Brooklands Primary School Thursday 16 th March 2016
What does SATs stand for? Statutory Assessment Tasks and Tests (also includes Teacher Assessment) At the end of Key Stage 1 (at age 7) and at the end of Key Stage 2 (at age 11)
What level should children be at? The new SATs tests see the final removal of levels. Scores will be given as a scaled score for each subject. 100 will represent the expected standard.
How are the children assessed? There are two sorts of assessments: A) Teacher assessments B) Tests
What does teacher assessment involve and is it different from testing? Teacher assessment draws together everything the teacher or teachers know about a child, including normal class lessons, observations, marked work and school assessments. Teacher assessment is not a snapshot like tests and is therefore more reliable. Due to the above, there can be a difference between teacher assessment results and test score.
Tests: English: Reading Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Maths: Arithmetic Reasoning Skills
When do KS2 tests happen? This year the test dates will be from Monday 8 th 11 th May 2017 Please avoid taking your child out of school during this time and in the weeks leading up to the tests.
ENGLISH
Reading Comprehension The reading booklet will include 3 texts not linked by a theme. The least demanding text will come first with the following texts increasing in level of difficulty. Children will have a total of one hour to read the texts and complete the questions at their own pace.
The reading answer booklet. The vast majority of marks are given over to information retrieval and inference/deduction questions. There will be at least one question involving summarising text from more than one paragraph. There will be a handful of three-mark questions, usually requiring supporting evidence drawn from the text a skill that wasn t much drawn upon in the old-style tests.
English grammar, punctuation and spelling The grammar, punctuation and spelling test reflects the significant shifts in expectation in the new National Curriculum. 20-word spelling test and a separate test of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary. We are expecting a challenging set of words in the spelling test the sample test examples range from discover to drawer and possessions (words that frequently appear on lists that trip up adults!).
Examples:
MATHS
This year, mathematics test consists of: Arithmetic paper, Paper 1, 30 minutes. Two non-calculator test papers, Paper 2 and Paper 3, each lasting 40 minutes
Arithmetic paper 35 40 questions, total of 40 marks. Most worth one mark. Testing arithmetic skills ranging from basic addition and subtraction to calculations with fractions. Questions are all in the form of calculations there are no words. Paper will make up just over one-third of the total available marks.
For multiplication and division questions involving larger numbers, two marks are available. However, only the standard methods of long multiplication and division will be credited if the final answer is incorrect; other methods will be ignored. Time is critical in this paper, with 30 minutes to answer the questions; less than one minute per mark.
Example questions
Reasoning Paper The second and third papers will be reasoning-type question, with 35 marks available in each test paper to cover the full range of abilities. Calculators cannot be used with any of the papers.
How can parents help? Supporting the completion of homework. Fun websites: BBC Bitesize/Mathletics/ Reading Eggs. Helping children to learn times tables. Discussing your child's book with them and asking probing questions. Encouraging your child to read a range of things including newspaper, instructions, leaflets and information books.
Hopefully this has been helpful and not daunting! Thanks for coming along this evening!