Barnes Farm Infants Year Two SATS evening March 10th 2016

What does our curriculum have to be? Broad and Balanced Promoting spiritual, moral, cultural and physical development Preparing our children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life We pride ourselves on really knowing our children both academically and holistically.

So, why the change? Raising standards. To be more challenging and rigorous- the government felt that we were not challenging our children enough!- our children are now working at activities and skills previously taught in higher years. To compete internationally- GB is often seen as lagging behind many other nations.

English. Stronger emphasis on vocabulary development, grammar, punctuation and spelling (for example, the use of commas and apostrophes will be taught in KS1-previously, there was no SPAG test at KS1) Handwriting is expected to be fluent, legible and speedy Spoken English has a greater emphasis, with children to be taught debating and presenting skills.

Maths Five-year-olds will be expected to learn to count up to 100 (compared to 20 previously) and learn number bonds to 20 (currently up to 10) Simple fractions (1/4 and 1/2) will be taught from KS1, and by the end of primary school, children should be able to convert decimal fractions to simple fractions (e.g. 0.375 = 3/8) By the age of nine, children will be expected to know times tables up to 12×12 (currently 10×10 by the end of primary school) Calculators will not be introduced until near the end of KS2, to encourage mental arithmetic.

Science Strong focus on scientific knowledge and language, rather than understanding the nature and methods of science in abstract terms Evolution will be taught in primary schools for the first time Non-core subjects like caring for animals will be replaced by topics like the human circulatory system

What will it look like at Barnes Farm Infants? The first thing to say about the Key Stage 1 tests is that your child may be completely unaware that they are taking them. At Barnes Farm Infants, we have considerable flexibility in how we implement the tests and much of it will feel like a normal classroom day. Our class teachers will do their best to ensure that children are not at all concerned about the tests. To allow this, the tests do not need to be taken on a specific day, but can be throughout the month of May near the end of Year 2, with pupils either individually, in groups or all together as a class. There are six papers altogether across English and mathematics.

How have the SATS changed since last year? A change from levels as we know it to the new ‘no levels’ system. Up to 2015 we were used to levels. i.e. 2b, 3c and so on. This has now been replaced. We do not yet know what the expected outcomes are for a child at the end of Year Two other than they will look very similar to end of Foundation Stage assessments. Our children will not be able to use equipment to help them eg 100 squares. An average Year Two child will meet the ‘expected’ standards at the end of Year Two. Setting the standards……. April 2016 (SPAG tests at BFI)

The changes continued. Schools can choose their own assessment methods during the child’s journey through school. (we currently use Target Tracker as do many other schools around the country) From Sept 2016 the end of Key Stage tests will provide children with a scaled score rather than a level. Each child will be required to attain a scaled score of 100 or more in the tests (this will be like the old 2B)- we are part of setting the scale. KS1 tests will remain statutory Children will still sit their phonics check near the end of Year 1 and will repeat them in Year Two if they do not meet the required standard. Teachers assessments in mathematics and reading will be externally set and internally marked, unless moderated by the Local authority. An externally-set test in grammar, punctuation and spelling will inform the teacher assessment of writing

And how are they the same? The children will have been prepared by their class teachers and will have worked at example questions together. When they take their SATS, they will not be put under any pressure and many of the children enjoy the ‘special work’ they are doing. They will be working in their own classrooms. All Year Two children around the country will be taking their SATS assessments in May, with final assessments being sent to county at the end of June. We will report the children’s results to you at the end of the school year.

Scaled scores……. With the new KS1 tests requiring pupils to reach a score of 100, we will be monitoring the progress of the children through ‘age related’ outcomes. Measurements of ability in reading, writing, mathematics etc, conform to a pattern known as ‘normal distribution’, which assumes that the majority of people tend to be clustered within an average range, with far fewer at the extremes- this is how the new assessments will sit.

And not to forget……… This year, these are only interim assessments.

Reporting to parents at the end of Year Two Children will be reported by schools as: P scale (usually our children who have additional needs (SEN) Growing development of the standard (below expected standards) Working towards the expected standard Working at the expected standard Working at greater depth within the expected standard. Children will need to have “consistent attainment” of all statements except handwriting (at working towards and expected). They DO need to have met handwriting to achieve greater depth judgment.

How this might look in Writing... Working towards – the child can write sentences that are sequenced to form a short narrative after discussion with the teacher. Working at – the pupil can write a narrative about their own and others’ experiences (real and fictional) after discussion with the teacher. Working at greater depth – the pupil can write for different purposes after discussion with the teacher.

Reading The new reading test for Year 2 pupils will involve two separate papers: Paper 1 consists of a selection of texts totalling 400 to 700 words, with questions interspersed Paper 2 comprises a reading booklet of a selection of passages totalling 800 to 1100 words. Children will write their answers in a separate booklet Each paper is worth 50 per cent of the marks, and should take around 30 minutes, but children will not be strictly timed, as the tests are not intended to assess children’s ability to work at speed.  The texts in the reading papers will cover a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and will get progressively more difficult towards the end of the test. Teachers will have the option to stop the test at any point that they feel is appropriate for a particular child.

Reading – Types of Questions There will be a variety of question types: Multiple choice Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show in which order they happened in the story’ Matching, e.g. ‘Match the character to the job that they do in the story’ Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title’ Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that shows what the weather was like in the story’ Short answer, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’ Open-ended answer, e.g. ‘Why did Lucy write the letter to her grandmother? Give two reasons’

English Reading Paper 1: reading prompt and answer booklet

English Reading Paper 1: reading prompt and answer booklet

English reading Paper2: reading booklet

English reading Paper 2: reading answer booklet

Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation Children taking Key Stage 1 SATs will sit two separate papers in grammar, spelling and punctuation: Paper 1: a 20-word spelling test (writing the missing words in the answer booklet) taking approximately 15 minutes, but it is not strictly timed and worth 10 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.

English grammar, punctuation and spelling Paper 1: Spelling

Listen carefully and write the sentence/s. Spelling Focus: Compound words Punctuation Focus: apostrophes for singular possession, review of capital letters. Grammar Focus: past and present tense The test Listen carefully and write the sentence/s. 1) The boy is kicking Henry’s football. 2) The child’s bedroom was cleaned on Tuesday. 3) The girl’s skateboard was propped up near the door.

How to assess. Pupils are secure if they can use past and present tense correctly, so that their sentences make sense. All words from Year 1 should be spelt correctly. Any new spellings should be phonetically plausible. The focus spelling should be correct. They use a capital letter for Tuesday and at the beginning of the sentences. The pupils understands what an apostrophe is and how to place it correctly. This could be covered in handwriting practice. This is also a good opportunity to review handwriting of capital letters – correct size, orientation and relative to lower case letters.

Arithmetic Paper

Reasoning Paper

Questions.