal weighting with SAT scores, but they are often sidelined in favour of test results.

If her TA was a 4 for Maths, this will be a truer picture of what level she works at on a day to day basis, and this may hold some sway in your argument.

Honeykate, I think this is absurd! You must do something about it. Unless she is in a highly selective school where everyone goes in with level 5s, the banding makes no sense at all. Speak to the school, and speak to a governor. If it was my child, I would get the decision changed or get the child moved to another school. How can she be in a low set for English with an English level 5?

Thanks Feenie and MillyR, her teacher assessments were all higher 4's except maths where they expected a low 4. She has always had help in maths but has come along in leaps and bounds over the last 9 months and pulled up from a low 3. Her teacher told us she missed a low 4 by just one point. It's not a selective school - just an ordinary state comprehensive. They said her CATS were so low she would have been in the bottom class had her SATS not pulled her up, but I don't understand this, her teacher at primary said her CAT score was 50 - I assumed this meant 50 percentile so equal to about 90 something percent, but now I wonder if her teacher meant 50, which is ridiculously low, and would put her in the bottom 1% nationwide - I cannot see how this is possible when she is bright and gets SAT level 5's. I am going to try and speak to the school again tomorrow and try and get this clarified.

I agree with your comment on another thread that human error/data entry may be at fault here - let us know how you get on, hope you get somewhere.

I have no knowledge of CAT tests. As far as I (and my children are aware) my 2 have not taken these tests at their primary school. Is it not possible for them to retest your child, or perhaps they retest all the children in year 7?

My eldest 2 , both went up 2 levels in every subject from Yr2 to Yr6 but we weren't given 'fine gradings)