SATs and The Residential Trip Year Six Summer Term: SATs and The Residential Trip

Year Six Summer Term Aims of the meeting: To inform you about the forthcoming events of the Summer Term, providing you with key dates and relevant information; To give you a clear idea of what you need to do as parents to ensure that your children are ready and prepared for the Summer Term. To provide you with helpful hints and tips on ways that you can help your child prepare for the SATs, Sex Education and Residential Trip.

SATs – What you need to know All children are assessed at the end of Key Stage One and Key Stage Two in order to assess how they are progressing throughout their time at school and compare their attainment in line with national figures. At the end of Year Six, pupils will sit the ‘Level 3-5’ tests. Pupils who are working below Level 3 will not sit a test; pupils who are working above Level 5 may sit an additional ‘Level 6’ paper.

SATs – What you need to know Level 6 tests are sat in addition to the level 3-5 tests; they are designed to assess the most able of pupils and the school will be deciding on whether or not to enter pupils depending on the most recent assessment data.

SATs – What you need to know Standard Attainment Tests are given to all pupils in Year Two and Year Six; Pupils in Year Six will sit tests in: English – Reading Paper (60 mins), Spelling Paper, Punctuation and Grammar test (45 mins). Maths – Mental Paper, Paper A (no-calculator), Paper B (no calculator allowed). Science – No sampling or Statutory Assessment this year.

SATs – What you need to know Pupils will also be given a Teacher Assessment of their Levels in: English – Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Maths – Using and Applying, Number, Shape and Space, Data Handling. Science – Working Scientifically, Physical Processes, Materials, Life Processes and Living Things.

How well should my child do in these tests? National Curriculum Level  Level 8  Level 7    Level 6  Level 5  Level 4  Level 3a, 3b, 3c  Level 2a, 2b, 2c Level 1 Age 7  Age 11 Age 14                   

Sats – How you can help Reassure your child – they can’t fail their SATs! SATs only give an indication of the the level that they are working at. Remind your children that they’ve been preparing for these SATs for a long time so they have no need to panic! Encourage them to be confident in their ability. All the reading, spelling, maths, writing that we have been doing in class, booster groups and homework will have made sure that they are as ready as they can be, so remind them to: Stay calm and do their best

Sats – How you can help Support any revision activities that your child is doing at home (more later…) but don’t over do it! Give your child the chance to talk through any concerns.

SATs Week: 11-14th May 2015 Day Levels 3-5 test(s) Level 6 test(s) Monday 11 May English reading Tuesday 12 May English grammar, punctuation and spelling test Wednesday 13 May Mental mathematics test; mathematics Paper 1 No level 6 tests timetabled Thursday 14 May Mathematics Paper 2 Mathematics Paper 1; mathematics Paper

SATs – What you need to know Writing remains a key component of the English assessment at Key Stage 2 but it is no longer assessed through the SATs. A level for writing is provided through a ‘Teacher Assessment’ of your child’s recent work in a range of topics across the curriculum. To ensure accuracy these teacher assessments are moderated both within school and at county level. You will be informed of the levels that your child has achieved in the end of year school reports.

SATs – What you need to know The Reading Test Pupils have 60 minutes to read through a booklet, containing 3 texts and answer questions about each. Questions vary between 1- 3 marks each and are designed to test a child’s ability to: find and retrieve information; interpret and explain ideas; comment on layout, structure and word choice; deduce and infer authorial intent; and respond to a text on a personal level.

Reading: How you can help Read regularly with your child! Discuss the books that they read – not just the plot but the author’s choice of words, the layout of the plot, the general themes and how they develop, how the author wants the reader to feel at different points of the story, how your child knows this etc. Use the activities in the reading journals

Reading: Exam technique When answering questions encourage pupils to… Skim through the paper so they have an idea of what questions are coming up – sometimes the easiest ones are at the back! Look at the number of marks. 3 marks = 3 points that need to be made Encourage your child to be precise; don’t waffle. Support answers/ideas with reference to the text: The author uses the word… which makes me think of…. P.E.E. Make sure that when appropriate comparisons/different point of view are identified: The first text is ….. because…. However, in the second text…..

SATs – What you need to know The Spelling Test Twenty sentences will be read to your child each with a missing word for them to spell. The new toys are very popular . Jack wrote the alphabet in his best handwriting. When the temperature reaches 100 degrees, the water will boil.

Spelling – How you can help Ensure that your child learns their weekly spellings and writes them out in their red sentence books In learning spellings, concentrate on the spelling rules/patterns, not just the individual words (i before e, except after c, plurals y – ies, double consonants after a short vowel sound) Online activities (see website list)

SATs – What you need to know The Grammar Test Introduced last year – designed to test an understanding of punctuation and grammar. Short style questions with fill in the blanks.

Grammar – How you can help Encourage children to use the correct grammar when they speak Not: We was going… I were at… Can I go toilet… Identify how punctuation and grammar have been used in their reading books. Pick out the word classes from different sentences etc.

English – How you can help Useful resources: Work through past paper over Easter. Studybooks (CGP, Schofield and Sims, Collins, Letts) – available at Amazon, Waterstones, Smiths etc Websites: BBC revisewise, BBC skillswise, Google ‘Sats revision’ – Woodlands Junior Site; Compare4kids.co.uk Please avoid past papers 2010 onwards.

Maths – What you need to know Wednesday: Mental Test – 20 questions , 5 sec, 10 sec, 15 seconds. Paper A Thursday: Paper B

Maths – What you need to know Pupils can get marks for their methods, even if the final answer is wrong. Some questions are about explaining why an answer is correct/incorrect using mathematical knowledge: Fred says that all even numbers are in the four times table. Is he correct? Explain how you know. Historically the second paper has had questions more to do with how maths is applied in everyday contexts. Questions involve fractions, decimals, percentages, area etc that need interpretation.

Maths –How you can help Check that your child has brought home the 10 for 10 booklet and use it each day of the holiday; Practise the four operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide); Encourage your child to explain their thinking to you; get them to demonstrate the methods they would use to solve a sum; Get your child involved in measuring at home (g-kg, mm, cm, m, time etc)

SATs week itself… Be here! Sats’ breakfast will be running! Thanks to the generosity of the Co-op on Mon-Thurs of Sats’ week breakfast will be provided! Getting your pupils in school early helps them to be relaxed, settled and fuelled for the tests. Make sure that your child gets plenty of sleep in the run up to the tests. Make sure that your child gets time to relax! Don’t worry about equipment – pens, pencils, protractors etc. All of this will be provided.

Any Questions?