Assessment Background September 2014 – New National Curriculum introduced into schools Years 1 and 2 (KS1), Years 3 and 4 (Lower KS2), Years 5 and 6 (Upper KS2 ) Year 2 and Year 6 started on the new curriculum in September 2015 The new curriculum didn’t come with any national assessment tools Government gave schools a transition year to move to their own method of assessment All Primary schools were required to have a new system in place by September 2015

Life Without Levels Replaces the way we currently assess children in Years 1 to 6 (1c, 1b, 1a, 2c, 2b, 2a...) Children’s progress is assessed at least 3 times a year using KLIPS (Key Learning in Primary Schools) KLIPS is a Lancashire based system and is being used by most of the schools we work with in our Cluster Regular teacher assessments will continue Your child will still be taught with the highest expectations and cover all required elements of the curriculum, similar to previous years. The new curriculum is more rigorous and sets high expectations which all schools have had to work hard to meet since the beginning of last year

Pupil Progress The majority of children will be working within Year Group Expectations Children will have individual targets as they did before There is provision for children to move on to the next Year Group curriculum, however, there has to be evidence of a ‘broadening and deepening’ of knowledge in the current Year Group curriculum Children who are working below Year Group expectations or who have special educational needs, will be working on the appropriate Year group curriculum

Key stage 2 tests There will also be a completely new marking scheme to replace the existing national curriculum levels. Year 6 – ‘Year Group Expectations’ from September 2015 National standard is harder to achieve at both Key Stages - These tests in English and maths will reflect the new national curriculum, and are intended to be more rigorous. Guidance is given for children working towards the expected standard, working at the expected standard and working at greater depth within the expected standards in writing, but only the expected standard in the other areas.

Scaled scores Scaled scores will be used from This means it is very difficult to compare the assessment of a previous year with the current year. No information yet about what the scale will look like. We need to wait until pupils have taken the tests and the tests have been marked before we can set the national standard and the rest of the scale. We do know the scale will have a lower end point below 100 and an upper end point above will represent the ‘national standard’ Once the national standard has been set, the raw score will be converted into a scaled score.

Interpreting scaled scores On publication of the test results in July 2016: A child awarded a scaled score of 100 is judged to have met the ‘national standard’ in the area judged by the test. A child awarded a scaled score of more than 100, is judged to have exceeded the national standard and demonstrated a higher than expected knowledge of the curriculum for their age. A child awarded a scaled score of less than 100 is judged to have not yet met the national standard and performed below expectation for their age. Marking guidance for KS2 tests will include conversion tables. Teachers will use these to translate pupil’s raw scores into scaled scores to see whether each pupil has met the national standard. Teachers will use the scaled scores to inform their teacher assessment judgements. In July 2016 for the first publication of test results, each pupil will receive: o A raw score (number of raw marks awarded). o A scaled score in each tested subject. o Confirmation of whether or not they attained the national standard

Higher attaining pupils Previous Key Stage 2 tests were aimed at children achieving Levels 3-5 (with a national expectation to reach at least Level 4) In the past, additional Level 6 tests were produced for children who demonstrated higher than expected attainment, above Level 5. From this year, there won’t be any separate tests for the most able children. Instead, each test will have scope for higher attaining pupils to show their strengths.

KS2 Tests Statutory tests will be administered in the following subjects: o Reading (60 minutes) o Spelling (approximately 15 minutes) o Punctuation, Vocabulary and Grammar (45 minutes) o Mathematics - Paper 1: Arithmetic (30 minutes) - Paper 2: Reasoning (40 minutes) - Paper 3: Reasoning (40 minutes) In addition, some schools will be required to take part in Science testing - Not all schools will take part in this sampling. Monday 6 to Friday 17 June is the science sampling test period in which your child might sit the tests. For those schools who are selected, there will be three papers All tests are externally marked. Writing will be ‘Teacher Assessed’ internally, as in recent years.

Test timetable Year 6 SATs are during the week of the 9th -13th May 2016 No Year 6 absence during this week please Monday 9 th May English Reading Test (1 hour) Tuesday 10 th May GPS Paper 1: Short Answer Questions (45 minutes), GPS Paper 2: Spelling (20 minutes) Wednesday 11 th May ,Mathematics Paper 1: Arithmetic (30 minutes) Mathematics Paper 2: Reasoning (40 minutes) Thursday 12 th May Mathematics Paper 3: Reasoning (40 minutes)

Reading

The Reading Test consists of a single test paper with three unrelated reading texts. Children are given 60 minutes in total, which includes reading the texts and answering the questions. Questions are designed to assess the comprehension and understanding of a child’s reading. Some questions are multiple choice or selected response, others require short answers and some require an extended response or explanation.

Grammar, Punctuation and spelling

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling A Spelling test is administered containing 20 words, lasting approximately 15 minutes. A separate test is given on Punctuation, Vocabulary and Grammar This test lasts for 45 minutes and requires short answer questions, including some multiple choice. Marks for these two tests are added together to give a total for Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar. Many elements of the Level 6 paper now included

Sample questions

Mathematics

The Mathematics tests have undergone a big change this year. Children will sit three tests: Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3. Paper 1 is for ‘Arithmetic’ lasting for 30 minutes, covering calculation methods for all operations, including use of fractions, percentages and decimals. Questions gradually increase in difficulty. Not all children will be expected to access some of the more difficult questions later in the paper. Some Level 6 elements added Papers 2 and 3 cover ‘Problem Solving and Reasoning’, each lasting for 40 minutes. Pupils will still require calculation skills but will need to answer questions in context and decide what is required to find a solution.

Maths paper 1 – arithmetic

Maths Paper 2 and 3 – Reasoning

Writing Greatly increased expectations in grammar and punctuation Expectations that children expertly use and apply the grammar and punctuation concepts in independent writing No formal test – Teacher assessed using a variety of pieces of classwork Guidance is given for children working towards the expected standard, working at the expected standard and working at greater depth within the expected standards in writing only.