SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc Schools

Eleven Plus (11+) in Surrey (Sutton, Kingston and Wandsworth)

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YoungSuccess
Posts: 342
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:40 pm

SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc Schools

Post by YoungSuccess »

Ok, with the campaign for 11+ almost at the end, time to re-focus on SATs. Would be great to share what are you lovely parents doing for SATs in May.

How many of you whose DD & DS are being entered for ;
1. Maths Level 6
2. English Level 6
3. Both - Level 6

How is your DS/DD's school supporting them and what are you doing to support them? I know there is/are masterclasses in Maths in Kingston, how are you all finding that? Are the children in Sutton and other areas also atttending such masterclasses? What materials & resources are you finding useful? It's nice to know that we are not competing for a place anymore, so no harm sharing? :D

NOTE: I am not interested in the long debate as to "why Level 6 ?!" at all. I know there are passionate parents who hate the whole idea of L6; if you disagree with it, that's fine, please no long lecture here. :D For me, they provide a very welcomed continuation of more challenging goals for our now highly charged and inspired DCs after all the 11+ work. :D

Thanks.
Last edited by YoungSuccess on Sat Oct 25, 2014 12:07 pm, edited 3 times in total.
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by hermanmunster »

Just a short lecture then :roll: chill, let them be kids and enjoy the rest of year 6.
YoungSuccess
Posts: 342
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:40 pm

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by YoungSuccess »

hermanmunster wrote:Just a short lecture then :roll: chill, let them be kids and enjoy the rest of year 6.
Ha ha Hermanmunster, :lol: you should see what my DS is up to this half-term break, all fun and play. Time to pick up again the coding projects that he really really loves doing. Nintendo DS is back too ! :lol:
redstar
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2010 9:32 pm

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by redstar »

SATs are a measure for the performance / league tables of your school. If you help your kids prepare for them outside of regular school lessons, then the SATs results are not a fair reflection of the primary school's teaching outcomes and are not helpful to other parents. In our school for the Level 6 candidates we had a couple of separate sessions for L6 Maths (which weren't really needed because most of the children were already confident at that level anyway) but nothing for English outside of the normal curriculum up to L5. We chose to do nothing more than was offered through school, as did all other parents I know. The L6 SPaG was pretty straighforward, I guess the Reading would have been the area where extra help could have been given (but nationally very few children achieve L6 Reading so I think it is just a hard paper).
If your kids have been working hard for grammar school entrance tests then they should find SATs much less stressful by comparison, you could just let them try it without any extra work as they are still likely to be strong level 5s or 6s because of the earlier effort they have put in, they won't forget it (and it will demonstrate to them the benefit of that extra work even if they don't go to grammar in the end). And tbh they don't "need" good SATs scores: if you've made it into one of the grammars, then the school really don't care about SATs results (I don't think other comprehensives do either but that's outside my experience) because they will want to assess baseline entry levels based on their own criteria anyway.
J50
Posts: 296
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2012 10:35 am

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by J50 »

Couldn't give a toss about SATs. Waste of time. Won't be any stress here! Post January entrance exams son can put his feet up at school, we'll probably have a few sick days here and there and take it easy.
Daogroupie
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Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by Daogroupie »

Level Six Sats are a great prep for English and Maths in Y7 and as they are not until May it is is a good way of keeping some gentle prep up for Y7. Schools have a real problem with the summer impact. It is well known that some students go backwards because they are awarded such a long break. Getting a place at a selective school is just the start not the end. I know students who have continued because they enjoy it and they are just the sort of students who will really soar in selective school. DG
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by Guest55 »

Encourage the school to do Primary Maths challenge in November and UKMT Junior Maths Challenge in April. Working on problems from NRICH website is a far better preparation of secondary than level 6 is!

As a GS maths teacher may I just comment that the level 6 test:
a) isn't level 6
b) tests a tiny amount of level 6
c) tells me nothing more than the score in the 3 to 5 paper does.

I'm all for enrichment but cramming for this level 6 just isn't enrichment.

Read this paper for examples of how to extend:

http://www.acme-uk.org/media/10498/raisingthebar.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by Guest55 »

Parents on here may know it's really high level 5 or 5* but it does cause a real issue in Year 7.

Some parents just don't seem to realise their children will still be level 6 after a year; but they will have made progress. They expect level 7 very quickly and aren't aware their children haven't even covered all of level 5 ....

Far more than 3% in Bucks got level 6 - in 2014 it was 14% and 9% nationally.
YoungSuccess
Posts: 342
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2014 11:40 pm

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by YoungSuccess »

Guest55 wrote:Parents on here may know it's really high level 5 or 5* but it does cause a real issue in Year 7.

Some parents just don't seem to realise their children will still be level 6 after a year; but they will have made progress. They expect level 7 very quickly and aren't aware their children haven't even covered all of level 5 ....

Far more than 3% in Bucks got level 6 - in 2014 it was 14% and 9% nationally.
Thanks, I stand corrected with the %. You must be correct. In any case, it is being abolished, so your annoyance will soon be over, I hope! :D
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Re: SATs, Level 6 Preparation in Kingston, Sutton Etc School

Post by Guest55 »

It'll just be called something different - mastery level possibly?

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultat ... es-1-and-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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