English Sats
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English Sats
My son is due to start KE Camp Hill Boys Grammar in Sep 09. He is currently at a poor performing state primary school. I am not cioncerned about Maths and Science - I am confident and hopeful that he can get a good level 5 in these.
My concern is English. He has greatly improved in Comprehension (has been getting 42-43 in the past sats papers and has been getting acceptable marks in Bond Level 5). His spelling and vocabulary are good. It's his long writing - he can't write very imaginative essays! His teacher told me at the last parents evening that his essays are fine....I don't agree! His sentence structure, vocab, spelling, grammar are Ok.....the content and the description are poor.
He is not a prolific reader...but does read a fair amount.
I looked at the marks available for English and in my mind gave some estimates in my mind (by the way....I haven't told my son of these concerns and I tell him his stories are fine....but that he needs to think of some more interesting stuff to write and to be more ndescriptive) :
1) Comprehension.... lets say 40 out of 50. Hopefully.
2) Long Writing....lets say 15/30
3) Short Writing...lets say 6/12
4) Spelling...lets say 4/7
Giving a total of 65/100.
I now realise that this is level 4.....I understand that level 5 needs to be over 69.
So he needs to weedle 4 or 5 more points from somewhere in my estimate.....(which might be total rubbish anyway).
My concern is English. He has greatly improved in Comprehension (has been getting 42-43 in the past sats papers and has been getting acceptable marks in Bond Level 5). His spelling and vocabulary are good. It's his long writing - he can't write very imaginative essays! His teacher told me at the last parents evening that his essays are fine....I don't agree! His sentence structure, vocab, spelling, grammar are Ok.....the content and the description are poor.
He is not a prolific reader...but does read a fair amount.
I looked at the marks available for English and in my mind gave some estimates in my mind (by the way....I haven't told my son of these concerns and I tell him his stories are fine....but that he needs to think of some more interesting stuff to write and to be more ndescriptive) :
1) Comprehension.... lets say 40 out of 50. Hopefully.
2) Long Writing....lets say 15/30
3) Short Writing...lets say 6/12
4) Spelling...lets say 4/7
Giving a total of 65/100.
I now realise that this is level 4.....I understand that level 5 needs to be over 69.
So he needs to weedle 4 or 5 more points from somewhere in my estimate.....(which might be total rubbish anyway).
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hermanmunster
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Don't worry Za1. I am far too old to have done SATS but looked at my old school report the other day (equivalent of year 3-4 I think) - I got 98% in maths and 45% in english. Probably most of the english mark was down to the abysmal handwriting but then how else would I have got into medical school????
I'm sure he will do fine at KECH - the SATS levels are quickly forgotten whatever the scores and some kids won't have done them anyway!
Good luck to him for year 7
I'm sure he will do fine at KECH - the SATS levels are quickly forgotten whatever the scores and some kids won't have done them anyway!
Good luck to him for year 7
Sats
Thank you HM......
I'm not too concerned with the impact of his SATS at KECH.....I know for a fact that they don't stream on SATS (probably because a lot of the independent school kids don't do SATS). I'm only doing this because my son is fairly competetive and wants a level 5 in English. I haven't told him this...but I think he will struggle mainly because of his rubbish story writing. An area he has improved in is handwriting.....at the start of the year his writing was worse then your typical GP. He's improved a lot. Vocab, spelling are good.....he just can't write creative stuff. His teacher actually said he wrote good stories.....I was surprised.
I'm not too concerned with the impact of his SATS at KECH.....I know for a fact that they don't stream on SATS (probably because a lot of the independent school kids don't do SATS). I'm only doing this because my son is fairly competetive and wants a level 5 in English. I haven't told him this...but I think he will struggle mainly because of his rubbish story writing. An area he has improved in is handwriting.....at the start of the year his writing was worse then your typical GP. He's improved a lot. Vocab, spelling are good.....he just can't write creative stuff. His teacher actually said he wrote good stories.....I was surprised.
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hermanmunster
- Posts: 12894
- Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
- Location: The Seaside
Re: Sats...
Brill.... I've just been driving one of the receptionists crackers - I dictated a letter then decided to edit it on the draft. Trouble was she took a couple of phone calls in between and couldn't make out a word I had written!za1 wrote:Actually HM....my son also wants to be a Doctor......but I have been helping him to improve his handwriting. Maybe this wasn't a wise move? Maybe I should ask him to practice scribbling ....he loses a mark for every word I can decipher.
better still for your DS - get him to scribble then take it round to a pharmacist.... see what they make of it!
It's a boy thing, this creative writing..
One trick is to ask the struggling writer (usually a boy) to put himself in another person's shoes (block out all thoughts of how he would feel or react)and write from their perspective. You can practise this as short passages and soon, he will not be thinking of any subject from his own point of view.
For example, he could be a blade of grass and write from that perspective on life as a wispy green piece of vegetation. What could happen to a blade of grass and what adventures could it have? Or a baby sparrow, an eagle, a grain of sand on the beach, even an empty crisp packet.
If he can try to give life to inanimate objects or view the world through another creature's eyes through his writing, he will soon develop a style of his own which basically is what creative writing is all about - firing the imagination of the reader.
Hope this little bit helps.
One trick is to ask the struggling writer (usually a boy) to put himself in another person's shoes (block out all thoughts of how he would feel or react)and write from their perspective. You can practise this as short passages and soon, he will not be thinking of any subject from his own point of view.
For example, he could be a blade of grass and write from that perspective on life as a wispy green piece of vegetation. What could happen to a blade of grass and what adventures could it have? Or a baby sparrow, an eagle, a grain of sand on the beach, even an empty crisp packet.
If he can try to give life to inanimate objects or view the world through another creature's eyes through his writing, he will soon develop a style of his own which basically is what creative writing is all about - firing the imagination of the reader.
Hope this little bit helps.
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hermanmunster
- Posts: 12894
- Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
- Location: The Seaside
