The link to the resource which will be complete by the end of the month is here: Problem of the day!
Showing posts with label SATs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SATs. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 April 2017
Problem of the day for KS1 and 2!
The link to the resource which will be complete by the end of the month is here: Problem of the day!
Thursday, 30 March 2017
SATs Guidance for Parents 2017
The Standards and Testing Agency have shared two videos for parents about the forthcoming end of Key Stage assessments or SATS: KS1 is the top and KS2 below!
Friday, 13 January 2017
2017 Primary Assessment
"We won’t be introducing any significant changes to testing or assessment before the 2018 to 2019 academic year."
- Statutory mathematics and English reading resits for children arriving in Year 7 will not be introduced
- Instead, we will focus on the steps needed to ensure a child catches up any lost ground
- High quality resit papers will be made available for teachers to use, if they choose to, as part of their ongoing assessments
- It is still intended that a mathematics multiplication tables check will be introduced, but not before the 2018 to 2019 academic year, at the earliest
Monday, 19 September 2016
Our Attainment & Progress Dashboard 2016
Our KS2 outcomes for 2016 are beginning to be put into some of context as the national picture emerges. 'FFT Aspire' is a non-profit organisation that works alongside the DfE to provide schools with information about their performance for the purposes of self-evaluation. While we still have some work to do as we begin to explore how our key groups performed, our initial self-evaluation is that this KS2 picture looks pretty good! A ranking of '10', while it is volatile, puts us in highest banding of schools nationally. Reason to be proud of our pupils for sure.
Wednesday, 20 July 2016
'Interim' Assessment Frameworks for 2017 Available!
A recent DFE email has confirmed that the Interim Teacher Assessment Frameworks for 'end-of-key-stage 1 and 2', were released on Thursday 14th July, and appear to be very similar to the current 'Interim' frameworks. While the early notification is much appreciated after the previous year's delays - we remain a little bemused about the definition of the term 'interim'! We have linked to these documents and will be taking a closer look shortly...
.
Key stage 2 Interim Teacher Assessment Framework 2017:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2017-interim-frameworks-for-teacher-assessment-at-the-end-of-key-stage-2
Key stage 1 Interim Teacher Assessment Framework 2017:
Pre-Key stage 2 Interim Teacher Assessment Framework 2017:
Pre-Key stage 1 Interim Teacher Assessment Framework 2017:
Further clarity and wording may yet emerge...
Monday, 11 July 2016
2016 End of Key Stage Two Outcomes
Last week, we provided Year 6 parents with details of their child's teacher assessment and test results. Since then, further data has been officially shared by the DfE, and we now feel able to provide further
details of our school's performance in this context. It is worth a reminder that the over-emphasis on test results without
considering the progress our children make, alongside their many other
talents, can be misleading. We also believe our teacher assessments provide a more accurate picture of a child’s overall attainment. However, the above table reveals how our school compares to this emerging national
picture.
Overall this is a very positive picture for our school and
we have achieved above the national picture in all published areas so far at
Key Stage 2. This is a massive well done for all of our pupils and our school!
Their effort and positive attitude to learning during their time at Bitterne
Manor is exemplary and sets them up for the next phase of their education. We
are both pleased and proud that our results continue to reflect our expectation
that we are all learning to be the best we can!
Parents may be interested in the following link that provides further details about the changes to assessment in KS2 this year:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/534658/Information_for_parents_-_2016_NCT_results_at_the_end_of_key_stage_2.pdf
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
KS2 SATs National Picture Emerging...!
For the original TES Article: Follow link here.
More pupils reach expected standard in writing than in reading
The first results for this year’s controversial Sats tests show that 53 per cent children reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.
The DfE results reveal how much tougher the tests are this year. Last year 80 per cent of pupils achieved what was then the expected level 4 in all of reading, writing and mathematics.The government has decided to release national level figures earlier than usual, to help headteachers compare their school’s performance with others.
The statistics out today show that:
66 per cent of pupils achieved the expected standard in reading.
74 per cent of pupils achieved the expected standard in writing - which is teacher assessed.
70 per cent of pupils achieved the expected standard in mathematics.
72 per cent of pupils achieved the expected standard in spelling, grammar and punctuation (Spag).
The number of schools below the floor standards – which can trigger academisation – will not be known until the progress measures are published later this year. But education secretary Nicky Morgan has said that any rise in the number of schools below the floor standards will be limited to one percentage point, meaning a maximum of six per cent of schools will be affected.
More than 550,000 ten and 11-year-olds took the tests in May and in previous years, headteachers have been able to benchmark their results with previous years, but this is the first year of the new tests and so it is not possible to compare results.
The government said when it introduced the new tests that the new expected standard would be similar to a level 4b under the previous system of levels. But there has been concern from teachers who said that the new tests were much tougher than that – with a standard more similar to the previous level 5.
In 2015, there were 80 per cent of pupils at level 4b or above in reading and 49 per cent at level 5. In mathematics, there were 77 per cent at level 4b or above and 42 per cent at level 5. Seventy-three per cent reached level 4b in Spag and 56 per cent were at level 5.
In writing, 87 per cent of pupils achieved the level 4 and 36 per cent achieved the higher level 5. Writing results are assessed by teachers and there was no information for numbers attaining level 4b.
This year, pupils have had their raw marks converted to a scaled score, where a scaled score of 100 means they have met the expected level.
The statistics also show that the average scaled score in reading and mathematics was 103. In spelling, grammar and punctuation it was 104.
Thursday, 28 April 2016
KS1 Spelling and Grammar Test Cancelled...
Schools have now received confirmation from the DfE that they will not longer be required to carry out the KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test:
Late last year, the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) published modified versions of the sample test materials online. Regrettably, one of the guidance documents included in that release, for use with the modified large print version of the KS1 spelling test, contained the live test words rather than sample words. The correct version of the document is now available.
This is clearly unacceptable and we apologise. A full investigation into the cause of the error is underway. Our immediate investigation has shown that no other test papers for KS1 or key stage 2 (KS2) have been affected by this error.
To clarify the situation for schools about the administration of the KS1 tests in May, the Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb, has announced that schools will not be required to administer the KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling tests for this year only. All other KS1 and KS2 tests will continue as planned.
All schools will still need to submit a teacher assessment judgement for English writing based on pupils' work in the classroom. However there will be no requirement this year to administer the KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test or to use the result as part of that assessment.
Late last year, the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) published modified versions of the sample test materials online. Regrettably, one of the guidance documents included in that release, for use with the modified large print version of the KS1 spelling test, contained the live test words rather than sample words. The correct version of the document is now available.
This is clearly unacceptable and we apologise. A full investigation into the cause of the error is underway. Our immediate investigation has shown that no other test papers for KS1 or key stage 2 (KS2) have been affected by this error.
To clarify the situation for schools about the administration of the KS1 tests in May, the Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb, has announced that schools will not be required to administer the KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling tests for this year only. All other KS1 and KS2 tests will continue as planned.
All schools will still need to submit a teacher assessment judgement for English writing based on pupils' work in the classroom. However there will be no requirement this year to administer the KS1 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test or to use the result as part of that assessment.
Friday, 15 April 2016
KS1 & 2 Reading exemplifications available...
The DfE have produced these useful videos of pupils working at or towards the expected standard in reading in both KS1 and KS2. Teacher s will use these as exemplars to help support their own judgements.
Further exemplification materials can be found by following the following links:
Monday, 11 April 2016
2016 National Curriculum Test (SATs): Information for Parents
If you have a child in primary school in year 2 or 6 they are likely to be taking tests in May. In this video a headteacher provides information about the tests for parents. Have a look here for more information: http://ow.ly/ZlbQX
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
DfE: Five things you need to know about changes to primary assessment...
A message to schools from the DfE:
1. Setting a higher bar
We want to see all children leaving primary school with a good standard of reading, writing and maths. Previous expectations for children were too low. The new assessment and accountability system - which marks the end of key stages - has been designed to reflect a new, more challenging national curriculum which sets high expectations for every child, setting them up to succeed at secondary school and beyond. These changes were first announced in March 2014, and since then the Department for Education and STA have provided schools with further information on the changes to help them adapt their approach and assessment arrangements - this includes sample questions published in summer 2014, and complete sample tests published in summer 2015.
We should not downplay the scale of these changes because they have been vital to raising standards - but the content or structure of the tests was made very clear last year and will not be changed again, so to suggest the system is in chaos, or to threaten to boycott these tests, is to undermine these important reforms.
2. Preparing for the new tests
The best way to prepare pupils remains to focus on teaching the new national curriculum.
In July 2015, we published guidance on scaled scores which made clear that we would not be setting standards on the new tests until pupils have taken them and the tests have been marked. As this is the first cohort to have reached the end of the key stage it wouldn’t be fair or accurate to set the new scale using data from pupils that had studied the old national curriculum.
However, this does not - and should not - affect schools’ ability to prepare for the test, because each child should be pushed to reach their full potential regardless of where the final standard is set.
3. Getting it right
The frameworks for teacher assessment this year are interim - but it’s disingenuous to suggest this is because we don’t know what we’re doing.
Significant reforms such as these take time to get right and for the system to catch up. We were clear in our response to the consultation on teacher assessment arrangements in February 2015 that we wanted to listen to the views of teachers in order to redesign the arrangements which meant they were published later than we had initially hoped. It is for that reason that the teacher assessment frameworks for this year are only an interim solution and we will be evaluating options for future years.
However, we recognise the unique situation this year with teachers working with a new framework, to new standards. That’s why we’ve listened to the sector, and, following constructive dialogue with NAHT, we have agreed to move back the date for submitting teacher assessment judgements in line with last year.
4. Teachers won’t have to fill out 6,120 check boxes
If anything is likely to cause chaos, it is unhelpful scaremongering and false claims from certain corners. For example, in a recent article in TES, Mary Bousted suggested teachers would have to undertake over 6,120 assessments for a class of 30 pupils.
The Standards and Testing Agency provides exemplification materials as a guide for the types of evidence that teachers may submit to support teacher assessment judgements at the end of key stage 1 and 2. The exemplification materials are intended to help schools interpret the interim frameworks if required - in fact the tick sheets were included in response to requests from teacher panels to help them cross-reference the materials with the particular ‘pupil can’ statements.
However, we trust teachers, and if they are confident in making judgements against the simple ‘pupil can’ statements in the interim frameworks, they may not need to refer to the exemplification materials. The exemplification should not be seen as a restrictive template on how these judgements should be made and certainly does not require teachers to make checklists of several hundred judgements as has been wrongly claimed.
It should go without saying that good teaching is the key to raising standards, not box-ticking.
5. A new floor standard which sets high expectations for all
We want to see every child reach their full potential, no matter what their starting point. As we announced in March 2014, from 2016 primary schools will be held to account for both the progress and attainment of their pupils. This is to allow better recognition of schools doing well with a challenging intake, and to challenge those with a high-attaining intake that are not doing enough to stretch the most able.
These reforms include:
Schools will be above the floor standard if 65% or more of their pupils reach the expected standard in all of reading, writing and maths or if the school has a sufficient progress score in all 3 subjects. As this is the first year of new accountability measures and new assessments, we will wait until tests have been taken to set minimum expectations for a school’s progress scores.
We want to see all children leaving primary school with a good standard of reading, writing and maths. Previous expectations for children were too low. The new assessment and accountability system - which marks the end of key stages - has been designed to reflect a new, more challenging national curriculum which sets high expectations for every child, setting them up to succeed at secondary school and beyond. These changes were first announced in March 2014, and since then the Department for Education and STA have provided schools with further information on the changes to help them adapt their approach and assessment arrangements - this includes sample questions published in summer 2014, and complete sample tests published in summer 2015.
We should not downplay the scale of these changes because they have been vital to raising standards - but the content or structure of the tests was made very clear last year and will not be changed again, so to suggest the system is in chaos, or to threaten to boycott these tests, is to undermine these important reforms.
2. Preparing for the new tests
The best way to prepare pupils remains to focus on teaching the new national curriculum.
In July 2015, we published guidance on scaled scores which made clear that we would not be setting standards on the new tests until pupils have taken them and the tests have been marked. As this is the first cohort to have reached the end of the key stage it wouldn’t be fair or accurate to set the new scale using data from pupils that had studied the old national curriculum.
However, this does not - and should not - affect schools’ ability to prepare for the test, because each child should be pushed to reach their full potential regardless of where the final standard is set.
3. Getting it right
The frameworks for teacher assessment this year are interim - but it’s disingenuous to suggest this is because we don’t know what we’re doing.
Significant reforms such as these take time to get right and for the system to catch up. We were clear in our response to the consultation on teacher assessment arrangements in February 2015 that we wanted to listen to the views of teachers in order to redesign the arrangements which meant they were published later than we had initially hoped. It is for that reason that the teacher assessment frameworks for this year are only an interim solution and we will be evaluating options for future years.
However, we recognise the unique situation this year with teachers working with a new framework, to new standards. That’s why we’ve listened to the sector, and, following constructive dialogue with NAHT, we have agreed to move back the date for submitting teacher assessment judgements in line with last year.
4. Teachers won’t have to fill out 6,120 check boxes
If anything is likely to cause chaos, it is unhelpful scaremongering and false claims from certain corners. For example, in a recent article in TES, Mary Bousted suggested teachers would have to undertake over 6,120 assessments for a class of 30 pupils.
The Standards and Testing Agency provides exemplification materials as a guide for the types of evidence that teachers may submit to support teacher assessment judgements at the end of key stage 1 and 2. The exemplification materials are intended to help schools interpret the interim frameworks if required - in fact the tick sheets were included in response to requests from teacher panels to help them cross-reference the materials with the particular ‘pupil can’ statements.
However, we trust teachers, and if they are confident in making judgements against the simple ‘pupil can’ statements in the interim frameworks, they may not need to refer to the exemplification materials. The exemplification should not be seen as a restrictive template on how these judgements should be made and certainly does not require teachers to make checklists of several hundred judgements as has been wrongly claimed.
It should go without saying that good teaching is the key to raising standards, not box-ticking.
5. A new floor standard which sets high expectations for all
We want to see every child reach their full potential, no matter what their starting point. As we announced in March 2014, from 2016 primary schools will be held to account for both the progress and attainment of their pupils. This is to allow better recognition of schools doing well with a challenging intake, and to challenge those with a high-attaining intake that are not doing enough to stretch the most able.
These reforms include:
- new headline attainment and progress performance measures
- a new floor standard
Schools will be above the floor standard if 65% or more of their pupils reach the expected standard in all of reading, writing and maths or if the school has a sufficient progress score in all 3 subjects. As this is the first year of new accountability measures and new assessments, we will wait until tests have been taken to set minimum expectations for a school’s progress scores.
Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Working at the expected standard in Maths...
The DfE have begun to release the exemplification materials for the end of KS2. The first document we have eyes on is Maths. For the whole document head here. Pupils are being judged at the expected standard if they can demonstrate the following standards:
The pupil can demonstrate an understanding of place value, including large numbers and decimals (e.g. what is the value of the ‘7’ in 276,541?; find the difference between the largest and smallest whole numbers that can be made from using three digits; 8.09 = 8 + 9/?; 28.13 = 28 + ? + 0.03).
The pupil can calculate mentally, using efficient strategies such as manipulating
expressions using commutative and distributive properties to simplify the calculation
(e.g. 53 – 82 + 47 = 53 + 47 – 82 = 100 – 82 = 18; 20 × 7 × 5 = 20 × 5 × 7 = 100 × 7 = 700; 53 ÷ 7 + 3 ÷ 7 = (53 +3) ÷ 7 = 56 ÷ 7 = 8).
The pupil can 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 roll of material is 6m long: how much is left when 5 pieces of 1.15m are cut from the roll?; 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?).
The pupil can 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).
The pupil can 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; 11/2 + 3/4; 7/9 of 108; 0.8 x 70).
The pupil can substitute values into a simple formula to solve problems
(e.g. perimeter of a rectangle or area of a triangle).
The pupil can 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).
The pupil can use mathematical reasoning to find missing angles (e.g. the missing
angle in an isosceles triangle when one of the angles is given; the missing angle in a
more complex diagram using knowledge about angles at a point and vertically
opposite angles).
Sunday, 6 December 2015
Assessment Arrangements for KS1 in 2016
Following our update on KS2, children are also tested (SATs) in year 2 at the end of KS1. A new National Curriculum was introduced in 2014 and as a result, the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is changing the tests so that they assess the new curriculum. Pupils will take the new tests for the first time in May 2016. We do not currently know how the results of these assessments will be reported to parents. The tests will be as follows:
Reading:
Paper 1 consists of a selection of texts with questions interspersed
Paper 2 comprises a reading booklet of a selection of passages and children will write their answers in a separate booklet.
English grammar, punctuation and spelling:
Paper 1: a grammar and punctuation written task, taking approximately 20 minutes, and worth 15 marks. Children will be provided with a prompt and stimulus for a short piece of writing, with a clear text type, audience and purpose. Handwriting will be worth four per cent of the marks.
Paper 2: a grammar, punctuation and vocabulary test, in two sections of around 10 minutes each (with a break between, if necessary), worth 20 marks. This will involve a mixture of selecting the right answers e.g. through multiple choice, and writing short answers.
Paper 3: a 20-word spelling test taking approximately 15 minutes and worth 10 marks.
Maths:
Paper 1: Arithmetic, worth 25 marks and taking around 15 minutes.
Paper 2: Mathematical fluency, problem-solving and reasoning, worth 35 marks and taking 35 minutes, with a break if necessary. There will be a variety of question types: multiple choice, matching, true/false, constrained (e.g. completing a chart or table; drawing a shape) and less constrained (e.g. where children have to show or explain their method). Children will not be able to use any tools such as calculators or number lines.
As with KS2, please note that we measure all pupil progress and attainment by using the National Curriculum expectations for each year group. We use forms of ongoing teacher assessment to help us when we are planning the next steps for your children. These also tell us whether children are working at, above or below national expectations for their age. We also regularly give opportunities to review how well your children are doing.
Friday, 4 December 2015
KS2 Assessment Arrangements for 2016
From 2016 onwards, KS2 assessments will be reported as 'Scaled Scores' based on test results for Reading and Maths.
Teacher Assessment for Writing will be reported as 1 of 5 performance descriptors:
- Mastery Standard
- Above National Standard
- National Standard
- Working towards National Standard
- Below National Standard
The tests will be as follows:
The Reading Test- 60 minutes reading and answer booklet
- 20 word spelling test
- grammar, punctuation and vocabulary test 20 mins
- 2 mathematical reasoning papers of 40 mins each
- 1 mental arithmetic paper of 30 mins
The timetable for the tests will be:
Monday 9 May:
English reading test
Tuesday 10 May:
English grammar, punctuation and spelling
Paper 1: spelling; English grammar, punctuation and spelling
Paper 2: questions
Wednesday 11 May:
Mathematics
Paper 1: arithmetic
Mathematics Paper 2: reasoning
Thursday 12 May:
Mathematics Paper 3: reasoning
More details will follow as they become available! We will also be talking to you about your child’s progress at key times throughout the year. We measure all pupil progress and attainment by using the National Curriculum expectations for each year group. We use forms of ongoing teacher assessment to help us when we are planning the next steps for your children. These also tell us whether children are working at, above or below national expectations for their age.
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