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.

Inspiring Leadership Conference

The not so sunny banks of central Birmingham's canals saw us attend this year's Inspiring Leadership conference at the ICC. We were inspired by several speakers, not all of whom were from the world of education, and they provided us with much to think about! Some of the best quotes from the conference are below. A favourite is in the picture above - '100 things 1% better' from Humphrey Waters who supported the England Rugby team to World Cup success!

1. Look for the gap in the wave

2. Grown up restless leadership is not a matter of age but of attitude

3. The mountain isn't ready

4. Bureaucracy is terrified of leaving free time in your schedule

5. This conference is all about nourishing the spirit

6. People who have...an unerring ability to go straight to the periphery of a problem

7. Sometimes you need to solve 50 little problems to solve one big problem

8. The higher the stakes, the bigger the instinct to blame

9. In business we touch people's wallets, as teachers you touch their soul

10. Children should go to school with open minds and return home with shiny eyes

Getting Better Never Stops!

There is something hugely satisfying as a school when we hear of the achievements of our ex-pupils. While we don't wish to take any of the credit or claim any responsibility, there is a sense of pride amongst us that one of our own has gone forward and done so well. Recently, we were extremely pleased to hear that Callum has gone on to do so impressively well in Athletics and that another of our ex-pupils, Macy, has just been made Head Girl at Bitterne Park. We're proud of the achievements of all of our pupils and it's really nice to hear about what they're doing now.

Ofsted: 'Parent View' Feedback

While we await the official report from last week's visit, we can share the responses we obtained from the Parent View feedback during the inspection which were very positive - thanks! We would like to comment that the short notice nature of inspections has impacted on the proportion of responses but we would like to thank those of you that were able to respond within the limited time frame. It's also worth a reminder that there is always a link to Ofsted Parent View from the parents section of our website.

A Strong Team!

We have a had a very busy few days and the dust is settling after our visit from Ofsted. While we await the full report, expected in a couple of weeks, we take a moment to reflect on our experience. We are not allowed to provide any details of the inspection judgements but we can say how very proud we are of our school, our staff, our children and the community which we serve. We are looking forward to being able to share Ofsted's findings with you all soon! Thank you for all the support you have shown.

Developing vocabulary for EAL pupils

We have been working hard in improving outcomes for EAL pupils. Research shows...

• It takes 5-7 years to master the language skills needed for the curriculum. Therefore, removing bi-lingual support too early may be harmful to the child’s academic success.
• Receptive vocabulary of EAL students who have been educated through English for 10 years had gaps in the most frequent words.
• In the EAL situation, vocabulary coverage is not planned but arises from teaching in the curriculum areas
• Intervention by mainstream subject teachers in vocabulary development may often be limited to simplification or unfamiliar words, rather than attending to the need to increase vocabulary size or develop deep word knowledge.

A good example of this in practise is how certain words go with other words. Native children understand this but EAL pupils don’t. E.g. You catch a bus but not a car. You miss the bus but not a car. You can have a cup of strong coffee, but not a strong coke!

For EAL pupils, learning in a language has massive challenges - here's a few things we can do to help: 

• Repetition 
• Use in writing sentences (retrieval) 
• Regular practice of words (space out practice) 
• Model different uses of the word (go beyond that lesson). 
• Imaging (provide a mental image of the word). 
• Saying and other tricks to remember words (I have a friend to the end). 
• Reusing vocabulary in practical ways, e.g. in science. 
• Word associations.

School leadership... crises as the norm?

We thought we might share some perspectives on current leadership practices both locally and nationally made by Steve Mumby in a recent presentation to schools in Southampton. He has a interesting take on the acceptance that crises is the norm and that we shouldn't be phased by it! Obviously, this is heavily summarised but we particularly liked this advice for schools:

• Regard crises as the norm and complexity as fun
• A bottomless well of intellectual curiosity
• A complete absence of paranoia and self-pity
• Unwarranted optimism