As you will be aware, children in Years 2 and 6 are required to take end of Key Stage statutory assessments in English and Mathematics. For children in Year 6, these test will take place during the week commencing 14th May – as is the case for all Year 6 children across the country. These assessments – in reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and mathematics – are completed in school and marked by external organisations, the results of which are used to determine each child’s end of Key Stage attainment. In addition, children’s writing is not determined by an assessment, but by rigorous teacher assessment of the work they have completed throughout the year.
Testing in KS1 is carried out slightly different in that there is no strict timetable for the assessments, although they must be administered before the end of May. Assessments for Year 2 children are marked by school staff and the results used, alongside evidence already gathered by the class teacher, to determine the end of Key Stage attainment for these children. We do not publish an exact timetable for when each of the KS1 assessments will take place as we do not wish for children to become anxious about them – and feel like, as much as possible, they shouldn’t really consider themselves to be taking ‘tests’.
The Department for Education have produced a leaflet at videos for parents to explain these assessments in further details, which we strongly recommend that, if your child is in either Year 2 or 6, you familiarise yourself with. The leaflet can be downloaded here and the videos watched by following the link below.
Assessments are statutory and all children must complete them and so maintaining good attendance during this period is vital. Children shouldn’t be worried or stressed about the tests – although whilst we tell them this, we know that they do worry!
Before the end of the academic year, parents of children in Year 2 and 6 will receive a full breakdown of their child’s attainment, which includes the test scores, the teacher assessments and how they have performed in relation to what is expected for children of their age. Please note that whilst the assessments are completed in May, it is not until the end of June that teacher assessments are reported to the Local Authority and the 10th July when KS2 test results are returned to school. You will therefore receive this breakdown with your child’s end of year report, which we hope to send out on 13th July.
Please be reassured that, whilst in some schools and areas, there is a huge hype around SATs, in the main there is no need for parents or children to be unduly worried or concerned about them. We very much understand the need and importance of statutory assessments, but know that theses are mainly used to measure school performance and tell us very little that we, and indeed yourselves, don’t already know about our children.
With this in mind, we don’t hold information evenings or such like for parents. That said, should you have any questions or concerns that you would like to discuss that you can’t find the answers to here, don’t hesitate to come and see myself, Mrs Quinn or the Year 2/6 class teachers.
Kind regards,
Mr Cooke
