SATS

[Busymumoftwo]

Are results of the SATS exams taken in Y6 used in Buckinghamshire secondary schools?

My son is at a primary school in Herts, although we live in Bucks, and passed the 11+ so will be going to a grammar in September. His school are strongly promoting SATS revision books, etc, and I think that in Herts comprehensive schools the outcome of the SATS determines the ability sets that children are placed in. Does anything similar happen in Bucks?

I had promised my son that if he worked hard preparing for the 11+ I would be off his case for the whole of Y6 so am reluctant to start tutoring him for SATS!

[southbucks3]

They do not stream at rgs, or use sats, they do at the local upper though. They do expect a level 5 to be achieved at rgs, which is quite right really, as level 6 is where they start working for maths and English.
You need to chat to the other parents who went to the gs your son is travelling to and check for streaming, but regardless of test result, it is the ability to work above a level 5 in year 7 that matters. Your son's teachers will pass his end of year results separately to a brief report which will have been sent out around Easter to his new school and they do like the "working at level" in the report to match his actual result, or it looks like they were overly optimistic of his ability.

I just do what they ask of me to be honest...Ds2 just had a 45 minute creative writing task as a sat work homework, it didn't bother him too much, and in six months they will get 2 hours work a night!

[Rob Clark]

The Bucks GSs I have personal knowledge of have very little interest in Y6 SATs. Neither DCGS nor John Hampden stream/set in the first 2 years – in fact the former made a point of telling us that they don't care about SATs.

If you're on the Bucks-Herts border, I'm thinking your DS is most likely to be going to Chesham Grammar…? Others will know more than me about that particular school, but in general I think your approach is very sensible. Obviously he needs to keep working but not specifically for SATs and definitely not to the extent of tutoring or using revision booklets!

[Guest55]

GS have to care about KS2 results as they are judged against progress from starting points i.e. these levels.

I take great interest in the scores in these tests - indeed they are much more informative than the 'old' VR score. It'll be interesting whether CEM scores are helpful.

However, do not do any more revision than is done in school - it's not needed.

[mystery]

I am not sure if that final point can be made with great certainty for absolutely every year 6 child in every single primary school.

[Busymumoftwo]

Thanks everyone.

You are right Rob, our first choice is DCGS as its our nearest grammar, then Chesham.

[Guest55]

DCGS have to care about the KS2 levels whatever they say to parents. Certainly a child going with level 6s will need to get A*s for 'value-added progress' so that must be pertinent!

[Rob Clark]

Sorry, I should have been clearer when I said DCGS "don't care". What I meant was they do not use that information on a strictly academic level as they do not set or stream for the first 2 years, by which time they have carried out their own testing.

I'm sure that Guest55 is absolutely right in that there are wider issues pertaining to the school, but in terms of each individual child I don't believe they consider it important. I certainly have no idea what DS got in his Y6 SATS, whereas for DD – who attends an upper school – they were more significant.

[Mostlymum]

DCGS runs a barrage of tests on the new intake within a few weeks of starting to gauge its own view of the child's potential. This includes VR, NVR, Quant and individual subject testing. It was made very clear that this would be used as the benchmark for a child's ability rather than any level they may have achieved previously.

And with a child who went in with 2 level 6s I'd far rather base my judgement on the school's testing than anything sat in his old school!

With a dd at DCHS the contrast has been interesting as there was nothing done testing-wise there on yr7 entry 2 years ago.

[Guest55]

DCGS runs a barrage of tests on the new intake within a few weeks of starting to gauge its own view of the child's potential. This includes VR, NVR, Quant and individual subject testing. It was made very clear that this would be used as the benchmark for a child's ability rather than any level they may have achieved previously.

They may well say this but I can assure you that Ofsted will continue to look at progress from KS2 sub levels in RAISEonline and whether all groups are making the same progress. Any issues can trigger inspections ....