Year 6 SATs Information Evening

1. Year 6 SATs Information Evening Tuesday 12 February 2019

2. Aims of this briefing • How is the performance of children assessed? • When is SATs week? • What are the children tested on and how are the tests structured? • How are the tests assessed and reported? • How can we work together to ensure all the children produce their best? • An opportunity to look at the sample tests.

3. How is the performance of the children measured at the end of Year 6? • Until this year, tests outcomes have been reported alongside the on-going teacher assessment with both sent to the DfE and secondary schools. • From 2019, teacher assessment in writing and science is reported to the DfE. • In reading, SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) and maths, it is only the test results that are reported to the DfE. • However, secondary schools and primary schools do talk with one another! • Test results are published for school accountability.

4. What are the children tested on and how are the tests structured? At the end of Year 6, children will sit tests in: 1 * Reading – 60 mins 1 * Spelling – 15 mins 1 * Punctuation and grammar – 45 mins 3 * Mathematics – 1 hr 50 mins • The tests are marked externally and the results used to measure your child's attainment and progress and the school’s performance. • Writing and science are assessed by teachers.

5. When is SATs week? Monday 13th May – Spelling; Punctuation and grammar Tuesday 14th May – Reading Wednesday 15th May – Mathematics (1 & 2) Thursday 16th May – Mathematics (3)

6. How are the tests assessed and reported? • On Tuesday 9 July 2019, test results are published; each pupil will receive: • A raw score (number of marks awarded in each test) • A scaled score in each tested subject • Confirmation of whether or not they attained the national standard . . . • A child awarded a scaled score of: • 100 is judged to have met the ‘national standard’ • Higher than 110 is judged to be working at greater depth • Less than 100 is judged to have not yet met the national standard.

7. Reading GPS Mathematics

8. What is teacher assessed? • Teacher assessment in reading and maths is no longer reported…. that is not to say it does not take place! • Standards in writing and science are assessed by teachers. • There is no writing test. Teachers will assess pupils’ writing across the year and assess if they are: • working towards the expected standard • working at the expected standard • working at a greater depth within the expected standard. • In science, pupils will be assessed as to whether they are ‘working at the expected standard’. • Teacher assessments will be reported to parents along with test results in the end of year reports.

9. Teacher assessment – writing • A ‘teacher assessment framework’ has been developed with exemplification materials. • Each school has moderation arrangements to ensure judgements are consistent, both internally and with local schools. • Results of teacher assessments are determined by the end of June. Local Authorities then validate the teacher assessments through sample external moderation visits. St Swithun’s has a trained LA moderator – Mrs Young.

10. Age related expectations in Reading The pupil can: • read age-appropriate books with confidence and fluency (including whole novels) • read aloud with intonation that shows understanding • work out the meaning of words from the context • explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read, drawing inferences and justifying these with evidence • predict what might happen from details stated and implied • retrieve information from non-fiction • summarise main ideas, identifying key details and using quotations for illustration • evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader • make comparisons within and across books.

11. Age related expectations in Writing The pupil can: • Write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting language that shows good awareness of the reader (e.g. the use of the first person in a diary; direct address in instructions and persuasive writing) • In narratives, describe settings, characters and atmosphere • Integrate dialogue in narratives to convey character and advance the action • Select vocabulary and grammatical structures that reflect what the writing requires, doing this mostly appropriately (e.g. using contracted forms in dialogues in narrative; using passive verbs to affect how information is presented; using modal verbs) • Use a range of devices to build cohesion (e.g. conjunctions, adverbials of time and place, pronouns, synonyms) within and across paragraphs • Use verb tenses consistently and correctly throughout their writing • Use the range of punctuation taught at key stage 2 mostly correctly (e.g. inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech) • Spell correctly most words from the year 5 / year 6 spelling list, and use a dictionary to check the spelling of uncommon or more ambitious vocabulary • Maintain legibility in joined handwriting when writing at speed.

12. Age related expectations in Mathematics The pupil can: • demonstrate an understanding of place value, including large numbers and decimals • calculate mentally, using efficient strategies such as manipulating expressions using commutative and distributive properties to simplify the calculation • use formal methods to solve multi-step problems (e.g. find the change from £20 for three items that cost £1.24, £7.92 and £2.55; a bottle of drink is 1.5 litres, how many cups of 175ml can be filled from the bottle, and how much drink is left?) • recognise the relationship between fractions, decimals and percentages and can express them as equivalent quantities (e.g. one piece of cake that has been cut into 5 equal slices can be expressed as 1/5 or 0.2 or 20% of the whole cake) • calculate using fractions, decimals or percentages (e.g. knowing that 7 divided by 21 is the same as 7/21 and that this is equal to 1/3; 15% of 60) • substitute values into a simple formula to solve problems calculate with measures (e.g. calculate length of a bus journey given start and end times; convert 0.05km into m and then into cm) • use mathematical reasoning to find missing angles.

13. How can we work together to ensure all the children produce their best?

14. How to help at home Reading • Reading to your child. Listening is an important part of reading; it will help your child learn the importance of punctuation and reading with expression. • Reading with your child: get your child to read aloud to you, and then ask them questions and get them to find the evidence and explain it to you. • Encouraging them to read a range of books. SPAG • Help your child learn any spellings that are sent home. • When reading to and/or with your child discuss they use of inverted commas to mark speech, the use of parenthesis (brackets) to add additional information, the use of capital letters etc. • Revision books. The grammar paper relies on a child knowing the terminology e.g. subordinate clause, main clause, adjective, article, passive, active – and many more. We use these daily so children are familiar with them but the revision guides will support the children in this.

15. Maths • Knowing their timetables – if you know your timetable children can use them accurately and quickly for multiplication, division. To help you child learn their timetables (up to X12) with the division facts– Times Table Rockstars! • Arithmetic speed practice – mental fluency and written • Formal method for the four operations practice: it is important children can complete methods accurately and also know which is the best method to use. • Written methods: column addition, column subtraction, short multiplication, long multiplication, short division, long division including expressing remainders as fractions, decimals and remainder form

16. Final tips • Talk about the SATs and tell them not worry about them. We do this too but it makes a bigger impact if school and parents do this together. Children perform best when they are relaxed. • Reading is a key part of primary education so keep encouraging daily reading whether your child reads on their own or if you read together. Discuss the books, the characters, the storylines and encourage your child to express their own opinions on the book. This is important to their long term development as well as SATs test. • Play mental games when you are on the way home whether you are walking or driving. Playing card games, Uno, Monopoly and dominoes all help with Maths. Whereas games like hangman, Boggle or Scrabble will support with literacy, • Try to keep everything else running normally. So whether its sport, music lessons or Scouts and Guides; sticking to your normal routine of out of school activities demonstrates to your child that SATs are not the be and end all of year 6. • During the SATs week, try to avoid late nights, as children will find sitting the tests tiring. Make sure they in school in plenty of time in the morning to avoid undue stress. • Celebrate - Once the tests are over, it’s good to celebrate with a treat. It can be helpful to reward the hard work and preparation that has gone into the tests, rather than rewarding the results. What we want is to show children that we value the effort they put into their learning.

17. Questions? A chance to look at the tests and interim frameworks