SATs (Standard Assessment Tests) measure children’s educational achievement in Year 6, with the ultimate aim of holding schools to account for the attainment of their pupils and the progress they make. If you’re the parent or carer of a child in primary school, you will definitely have heard of SATS, whether it is talk in the playground or consultation evenings with teachers.
SATS are designed to evaluate your child’s progress and compare how your child achieves against other children of their age. OFSTED look at SATS results as an indication of how well our school is doing.
Children in English school take SATS in Year 6.
In previous years, children in Year 2 also undertook compulsory SATS, however, from 2023 to 2024 these became non-statutory and optional. Our children will undertake these towards the end of the year – they will be tested in Maths and English (Reading and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar). These tests will be carried out in a very informal way so that your child is under as little pressure as possible. There’s no time limit and they are often done in small groups. These will give us an indication of how your child is doing and how best we can help them moving into Year 3.
In Year 6, the SATS are more formal – they are taken in a formal setting within a time limit. The children are tested in Maths, English and SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar).
The Maths test consists of three papers – one arithmetic paper of 30 minutes and two reasoning papers of 45 minutes each.
The arithmetic paper tests your child’s understanding of number along with mental and written calculation skills. Your child will need to know a range of number facts (such as their times tables). They’re also tested on their knowledge of written methods of calculations (such as short division).
Papers two and three are reasoning tests. Your child will need to apply their mathematical knowledge to solve problems. This could mean buying things in a shop, adapting recipes for different numbers or calculating area and perimeter for tiling a floor. These test papers cover a broader area of maths, including geometry and statistics, as well as number knowledge and arithmetic.
There are two tests for English – a reading paper, which lasts for one hour, and a grammar, punctuation and spelling (SPaG) paper. There’s no English writing test – teachers in school will assess your child’s writing.
During the reading test, your child will usually have three different texts to read. These will be a mixture of fiction and non-fiction writing, including poetry. Your child will answer questions which assess their comprehension and inference skills. Inference means they’ll have to use a mixture of evidence from the text and their own reasoning skills. The questions range from multiple choice answers to longer, written responses. In school, your child will have done lots of practice questions so that they’re familiar with answering the different types of questions against a set time.
In the grammar, punctuation and spelling test, your child will need to show they understand a range of grammatical terms. Examples of these terms could be relative pronouns (such as which, who, that) and conjunctions (but, and, because). Your child will also show they can use punctuation(such as inverted commas for direct speech) and knowledge of the language used in context. The questions in the SPaG paper could be multiple-choice, joining boxes, writing in a sentence or writing a short explanation. Some questions may ask your child to insert punctuation correctly into a sentence or identify a section of a sentence. For the spelling test, your child will need to spell twenty words by inserting them into a sentence in their answer booklets. After each sentence is read aloud, they’ll have time to write the word before the next sentence is read out.
SATs take place towards the start of May each year.
All schools across the country complete the tests at the same time. They begin on the Monday and finish on the Thursday of the same week.
It is likely you will have some questions about the SATs and how best to support your child. We will hold a meeting for year 6 families nearer the time to give you advice and answer any questions you may have.
For more information about SATs week and how to support your child during the SATs period – please feel free to speak to your child’s class teacher.
It is very important that your child is in school during this week. We will deliver an information evening to parents on the assessment arrangements at the end of KS2 in March. A copy of the presentation from last year is below.
Below are copies of the key spelling lists from the National Curriculum and methods of written calculations in mathematics.
There is also no test in science, although it could be possible that the school will be selected for random sampling of standards. This test will be administered to a few pupils in Y6 (not during SATs week) and no results will be given.
Below are some ideas in ways you can help your child during the lead up to SATS.
Below is a link to our SATS results from July 2024 for our Year 6 class.