SATs Tuition

At the beginning of the Summer Term of Year 6, your child will be required to sit the End of Key Stage Statutory Assessment Tests (SATs).  The tests are mandatory tests written by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) as part of the Department for Education's national curriculum assessment programme.  All state schools in England are required to facilitate the tests.

Every KS2 SATs paper is a 'sit down, written' exam. As such, South Hams Primary Tutoring can support children by working closely with schools to develop the very best reading, writing and maths skills, complimenting and consolidating their classroom learning.  We want to set them up with the very best start to their secondary education – as a well rounded, confident individual with excellent basic skills.

 All Year 6 children will be assessed in:

• Reading Comprehension
• Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG)
• Maths
• Writing 

For the English Reading, children are given a reading booklet and a separate reading answer booklet. It's out of 50 marks and children have 60 minutes to complete it. The test focuses on your child's comprehension and understanding of what they have read; requiring children to have a high level of inference, language and vocabulary, summarising, prediction and clarifying skills.

Year 6 Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar tests (SPaG ) take the form of two separate papers - Paper 1 (Grammar and punctuation questions) and Paper 2 (Spelling). Paper 1 is out of 50 marks and lasts 45 minutes. Paper 2 is an audible spelling test that contains 20 questions and lasts around 15 minutes. These marks are added together for their final mark. It is important to score well in both elements in order to achieve the expected standard (ARE).

For Maths are three separate papers - Paper 1 (arithmetic), Paper 2 (reasoning) and Paper 3 (reasoning). Children have 40 minutes to complete Paper 1 and 30 minutes to complete Paper 2 and Paper 3. The marks of all three papers are then added together for their final mark. 

The arithmetic test is purely testing calculation of number whilst the reasoning tests require the children to exercise higher order skills of problem solving, explaining, reasoning and proving in relation to number, shape, measure, data handling, geometry, algebra.

SATs tuition in each aspect of maths and english can improve your child's confidence, exam technique and attainment.

 All of the tests will be carried out in your child's school.  Following this, they are sent to be marked by a central agency and then returned shortly before the end of the summer term.  Once the results are returned to the school, they will be reported to you as part of your child’s end of year school report.

Your child’s raw score for each test will be converted to a scaled score to allow it to be compared to others.  Scaled scores will normally range between 80 and 120. The scale will be set so that reaching an average score, for example – a score of 100 – will indicate that your child is working at the age related expectations (ARE) for the end of Key Stage 2.

Higher scores indicate more advanced attainment, working at greater depth of standard (GDS),  with lower scores suggesting that your child is working below the age related expectations (ARE) and may need some additional support to catch up with his or her peers.

The scores will be sent out to your child's school and then passed on to secondary schools so they can be used in planning for Year 7 teaching and ability setting.

When are the SATs?

The  KS2 SATs take place across one week in May  for all schools nationally maths and english

Paper 1 – Grammar, Punctuation and Vocabulary  –  45 min

Paper 2 – Spelling      – 15 minutes approximately 

English Reading  –    1 hour   

Paper 1  Maths –Arithmetic  – 30 minutes

Paper 2 Maths – Reasoning  – 40 minutes

Paper 3  Maths –Reasoning  – 40 minutes

Standards and Assessment Agency Information for Parents. KS1 and KS2 SATs.