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Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:51 pm
by fatbananas
Can anyone tell me, are the Bond books 10-11 a sufficiently high enough level for the Kent Test? Or do people just use them for practise in the run up to GL papers, which are harder? I realise the KT is changing, but in people's experiences up to now, are they a high enough level, or should I be going for 11-12, or some other publisher?

That is in all 4 areas: literacy, maths, VR and NVR.

Thanks!

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:23 am
by Iceskatingtracing
I think they were easier. We used the Bond Stretch Maths books in the end which are aimed slightly higher. Not sure if you can get those in all the categories though. I felt the GL assessment papers were wordier for maths and the usual Bond tests a bit more straightforward.

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 5:47 am
by mystery
The old test was just vr, nvr and maths. I don't really know about bond vr and nvr versus Gl assessment. Bond is not multichoice in vr so it makes sense to choose other multichoice material.

Maths-wise, I don't think you would need to go beyond bond 10 to 11 before doing practice test papers. But the safest thing is to cover the national curriculum up to level 5a material e.g. Use CPG materials to get to this point, then make sure he can do all the stuff in the 8 familiarisation papers by gl for maths. If you had the time to do this that would surely be good.

How much you will need to cover new ground or practice depends on school. Our school maths is, unfortunately, low on covering new ground and does not build speed and accuracy either!

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:21 am
by fatbananas
mystery wrote: Maths-wise, I don't think you would need to go beyond bond 10 to 11 before doing practice test papers. But the safest thing is to cover the national curriculum up to level 5a material e.g. Use CPG materials to get to this point, then make sure he can do all the stuff in the 8 familiarisation papers by gl for maths. If you had the time to do this that would surely be good.
Thanks Iceskatingtracing and Mystery.

Iceskatingtracing: did you go beyond 10-11 stretch bond to 11-12 stretch in all subjects?

Mystery: Do not the Bond 10-11 books cover up to level 5 of the national curriculum?

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:08 pm
by mystery
I don't know. As the new kent test is supposed on the maths/English paper to link to curriculum attainment, I think it would be safer to do some preparation from books which are national curriculum linked. Bond is good for providing practice on mixed up topics but i don't know how it links to the nc. Maybe the publishers can tell you.

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 4:51 pm
by fatbananas
mystery wrote:I don't know. As the new kent test is supposed on the maths/English paper to link to curriculum attainment, I think it would be safer to do some preparation from books which are national curriculum linked. Bond is good for providing practice on mixed up topics but i don't know how it links to the nc. Maybe the publishers can tell you.
I see what you mean. I'll try and get in touch with Bond and if I find out anything, I'll come back on here.

Presumably that means National Curriculum up to the end of year 6, which seems pretty unfair, as the DC will be at the start of year 6. The Bucks idea of testing on subjects learned up to the end of year 5 would make it more likely to get DC who haven't been coached, which was the apparent thinking behind the exam change.

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:01 pm
by mystery
Again I don't really know FB. I can't remember what the tender documentation said but it wasn't very clear cut. I don't think the Bucks stuff is that clear cut either though - what is year 5 work? I know some people on here think it is crystal clear but I don't see it that way.

I think that the statements from the Councils (politicians) make it sound really clearcut - "your child will learn everything they need to learn in our (Kent, Bucks) schools and that's all there is to it, may be best children win", but I don't think the real paperwork or the C E M website is that categorical. Neither is that clear cut that all Kent and Bucks schools teach all children to the same level.

I e-mailed KCC a long way back to ask what the curriculum expectations were for the maths and english. There was no clear cut answer but the gist of the response was that many teachers reported that children who passed the old test were generally level 5 in maths by the end of year 5 and that there was no reason to think it would be any different under the new test.

Please let me know what you find out from Bond.

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:26 pm
by fatbananas
The Bond website says it is down for maintenance from today until Sunday, so I'll try again next week.

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 12:59 am
by Iceskatingtracing
I did get the 11-12 book too (how sad am I?!) but I thought they were getting a bit beyond what was needed. I think the 10-11 book was best and my son much preferred the Bond format to the other books we used.

Re: Bond books and Kent Test

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:26 am
by Villagedad
mystery wrote: was no clear cut answer but the gist of the response was that many teachers reported that children who passed the old test were generally level 5 in maths by the end of year 5 and that there was no reason to think it would be any different under the new test.

Please let me know what you find out from Bond.
Hi all
What about English. Do you think it follows maths and DCs would need to be level 5 by the end of year 5 to pass the new test?