KS2 SATs results

[T12ACY]

WOW MG that is fantastic!!!

I realise I appear to have got on my high horse over this issue have had a haircut (and sleek blowdry) which made me feel very confident, just for a couple of hours... am back down to earth with a bump having slept on it and looking in the mirror this morning at the usual birds nest!

[Rob Clark]

I readily confess we took a slightly different attitude to SATs with our 2 DCs, based partly on what their secondary schools had told us.

DS had already got the GS place he wanted and they said they took no notice of SATs whatsoever so we let him ease off a bit on the work front; however DD’s secondary modern said they used the SATs results as one of the criterion for setting and since at her school only the top sets do triple science (her best and favourite subject), we encouraged her to keep working hard. She also needed to have 3 x 5s in case she wanted to take the 12+.

So I would say it’s useful to try to find out how much – if any – attention your DC’s secondary school pays to SATs results before deciding how much importance you should attach to them.

[2Girlsmum]

The English results at our ('outstanding') state school have fallen 4 years in a row, whilst Maths is stable and above the national average. I think that this is partly due to the way English at state primaries has been taught over the last few years, but this will change next year with a stronger emphasis on the traditional 3 'R's again. DD's spend about 1 hour a week on creative writing at her school, and the comprehension is linked to the reading group session once a week. That means just over 1/10th of the week is spent on these two subjects! I read on another thread one person comment how most children from Independent schools can turn out a decent essay regardless of their academic abilty, but the same can't be said for state schools, and I think that I'd agree with that under the current curriculum:(

I spoke to dd's class teacher and our headmistress about my concerns last month, as it's dd's achilles heel so to speak - she scored 16/28 for the composition/comprehension component in her Y5 tests, but almost full marks in the rest of the English so still scraped a level 5. We are working with her at weekends to catch up, and the improvement has been noticed at school in terms of her speed and writing, but it's hard work. I'd like to climb onto my horse here and just state how much I hate the way that teaching fashions and trends can affect children's learning, achievement and potentially their futures! (OK, I've just dis-mounted again)

[Tolstoy]

We have the reverse, Our English results were fine our maths low. Our combined have ended up low.

Unfortunately the school has been penalised by a boy arriving in September who was never going to achieve the required levels, not sure if he even managed a three. This is something the league tables don't reflect though

As an aside how did every ones DC do in Science. First up my, DS dropped a level, couldn't possibly have had anything to do with it not being tested this year could it .

This is why for all their faults I feel key stage two SATs should stay.

[Amber]

I think that this is partly due to the way English at state primaries has been taught over the last few years

A bit of a generalisation maybe? My DS (state primary) scored extremely highly on the writing paper; and like Tolstoy, our school's level 5 English results are above the national average (35%) and our maths results are lower. I feel that the English teaching my son had (sample of one school, not outstanding, poor catchment area) was absolutely first rate this year.

Just saw your science question Tolstoy. We only got a teacher assessment for that which in DS case was 5. The school was one which took the 'real thing' though (told the day before) and I gather the results are almost identical to the teacher assessments, though of course they are not personalised - the school was told there were x level 4s and y level 5s.

[wonderwoman]

The English results at our ('outstanding') state school have fallen 4 years in a row, whilst Maths is stable and above the national average. I think that this is partly due to the way English at state primaries has been taught over the last few years, but this will change next year with a stronger emphasis on the traditional 3 'R's again. DD's spend about 1 hour a week on creative writing at her school, and the comprehension is linked to the reading group session once a week.

Our English is taught just like that, one hour writing, but other lessons in the week concentrate on grammar etc. - standards have risen. 35% level 5 writers and almost 70% level 5 in the other tests. Average intake. You really have to look at the results of KS2 SAT results compared to what the children achieved in KS1. If there were no level 3 writers at KS1 to achieve 5% is very good.

Going back to what I said about SAT prep - I'm the first to admit I did only what the school asked and no real 11+ practice. But I would want children prepared for an exam, I wouldn't do any test without preparing first. Also a school can't make children know something they don't, or understand if they really don't with a few practice papers, (that is the teaching and learning done throughout school) but they can ensure children get the highest possible mark in a SAT paper by practising exam technique. And love them or hate them league tables force schools to take SATs seriously.

[Tolstoy]

And love them or hate them league tables force schools to take SATs seriously.

Actually I think league tables encourage schools to fudge their results and to over prepare the children.

Due to that one child arriving our school had to plough a substantial amount of money in trying to make sure our border-liners achieved 4's. Possibly to the detriment of those that would have had fives and certainly to the other year groups where that support was usually be directed. For maths it was wasted as they still didn't achieve the required and also our combined scores of two level 4's were low because of the way the children achieved. Its complicated to explain the system.

There is also the fact that the small cohort of pupils sitting these tests in a village primary adversely affects the figures when there are a couple of children that are not going to achieve the required results as each individual carries a larger percentage.

[cairo]

Where are you all getting the figures about your children's schools from? I've looked on the internet but can only see 2009 results, not 2010.

[mitasol]

They will be getting them from the school.

[cairo]

Oh. My children's school didn't give us anything like that - only your individual child's performance. Anyone know roughly what % nationally got level 5s in each of the tests?

Thanks.