St Peter’s Catholic Primary Y6 Meeting for Parents Monday 18th September 2017 Welcome to parents and introduce staff

PURPOSE To explain how National Curriculum Key Stage 2 Assessment arrangements operate To clarify the testing arrangements for 2018 To explore the differences between Teacher Assessments and Tests To provide information about key dates Read through the purpose of the meeting

What is my child going to experience? What do the tests show us? What does the school do to prepare the children? What can we do as parents? We hope to do this by answering the following 4 questions. Apologies if the outline appears rather dry, but we will try to make it interesting Important to ensure parents understand what is taking place As there is quite a lot to get through, issues, concerns, points of clarification, etc please keep until the end when the Year 6 Team, Mrs Roberts and I will be available to talk informally with you.

WHAT IS MY CHILD GOING TO EXPERIENCE? Teacher Assessment Full TA of work Assessed over the whole year Wide range of experiences, purposes, expectations

St Peter’s Date Tests Monday 14th May English reading test 60 Minutes Tuesday 15th May English grammar, punctuation and spelling test 45 Minutes Approx 15 minutes Wednesday 16th May Mathematics Paper 1- Arithmetic 30 Minutes Paper 2 –Reasoning 40 Minutes Thursday 17th May Paper 3-Reasoning 40 minutes

What are the children assessed on? Maths-1 arithmetic and 2 reasoning papers (No Calculator) English- grammar, punctuation and spelling test Reading Comprehension-3 to 4 texts -The texts are not linked -Texts are progressively more difficult No writing test

What do the tests show us? TEACHER ASSESSMENT Teacher Assessment of ARE (Age Related Expectations) come from the work your child does over a long period of time. That is the work you see in school The results come from assessments of all parts of each subject Teacher Assessment results come from a great range of activities that your child does Teachers look carefully all the time at the work children are doing in the classroom. This kind of assessment helps them to make sure that your child is doing the right kind of work and working at the right level It happens all the time TESTS Tests are a “snapshot” of how your child is doing. They tell us how he/she did on a particular day The test results come from short tests which sample parts of a subject Each test result comes from one activity or, in some cases, a small number of activities National tests check your child’s progress and contribute to national statistics. They are part of the whole picture that is built up of your child. Children take them at particular times during their school career. (twice in primary school)

HOW TO INTERPRET THE RESULTS The National Curriculum standards have been designed so that pupils will achieve the Age Related Expectations for their year group

How the ARE is worked out…. Each child receives a raw score- this is converted to a scaled score A scaled score of 100+ shows they have achieved the ARE A scaled score of 110+ shows exceeding Eg from 2017 26/50 for reading =100

How we use the results Analysis of Results (Gender / Subject / Aspect) Specific Analysis of questions answered well / less well Information fed back to staff / governors Information gained used to further focus planning High school use them to set the children alongside their own tests

Preparation What are we at St Peter’s doing to prepare your children?

ENGLISH Group Reading Guided Reading Within class / set lessons – children covering all aspects of the English curriculum Set lessons – particularly focus on grammar and writing Plenty of opportunities for timed writing and reading tasks Spelling Sessions

Writing 3 Key Areas of Writing – When the children are writing they need to think about: Sentence structure and punctuation Text structure and organisation Composition and effect Writing Targets Ensure they are using all of the Year 6 writing objectives in their work

Writing Check Lists There are common key features in all different genres of writing Overall text structure Connectives Imagination / Creativity Varied sentences Joined up handwriting (if not they will not achieve ARE!) Correct grammar and punctuation Interesting vocabulary Sense Tense Description Self and Peer Assessment

MATHEMATICS Weekly Maths homework Daily mental mathematics activities Focus on arithmetic and calculations Test question practice Opportunities for children to explain the methods / strategies they use Speed tests Mental Maths Challenges

Learning Clubs and Intervention Your child might be attending a learning club/intervention session/club to boost confidence and reinforce specific areas where we have identified gaps

Access Arrangements Additional Time Readers Special arrangements Ability to access the tests Discussion with Mrs Davies

SUMMARY We are aware that amongst parents there will be a range of views regarding the assessment process This is the first step in their education where assessment really counts

WHAT CAN YOU DO? Attendance tonight. Be aware that true potential is achieved when school, parents and child are equally focussed. Your child must play his / her part. Support your child with homework and -does your child struggle with reading- LISTEN TO THEM READ DAILY -does your child struggle to understand the text-DISCUSS WHAT THEY ARE READING AND WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD AROUND THEM -does your child know their tables-PRACTICE THEM DAILY CGP is available to buy Other Commercial material is available – You know your child

St Peter’s Final Reminder Although tests are important, they are certainly not all that goes on in school