SATs stands for Standard Assessment Tasks. Your child will be assessed against set pieces of work he or she does in school at a set time - this should not look or feel like an exam and will be carried out by teachers in a very subtle manner. The school and the teacher will then judge which LEVEL your child is working at.
SATs are taken twice at Primary School - at Key Stage 2 (age 7) and Key Stage 4 (age 11). There are also optional STAS in other years which the school may choose to do.
Children will be measured using SATs in the following subjects:
- Maths
- English - reading, writing and spelling
and measured by teacher assessment in the following:
This is done by placing children at different levels according to their ability. In general, the objective of these levels is to ensure that your children are receiving a good education and are a measure of the school as well as your child. For example, at the age of 7 most children should be reading at a level 2b. Let's look at the levels for Key Stage 1:
- W: working towards level 1, very weak
- Level 1: below average
- Level 2a: just about level 2
- Level 2b: definitely level 2 ** this is where an average seven year old should be***
- Level 2c: good skills at level 2
- Level 3: Excellent
- Level 4: very unusual and possibly confirmation of a gifted or talented child
These tests are a little more formal than for Key Stage 1. Your child will be assessed using SATs on the three core subjects:
The papers for these SATs are sent away to be marked outside of your school. The levels for Key Stage 2 SATs are:
- U: below level 2
- Level 2: well below the required standard
- Level 3: below average
- Level 4: The expected level for most children of this age
- Level 5: Very able
Some schools place a lot of pressure on parents to achieve the best SATs results because it is a key measure of the school's performance. While it is important to support and encourage your child to learn for the sake of their future, you should not feel obliged or pressured into pushing your child for the sake of their school.
The valuable outcome of SATs from the parents point of view is surely that you will gain a good picture of your child's abilities - their strengths and weaknesses, at an early stage. This can only help you, and the school, develop them to their own individual potential. It's not a competition - as we know, each child is unique and some are simply more or less able than others.
(From my own personal experience, I have a friend with an extremely able six year old who has a reading age of 11. She obviously wants him to achieve his potential which may well be a level 3, if not 4, next year. My son will need to work extremely hard and overcome some difficulties to achieve a level 2b next year - and I will be genuinely thrilled if he achieves any level 2 because this is his potential at the moment).
Employing a tutor is a big step - emotionally, practically and finacially. Once you have decided to do this (and only you can make this decision based on your child's needs) then our checklist will help you.
Test books and guides can be very expensive. Our range of curriculum-linked homework helpers will give your child a head start throughout the year. Check out our list of current sheets and workbooks which can be downloaded easily by members -HOMEWORK.
Early Learning Sheets
