SATs 2018 – Parents Guide

 

Changes to KS2 SATs in 2018 – What parents need to know

 

KS2 SATs were overhauled to be in line with the new national curriculum in May 2016. If your child will be sitting Y6 SATs in 2018, read on for the most up-to-date information for parents.

In the summer term of 2016, children in Year 2 and Year 6 were the first to take the new SATs papers. The new-style SATs for English and maths reflect the new national curriculum, and are more rigorous than previous years’ tests. There is also a completely new SATs marking scheme and grading system which has replaced national curriculum levels.

 

At the end of Year 6, children sit tests in:

Reading

Maths

Spelling, punctuation and grammar

 

These tests are both set and marked externally, and the results are used to measure the school’s performance (for example, through reporting to Ofsted and published league tables). Your child’s marks will be used in conjunction with teacher assessment to give a broader picture of their attainment.

This is information is to advise parents of how the SATs tests will be administered.

The timetable shows a list of tests and the dates they will be administered.

 

 

 

The tests will be administered in the order of the timetable and on the date shown.

 

Most children will sit the tests in the classroom normally used each day for their learning. The children will be split into smaller groups in line with normal classroom practice. This is done so that the children are comfortable and familiar with their surroundings and so that they can be spaced out appropriately.

Each room will have enough staff to ensure the correct administration of the test and the staff involved will have been given training on test format and style, their role and what they may or may not read to a pupil in a particular test including any subject specific issues that might occur. During the Reading test, no part of the test may be read to a student.

We will hold a parents meeting in February 2018 to give you further details regarding the administration and content of the tests. This will give parents a chance to ask any questions that they may have.

 

The reading test is a single paper with questions based on three passages of text. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test.

There will be a selection of question types, including:

Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show the order in which they happen in the story’

Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title of the story’

Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that suggests what the weather is like in the story’

Short constructed response, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’

Open-ended response, e.g. ‘Look at the sentence that begins Once upon a time. How does the writer increase the tension throughout this paragraph? Explain fully, referring to the text in your answer.’

 

The grammar, punctuation and spelling test consists of two parts: a grammar and punctuation paper requiring short answers, lasting 45 minutes, and an aural spelling test of 20 words, lasting around 15 minutes.

The grammar and punctuation test will include two sub-types of questions:

Selected response, e.g. ‘Identify the adjectives in the sentence below’

Constructed response, e.g. ‘Correct/complete/rewrite the sentence below,’ or, ‘The sentence below has an apostrophe missing. Explain why it needs an apostrophe.’

 

Children sit three papers in maths:

Paper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutes

Papers 2 and 3: reasoning, 40 minutes per paper

Paper 1 will consist of fixed response questions, where children have to give the correct answer to calculations, including long multiplication and division. Papers 2 and 3 will involve a number of question types, including:

Multiple choice

True or false

Constrained questions, e.g. giving the answer to a calculation, drawing a shape or completing a table or chart

Less constrained questions, where children will have to explain their approach for solving a problem.

 

Not all children in Year 6 will take science SATs. However, a number of schools will be required to take part in science sampling: a test administered to a selected sample of children thought to be representative of the population as a whole. We will provide more information if our school is chosen.

 

You will be given your child’s raw score (the actual number of marks they get), alongside their scaled score and whether they have reached the expected standard set by the Department for Education (‘NS’ means that the expected standard was not achieved and ‘AS’ means the expected standard was achieved).

 

The range of scaled scores available for each KS2 test is:

80 (the lowest scaled score that can be awarded)

120 (the highest scaled score)

The expected standard for each test is a scaled score of 100 or more. If a child is awarded a scaled score of 99 or less they won’t have achieved the expected standard in the test.

 

As a school we support our children through the SATs. We want them to do the best that they can and we support them to do this in every way.