Year 6 (SATS)
In England, SATs (Statutory Assessment Tests) are compulsory for all children in Year 6.
At Key Stage 2 (Year 6), SATs cover English reading, English spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG), and Maths. Other subjects, including writing, speaking and listening and science, are teacher assessed.
Teacher assessment can help to judge children’s performance in a subject over a longer period of time. The results of teacher assessment are equally important as test results, as a teacher may feel your child is doing better in a subject as a whole than in the parts of it covered by a test.
Reading – one paper
The KS2 Reading test is only one paper, containing comprehension questions based on three different genres of text. The test has a reading booklet and a separate answer booklet. Children will have one hour to read all three texts and complete the questions, which are worth a total of 50 marks.
Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) – two papers
The SPaG tests require children to identify and write sentences which have correct grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and spelling. This assesses children on their technical understanding of the English language as well as their writing ability. SPaG comprises two papers:
Paper 1: This paper contains a series of SPaG questions requiring short answers. Children will have 45 minutes to answer the questions, which are worth a total of 50 marks.
Paper 2: This is a spelling paper in which children are given a section of text with 20 missing words. The test invigilator will read out the test transcript for children to write the missing words, correctly spelt, in their answer booklet. The test takes approximately 15 minutes, but is not strictly timed. The questions are worth a total of 20 marks.
Maths – three papers
The Maths tests comprise two components, presented to pupils as three test papers:
Paper 1: This is largely an arithmetic test, assessing children’s grasp of mathematical calculations. The questions cover addition and subtraction and more complex calculations with fractions worth 1 mark each. They also cover long division and long multiplication questions worth 2 marks each. Pupils will have 30 minutes to answer the questions which are worth 40 marks in total.
Papers 2 and 3: These papers assess children’s mathematical fluency – solving mathematical problems and using mathematical reasoning. Both papers will contain varied question types including multiple choice, true or false, constrained questions (e.g. giving the answer to a calculation, drawing a shape or completing a table or chart) and problem solving. Pupils will have 40 minutes to complete each test paper, each being worth 35 marks.
Writing
A wide range of evidence from a child’s written work across the curriculum is used to formulate the teacher assessment judgement for writing. Independent work from the child’s everyday learning may be used along with the termly assessed writing tasks that are part of our own school assessment system.
We match Writing against the Teacher Assessment Frameworks and exemplification files produced by the DfE to form the teacher assessment judgement.
The three levels that can be awarded for Writing are: ‘Working towards the expected standard’, ‘Working at the expected standard’ and ‘Working at greater depth’. The requirements for each level are set out in the Teacher Assessment Framework and a child must meet all the required statements for a level to be awarded that assessment.
Administering, Reporting and Transition to Secondary Schools
The rules on when and how we can administer the Year 6 SATs is very strict. They take place in May each year; the DfE publish the exact dates the assessments must be administered and how these assessments must be delivered.
The DfE sets a National Standard for KS2 SATs in Year 6 that reflects where they think children should be by that stage in their education. Actual scores (raw scores) in tests are converted to scaled scores (using a DfE formula) that allow direct comparison between results in different academic years. The National Standard Scaled Score is 100.
Towards the end of the summer term we provide our parents and carers with reports telling them their child’s raw score , their scaled score and whether or not they have achieved the National Standard. Teacher assessments will also be used to build up a picture of a child’s learning and achievements.
We have a good working relationship with all the local High Schools our children transfer to as they move on to the next exciting chapter in their learning. They all receive and use the SATs results we pass to them; we also work closely with their transition leads to ensure they have a full picture of every child’s educational abilities and the teacher assessment data we have accumulated over the time every child is with us (usually seven years) is also key to and valued by them.