SATS 2016What’s new?

Your children will be in the first year group to take tests based on the new National Curriculum (2014).

Schools only began to teach this curriculum in September 2014.

The content in the new Maths and English curriculum is much more challenging and there is a lot more of it.

• Some of the Year 6 Maths content used to be found in year 7 and year 8. The new expected standards for writing at the end of year 6 sound like the previous requirements for a level 5 (ie. what used to be above national average).

Previously, schools (and children) were measured against the ability to achieve a level 4 in core subjects by the end of Key Stage 2. This meant that they were able to pass SATS test threshold marks by one mark and would be awarded a level 4. However, over recent years the national average for the old tests (based on the old curriculum) has been rising. Most recently, the national averages for reading, writing and maths sat somewhere between a level 4b and 4a, so a scraped 4c was still below national average.

In setting new standards for children to reach, the Department for Education has decided that all children should be aiming to reach a level of attainment similar to this in the new tests (ie. around a 4b-4a)

Teachers will not know until July (when the results are published) what the new ‘national average’ is. Once all the year 6 pupils in the country have taken the tests and they have been marked, the DfE will work out what the ‘average’ is. They will then use this and each child’s raw scores on the tests, to work out whether a pupil has achieved at the national average level, below it or above it. Parents will be informed of their child’s raw scores, their ‘scaled’ scores (above or below 100) and where this puts them nationally and possibly within their own class.

So what are we doing about it?

1. By May, the children will be well-versed in the format and type of questions they will face in the tests. These will be familiar and hopefully less daunting as a result. We will regularly use test style questions as part of class teaching.

2. There are multiple intervention groups going on in school time for maths, writing, reading and grammar. These are targeted to fill gaps in learning that we have identified.

3. I run a maths revision class for specific children (to build test confidence) from next Monday, weekly, right through to and including SATS week. This year, Mr Thomas has agreed to help with this class also.

4. We do comprehension work every week in class and have done so since September. Questions are designed by me to mirror the type of questions on a test paper.

5. The books I give to the children for their guided reading groups are deliberately chosen to stretch their reading ability and improve their vocabulary. This should improve their ability to tackle the tough texts in the reading test.

6. Daily use of Mathletics supports the children’s mental maths skills and gives them greater confidence.

How can you help at home?

 Encourage your child (where internet access is possible) to use their Mathletics account at home.Make sure that they complete their homework (and their set chapters of guided reading) gradually over the course of the week and help them with it if they are struggling and you feel able. Even if your child is a fluent reader, please do still encourage them to read aloud to you and discuss their book with them. Reading speed and fluency are very important and will help them to get through a longer reading test paper. Please support your child in learning their times tables – many of them are still not confident with tables facts. They need to know multiplication facts up to and including 12 x 12, but also all of the associated division facts. This can only be done through practise and by the children themselves. It is not something we can make them do in class time. As a measure of where the children should be with this, new requirements are that they should know all of these facts by the end of year 4.Waterstones and WHSmith stock some very useful revision guide books for year 6 SATS. I would highly recommend buying some of these and working at home with your child. Never fear – they generally include the answers too! The more practise they get, the better.

• Lastly, and most importantly, help your child to stay calm about the tests. The worst way to go into a test is in a panic! We will run mock tests in the hall before the real thing. Often, we find that the children actually like this and find it very calming!

• Make sure they get plenty of rest in the run up to the test week. If they have a TV, or computer games in their bedroom, can I respectfully suggest these be removed in the weeks before and during test week itself, so that they get their sleep!

• Thank you for coming this evening and all your support with the children’s work.