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KS2 SATS Tests

I am after advice from parents who's children have already taken the KS2 SATS and are now at Secondary School.

My child has been predicted level 4 for Maths and Reading but borderline level 3-4 for Writing. Clearly, we are going to support our child with his writing and help as much as possible ahead of SATS week. However, I am concerned about what the impact (if any) there is should he not achieve level 4 in this element. After all the stress, is it such a big deal? I've always been led to believe it is a reflection on how well the school is performing rather than the child. Or maybe I should be worried!

Casting a sneaky eye over the paperwork the teacher was holding, it looked like the class was pretty equally divided into 3 parts - a third predicted level 5, a third level 4 and a third level 3. That's quite a lot of children that may not be reaching the national expected standard!

If you child has been in a similar situation, I'd appreciate some advice. Thanks
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Comments

  • bertiebots
    bertiebots Posts: 1,433 Forumite
    I have found that the sats are not that accurate at measuring a childs abilities.

    I strongly disagree with testing primary school children anyway, but that aside prefer to base how well my children are/have done at school on their overall abilities. For eg. my dd has just done her sats and her teacher knows she is doing very well ,but has said that may not be reflected in her results because markers dont know the child and see silly mistakes as a lack of skill...they dont always read all the papers they mark properly either (this came from her teacher not me) so I prefer to listen to someone who knows my child ,....rather than some assessor who is marking hundreds of the same form and might get a little bored in the process.
    My ds1 is in year 9 now and when he did his in year 6 the case was the same.

    As long as your child is doing the best overall that they can ,I am sure you have no need to worry. Plus all children learn at different rates so a "one fits all" test is another reason why I dont take that much notice tbh. Just my humble opinion of course;)
    JAN GC- £155.77 out of £200:D FEB GC £197.31 out of £180:o. MARCH GC - out of £200
  • 74jax
    74jax Posts: 7,930 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I don't think there is anything wrong with a Level 4 whatsoever.

    Not all children can perform in exam situations. My daughter moved up in September last year (so did KS2 this time last year).

    When she went to High School they used the KS2 results together with teacher's recommendations to them put her in 'sets' for Maths, English etc. Depending on how she performs in these 'sets' she can get moved up or down as and when needed.

    Remember Level 4 is what is expected, not all children can do well in all subjects. My daughter excells at maths, science but English and spellings????? hhhmmmmm.

    Why don't you have a word witht he school if you're worried and maybe see how your High School will work regarding classes in Septemeber?
    Forty and fabulous, well that's what my cards say....
  • Courgette
    Courgette Posts: 3,242 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    I'm a Secondary school teacher. We use the SATs results to help inform our setting of the children when they first arrive in year 7 but we also move the kids if it's obvious they're in the wrong set. We also use them to work out where they should be at the end of year 9.

    My personal opinion (and I know a lot of other teachers share this) is that they're a bit of a waste of time really for what they inform us - we also test the kids again at the start of yr7 to see where they're really at.

    Lastly, the unions hate them (again reflecting the feelings of many teachers), if the NUT (biggest union) get their way they'll be boycotted this year and they'll probably be gone by next year

    HTH
    Updating soon...
  • moneypooh
    moneypooh Posts: 2,217 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Agree, don't worry. Secondary schools sort them out in the first few months and they can be moved around throughout the early years there. The CATs are done when they enter in year 7 and these assess all skills. Then there is the FFT results that aim to put your child in the right place. My DS was chosen for the GATE group following good yr 7 results.

    If the secondary school is a good one they'll make sure your child will reach their potential whatever their SATS results were.
    My two have completely different strengths/weaknesses and the school spotted them exactly so don't worry too much.
  • Mupette
    Mupette Posts: 4,599 Forumite
    don't worry, mine wasn't brilliant, but since being at secondary school he settled down and does HIS best. He's happy and enjoys school.

    I thought they were getting rid of SATS or is that just certain ones..
    GNU
    Terry Pratchett
    ((((Ripples))))
  • dizziblonde
    dizziblonde Posts: 4,276 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I actually mark KS2 sats and I read everything written extremely carefully thank you very much.

    If your child's been marked out as a 3/4 borderline they'll be targetted support to push them up to level 4 anyway - because it's in the school's interest to get those kids who just need a little bit to tip them over the boundaries into the right level isn't it?! As for 4 a/b/c - don't worry about that - in their actual SAT they get a pure level - no sub levels on the marksheets we send back - schools may manually assign them sublevels for their tracking internally (the aim is for children to make two sublevels progress over the course of a year - so if a child enters a class at a 3b, they'd be expected to go through 3a and into a 4c over a normal school year - obviously kids don't develop nice and evenly like that and you get years where a child will make one sub's progress, then shoot up 3 sublevels the following year etc).

    Whether they actually make the 4 or not depends on tonnes of things - one of which is how kind the paper is to them. The writing task last year I felt was one that girls struggled desperately with in general, but boys tended to be able to pick up and run with much easier... you get years with general trends like that - despite us looking for every possible mark we can award a child. There've been issues with marking appeals because they abolished the borderline checks (papers on the boundaries used to get double-marked to try to move them up a bracket - they've taken to holding the level boundaries back from markers until the last moment so these don't happen anymore)... but generally we don't want to see kids fail, I sit there marking and rooting for kids thinking "yesssss you got that mark good on ya" - and since we're either practicing or retired teachers - we don't want to see kids "fail".

    As for the importance schools attach to these - I would always value a teacher assessment level much higher in terms of an overview of a child's performance than a test score on how they did on one paper on one day in May - most schools retest in September anyway (kids slip back over the summer and the change to big school throws some as well - or they thrive on it)... I wouldn't put massive importance on any of it to be honest - basically they're bang on level with the average child in one subject, possibly a touch below in the other but easily able to be caught up... not much to worry about - leave the panicking about the level 4 and 5 numbers games to the schools.
    Little miracle born April 2012, 33 weeks gestation and a little toughie!
  • Mrs7ones
    Mrs7ones Posts: 413 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Hi,
    my DD is currently in year 8 (secondary school), so it's a couple of years since she did her KS2 SATs.

    She has never been very academic, and struggled her way through primary school. In the run up to the KS2 SATs she was included in the extra lessons after school club (which she hated), and pushed way beyond her ability to try to get her to the magic level 4 in all 3 subjects. Not only were the lessons about learning, but more about exam technique - how she could get more marks by spotting the easier questions to answer and not waste time on the hard ones!!!

    SATs days came, and I was appalled to learn that she had a teaching assistant sat with her to 'explain' the questions. when the results come, surprise surprise she achieved level 4 in all subjects.

    So off she went to secondary school, and form the word go she struggled in all subjects. It took a while, but eventually, her new teachers realised that he was not a level 4 student and that her SAT results were some kind of 'fluke'!

    So all in all, i feel that they way my DD's primary school handled her SATs was terrible. She was obviously pushed to get the grades the schhol wanted rather than to do her best.

    (as an aside, DS2 is currently in year 4 and he's experiencing a similar thing but in reverse. He's VERY bright, and will be doing the KS2 SATs papers in may with the year 6's (as a practice) to asses just how well he is likely to do when it's his turn. - he's obviously going to be good for the school's statistics!)
  • Pinklepurr
    Pinklepurr Posts: 331 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thank you everyone for your replies. I am reassured to know that I shouldn't worry. Writing has never been easy for him, he has always struggled with his handwriting and was a "late developer" with spellings. His spellings are pretty good now, although he does tend to forget to use punctuation. The content is reasonable and his teacher says he has written some lovely work, but she says the result could go either way, depending on what is in the exam this year.

    The school has been practicing for the SATS since January, they have done loads of past papers and seem to be sitting endless assessments! He's had help with his handwriting, but no other support that I am aware of. We will encourage him loads and try some of the revision websites to help prepare him but other than that we will have to see!
  • pingua
    pingua Posts: 1,671 Forumite
    my eldest is in year 7 and they have been having 'tests' at the end of each term and have been moving them around according to how they do in them.
  • Mupette
    Mupette Posts: 4,599 Forumite
    Pinklepurr wrote: »
    Thank you everyone for your replies. I am reassured to know that I shouldn't worry. Writing has never been easy for him, he has always struggled with his handwriting and was a "late developer" with spellings. His spellings are pretty good now, although he does tend to forget to use punctuation. The content is reasonable and his teacher says he has written some lovely work, but she says the result could go either way, depending on what is in the exam this year.

    The school has been practicing for the SATS since January, they have done loads of past papers and seem to be sitting endless assessments! He's had help with his handwriting, but no other support that I am aware of. We will encourage him loads and try some of the revision websites to help prepare him but other than that we will have to see!


    If you look at my son's his is bad and he is 15, don't worry shows sign of a doctor lol have you seen their scribbles :rotfl:
    GNU
    Terry Pratchett
    ((((Ripples))))
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