The De Montfort School Welcome Year 6 SATs Information Evening “Unlocking your child’s potential”

The De Montfort School

Welcome Year 6 SATs

Information Evening

“Unlocking your child’s potential”

New Year Resolutions8 Bees! Be ..In; Be ..Smart; Be ..Punctual; Be ..Organised; Be ..Rewarded; Be ..an Active Learner; Be .. Proud; Be .. Ambitious!

The De Montfort School


SATs – important dates

• Mocks week –week beginning Monday 1st February• SATs week – week beginning Monday 9th May


Why S.A.T.s?• S.A.T.s is an acronym for Statutory Assessment

Tests.• This means that all pupils in state school education

in England have to be entered for these tests• It is important to remember that they ONLY test

your child’s ability in English and Maths• There is a correlation between achieving the

expected level in Year 6 and a Grade C or above at GCSE


Keep it in perspective

• The SATs only test how your child performs on the day of the SAT

• Teacher assessments are much more valid as we see your child on a daily basis

• Your child is valued whatever subject they are good at!


Illness• Please send your child to school if they are feeling a

little ill. They can go home afterwards if necessary• The mocks are good practice for the real SATs in May• During the May SATs all pupils need to take the test

on the same day• PLEASE DO NOT BOOK HOLIDAYS DURING THIS WEEK• IF THEY DON’T TAKE THE TEST, THEY ACHIEVE NO

OFFICIAL LEVEL


How you can help.

• Early nights• Do revision homework which has been set• Limit screen time• Good breakfast• Fresh air• Take time to relax• Arrive to school punctually• Have the correct equipment


Homework

• After February half term, the year 6 homework timetable will alter.

• Pupils will receive 2 maths and 2 English homework per week but no other homework.

• After SATs they may have less homework in maths and English but the usual amount in other subjects.


Maths Curriculum and SATs


New Maths Curriculum

• Started September 2015 for year 6• No more levels but an expectation that a child

achieves the given curriculum for the year• A higher achieving child is expected to master

the topics within the year group. Showing greater depth of understanding and application

• Topics covered have been tweaked


New Maths Curriculum

• Several skills and concept are now going to be introduced earlier. E.g. adding and subtracting fractions; algebra; circumference and area of circles

• The major difference is with arithmetic • Much larger numbers are used• The formal column methods are now the

expected method


Format of maths tests

Arithmetic test – 30 minutes to do 36 questions which increase in skill difficulty

Problem Solving and Reasoning – 2 tests 45 minutes each.


What is happening in school?• Still teaching the curriculum• Still setting homework every Tuesday• Revision sessions to target test skills• Arithmetic intervention sessions to support

where needed • Personalised intervention sessions for pupils

who went down a group• Mock exam in February to identify weak areas

and inform planning for class teaching and small group interventions


Revision at homeWe have CGP revision books that we will issue to each child that they can use to help themselves with independent revision of topics that they find tricky.

The CGP homework books will continue to be used for homework as these have SATS style questions in them.

If you wish, additional books can be purchased from CGP books website or from high street shops such as WHS or Waterstones.

I would NOT recommend over-loading your child with additional work. If they do the homework that is set thoroughly and supplement it with some maths fun on sites such as sumdog, mymaths and activelearnprimary which we subscribe to that should be enough.


Revision in holidaysSpecific revision packs are being looked into for those families who do not have a computer, for the majority everything now can be accessed online for free.

www.satspapers.org.uk


To focus on…• Reading and understanding the question: both

what maths to use but also how to provide the answer. If it says circle the answer, don’t tick!

• Re-read the question before moving on to check the answer makes sense. A common problem is that children only complete half of a problem, many have two or more processes to complete

• Accuracy when recording as well as calculating. Write digits carefully, show working in a system on the page not randomly all over it!


English Curriculum

SATs


New Curriculum September 2015There are three parts to English KS2 SATs

• Writing - internally assessed and moderated• Reading – externally assessed• SPaG – externally assessed• Levels no longer exist but there is an expectation that a

child achieves the given curriculum for the year• A higher achieving child is expected to master the

topics within the year group showing greater depth of understanding and application


Writing

• There is greater focus on technical accuracy and pupils are expected to use more challenging punctuation within their writing

• Pupils should use features and language to suit the purpose of their writing and target audience

• Pupils are prepared through planning and analysis of models in lessons but final assessment pieces are completed independently


SPaGNew focus for 2015-2016

• Pupils will have two sections to complete during this external assessment

• The first section will be a punctuation and grammar test. There will be 40-50 questions and a time allocation of 45 minutes. All linked to the new curriculum started in September

• The second will be a spelling test, consisting of 20 questions, that will take approximately 15 minutes. The words will be read aloud in a sentence and then the key word is repeated


SPaG question styles

• Selected response, e.g. ‘Identify the adjectives in the sentence below’

• Constructed response, e.g. ‘Correct/complete/rewrite the sentence below,’ or, ‘The sentence below has an apostrophe missing. Explain why it needs an apostrophe.’


Typical SPaG question

• Questions will consist of selected and constructed response

Examples:Selected: identify the adjectives in the sentence.

Constructed: rewrite the sentence in the present tense.


Reading

• Pupils will read three texts of varying length and purpose

• It is advised the pupils read a text then answer the questions related to it before moving on to the next one

• They will answer between 35-40 questions in one hour. The questions will become increasingly challenging as the paper progresses.


Question types• Ranking/ordering ‘Number the events below to show the order in which they happen in the story’

• Labelling‘Label the text to show the title of the story’

• Find and copy‘Find and copy one word that suggests what the weather is like in the story’

• Short constructed response

‘What does the bear eat?’

• Open-ended response‘Look at the sentence that begins Once upon a time. How does the writer increase the tension throughout this paragraph? Explain fully, referring to the text in your answer.’

At home• Your child will be given a study book as a reference and for revision.• Please ensure they keep up to date with their homework.• Encourage them to write in blue or black pen-not pencil.

ReadingListen to your child read and question them about their reading. Discussion is powerful.Reading homework: encourage your child to underline key words before answering the reading questions. Ask them to verbalise what they have to do.SpellingYour child will be given a list of spellings to learn each week. They will be tested on these. Please check they are practising them.Ask your child to write the word out three times and test them.WritingEncourage your child to practise their SPaG homework by writing paragraphs using the skill they’ve been practising.


Thank you!

• Thank you for coming tonight and supporting us. We all want to achieve the best results for your child.

• You can find this presentation on the school’s website.


Documents

The De Montfort School Welcome Year 6 SATs Information Evening “Unlocking your child’s potential”