11 Plus Exams Forum

My dd's are gutted that Level 6 tests are returning this year in English and Maths just one year too late for them. Our school used the old Level 6 tests to give those who had been at 5A since Year Five something to work on but as the old Level 6 Maths covers topics that are no longer covered at KS2 it was hard to do well in it.

I understand that Level 6 tests were abandoned in 2003 as not enough children were sitting them. I am sure the situation will be very different now as so many children enter Year 6 on Level 5A, especially in Maths.

Being able to be assessed at Level 6 will help the parents of children working for entrance exams considerably as it will give them a far better idea of where they are. I look forward to being able to use some of the papers to help children prepare. I am expecting the Reading and Writing papers to be of particular use.

This year they are not offering external marking so if the schools want to use them they have to mark them internally. Next year they will take their rightful place as parts of KS2 Sats.

I am interested to hear how many schools have told parents they will go ahead with them. Has anyone had this information from their school? DG

I would be worried about a CHILD who was gutted qbout something like this!

And actually, I can't really see the point- just because they didn't test beyond level 5 doesn't mean they can't work beyond level 5. And for a bright child and their school it could be very frustrating to be constrained by a test framework. Bad snout to be taught to the test for level 5- at least once they're done that they can spread their wings a bit.

My dd's are gutted that Level 6 tests are returning this year in English and Maths just one year too late for them. Our school used the old Level 6 tests to give those who had been at 5A since Year Five something to work on but as the old Level 6 Maths covers topics that are no longer covered at KS2 it was hard to do well in it.

I'm fairly certain these were available in May this year (now year 7 cohort) and marked internally. I think it was up to the school to decide if they wanted to put children in for the tests.

My daughters school haven't mentioned this yet but I think you're right-it will give a better indication where a child is at currently.

My daughter's school also haven't mentioned this. However, DD's teacher has very kindly given me a bunch of Level 6 papers on Maths, English and Science to do with DD at home on our own.

I'm just happy that she has something to work on and is not just treading water for all of year 6 (even if we do have to do it at home).

I posted about this some time ago!!

There were level 6 tests this year ...

The LA is suggesting that the pupils should be teacher assessed as level 6 across all strands. The tests themselves are not 'real' level 6 as they cover so little of the KS3 level 6 - I can see no advantage in being taught stuff just to do this test. There are PLENTY more interesting things for bright Primary pupils to look at - leave level 6 to Year 7.

katel wrote:I would be worried about a CHILD who was gutted qbout something like this!

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Indeed so. How would a child even know, unless a 'gutted' parent chose to share the source of his or her distress with its offspring? I would advise all parents who feel their children might take this badly to spare them the news.

Guest55 wrote:There are PLENTY more interesting things for bright Primary pupils to look at - leave level 6 to Year 7.

Yes quite. Whatever is the point? And as you say, it won't be a 'proper' level 6, just as the level 5s when they get to KS3 don't exactly prove to be transferrable. The cynic in me says this is more likely to benefit certain parents than any children in Year 6.

Amber wrote: Yes quite. Whatever is the point? And as you say, it won't be a 'proper' level 6, just as the level 5s when they get to KS3 don't exactly prove to be transferrable. The cynic in me says this is more likely to benefit certain parents than any children in Year 6.

My DS is sitting the Level 6 at his primary school. I think the only person to benefit is the teacher and of course, the school - and as for me, no benefit at all. Just the inconvenience of taking him to the Level 6 Maths Group extra tuition!!!!

SEP 18 - please be very concerned - Primary teachers are not qualified to teach level 6 and in the past this spoiled some of the fun in Year 7. The level 6s in Y7 already knew about pi so could not do the measurement of circular objects etc and missed out - OK they did do Buffon's needle experiment (not with needles I hasten to add!) but they did miss out as they had just been taught the formula and no background history etc.

As a maths specialist I know that acceleration is not well regarded ...

Becky Boo wrote:I'm just happy that she has something to work on and is not just treading water for all of year 6 (even if we do have to do it at home).

Yu know they ain't treading water just because they don't sit a test. On the contrary, tests of this sort reduce what is taught.

The year six teachers I know get very frustrated at the constraints of SATS (and the pressure to get the school good scores) and are relieved when they are done with so that they can properly expand their pupils knowledge and skills.

Last year there was boycotting of the whole SAT system because of the constraints it puts on educating the pupils properly.

Puzzled that you would think teachers would waste a year of possible learning just because a test is not set. They will actually be teaching new stuff.

Guest55 wrote:Primary teachers are not qualified to teach level 6 and in the past this spoiled some of the fun in Year 7. The level 6s in Y7 already knew about pi so could not do the measurement of circular objects etc and missed out - OK they did do Buffon's needle experiment (not with needles I hasten to add!) but they did miss out as they had just been taught the formula and no background history etc.

Bit of a sweeping assumption there Guest55, my Y6 teacher's Maths degree no good then? Primary teachers come from a vast range of backgrounds.
Would not dream of teaching something without a proper background explanation. Would not either let some very bright pupil tread water for a year just because next year they might go through something in more detail. Why couldn't they do the measurements of circular objects? Particularly since you feel they had not had adequate teaching on it and should have had the extra depth?
My Reception teacher has some pupils who know how to read before they reach school. This does not mean they should be adversely effected when in her class does it? My DD read fluently before school because she showed an interest. School took her on from where she was.

Didn't Lazzarini cheat with his choice of needle length anyway?