2010 SATs

Given the number of schools that have boycotted this year's SATs, this experiment may not prove to be very popular, but here is a PrimaryPad where you can give you thoughts on this year's papers.

SATs boycott

One of the biggest issues in our school over the last few weeks (and probably most others as well) has been whether or not to boycott the Year Six SATs. Rightly or wrongly, after much debate our school has decided to enter the pupils for the SATs. Now, I don't want to offend anyone who passionately believes that SATs should be boycotted, but I just wanted to record my thoughts.


Personally I felt that we should take part in the SATs this year. Now this is not at all because I agree with the idea of testing in the current format, I just felt that it was too late in the year for the school and the children to not take part. I realise that this is mainly our fault in not preparing suitable assessment alternatives. Had we had the foresight to plan ahead at the start of the year, we could have arranged something to happen in its place.


I am a member of a union, mainly as advice throughout my career has encouraged me to, but I am really not in favour of 'being told what to do' by a collective of teachers. Just because three-quarters of less than 50% of the teachers who voted decided they wanted to boycott, there is an expectation that everyone should follow suit. I appreciate that being in a 'union' implies that we should all do the same thing, but I dislike the idea that my own decisions do not count.


Of the many main arguments against SATs, I am sympathetic to all, but not all of them apply to our school.

• Teaching to the test - this may be true to a degree, in that we use SATs questions as a plenary activity, or set a few questions as a homework based on what has been taught during the week. But in our school we aim to develop the children's skills for the future, not for the tests.
• Narrowing the curriculum - our SATs revision this year has consisted of a week and a half of revision in Maths (revising the topics that the children requested) and in English we developed two units based on our visit to Liverpool in March, and our PSHCE study of alcohol where we explored several styles of writing (which the children have enjoyed). We have attempted two past reading comprehension papers and one spelling paper and no others. Therefore, we have spent around three weeks 'revising'. Throughout the year the children have taken part in three days of first aid training, a book day, an Africa day, an Eco day, been on two visit and attended a five day residential in France. There has never been more than one Maths and one English lesson each day. Now I really don't believe that our curriculum has been narrowed as a result of the SATs.
• Pressure on the children - our message to the children throughout the year has been consistent - all we want is for the children to do their best. Levels are nice to achieve, but in the end we don't really care as long as the children are satisfied that they have done their best. We try to avoid the using the word 'tests' and prefer 'opportunities' as they are an opportunity to show what the children have achieved. Admittedly, some of the children are nervous, but we do our best to play the SATs down. The weeks before and during the SATs have been spent preparing for our 'Grow A Pound Week' which takes place the week after SATs. The atmosphere during the papers is relaxed and we try to be as encouraging as possible.
• Pressure on schools - now all of the above has to be put into context. I am fortunate to work in a school where children traditionally perform very well in the SATs. We have been lucky enough to do fairly well in the school league tables. Parents are supportive and we are in a town suburb, with families (on average) with few socio-economic difficulties. I don't think we feel as much pressure on us to perform as with some schools in the country (in fact, probably within our own town.) I realise that the boycott is about making a stand on behalf of such schools, but in the end we have to do what we and our parents believe is right for our own pupils.

The decision to enter the pupils for the 2010 SATs was based on discussions with staff, governors, pupils (38 for, 16 against) and the results of an open forum with parents. However, the feeling from everybody was that we should not participate in the 2011 SATs, and measures will be implemented next year to ensure that, if SATs are still in existence, we will not be taking part, but will be creating our own assessment methods.


Despite not taking part, I completely support the decisions of others' to boycott the SATs and I wish every pupil and school the greatest success in their assessments in Year Six.

Science after SATs

Here is an interesting article about the future of Science after SATs in the TES.

SATs change affects Year Six calendar

A report in the TES writes: Plans to move Sats from May to June next year have thrown hundreds of primaries’ school trips into limbo and cast doubt over the proposed primary leaving certificate. Heads are also upset that their pupils will now miss out on a lot of what they believe is the most rewarding part of the year and that they will not be with their pupils when they receive their results.

Shifting national tests for 11-year-olds from the second week in May to “the middle of June” was recommended by the Government’s expert group on assessment last week and accepted by ministers who plan to introduce the change from 2010. They believe it will prevent primary teachers from reducing their emphasis on maths and English in the second half of the summer term, leaving pupils “under prepared and out of practice” for secondary school.

But because the exact new Sats date has yet to be fixed, schools that want to take pupils on residential activity weeks in the summer term and are now being expected to pay deposits, do not know whether to confirm their bookings. There are also fears that some could miss out altogether because the window between Sats and the end of term, when most schools want to book the trips, will now be so much shorter.

The change threatens another of the expert group’s recommendations - the primary graduation certificate designed to recognise Year 6 pupils’ achievements across a broad range of areas. The experts wanted it to “highlight the child’s strengths before he or she progresses to secondary school”. But, according to the group, the biggest measure of their academic achievements - Sats results - “will not be available before the start of the autumn term”.

Janis Burdin, head of Moss Side Primary School in Leyland, Lancashire, marks her pupils’ achievements with a special leavers assembly, but she will no longer be able to give out academic awards if the Sats results come out the following term. She is also unhappy that she will have less time to ask for re-marks and will not be with pupils when their results arrive. If someone has not done as well as expected we will reassure them and where they have done very well we will share their elation,” she said. “But that will all be lost.”

Many primaries take pupils away on activity weeks after the Sats. JCA, a company that organises such trips for hundreds of schools, has already been contacted by several worried about what will happen next year. Janie Burt, managing directorof JCA, said: “It is not clear what is happening regarding the timetable for Sats and most schools like to book 12-18 months in advance, so this could prevent many having the opportunity to take their Year 6 group away.”

Maths Papers A and B and Mental Maths

To end the SATs week the children tried the Maths Papers.

Paper A: I didn't think this was an easy paper, but it was do-able. The children at school worked well, but it was frustrating that things they can do in class just went out of the heads for the SATs. The number of children that weren't sure how to do the multiplication question!! The Equivalent fractions question was difficult for them too, even though they can do it in class! There were only a couple of explanation questions which is good!

Paper B: I thought this was comparable with Paper A in terms of difficultly. Once again the children rose to the occasion and did really well. The square number question infuriated me - the number of children who wrote 13, 14 and 15 instead of the square numbers.

Mental Maths: What a variety of topics covered in the test! I thought that the questions were of varying difficulty as you would expect. But question 20 was horrible: Four oranges cost 95p. How much does each orange cost to the nearest penny?

So that's SATs all done with for another year. Now we have to wait and see if another marking fiasco develops over the next few months. We all have to pray that Mr Balls finally finds his and makes this the last year that children have to endure this damaging effect to their education.

There have been a number of tweets about the SATs over this last week. Search for #SATs to read what people have had to say on Twitter!

Reading Comprehension SATs

Today it was the last of the English SATs - the Reading Comprehension paper.

Today the children had to read a series of letters and notes to a boy who decided to live in his tree house. This was really funny and the children said how much they'd enjoyed reading them. This might be a really good idea for a letter writing project next year!

They also had to read an insert about an environmentally friendly house called the Earthship. Again, this was interesting and the children enjoyed it.

I felt that the questions were fair and do-able. They did, I felt, involve more writing than usual. There weren't many tick the box, join up the statements or write in numbers questions. Most of the questions needed a short phrase or sentence to answer.

Any thoughts?

English Writing SATs

Overall I was pleased with today's Writing SATs.

The only paper I wasn't keen on was the short writing task. The children had to write a description of a busy place. Not too bad if you can imagine somewhere busy. It really helped to think of somewhere busy that you had actually been to. But describing has never been a strong point for my literacy class (Set Two). We have focused such a lot on organising and structuring work but this short writing task didn't need any of it. However it did involve lots of VCOP so that was good. I was disappointed when I spotted a few pupils' descriptions had turned into a story...

The Spelling Paper wasn't too bad but there were a few tricky words, 'fascinated' for one. There were a couple of tricky words for the reader too!!

The Long Writing Task was fantastic. For the second year running the genre was a genre we study in Year Six - report writing. The task was virtually identical to the Pack-it-in-Bag paper from about 10 years ago, and luckily my class had tried this just a month ago! You could see their eyes light up as they read it!

Science SATs

Science Paper A
A good variety of questions (humans, investigations, forces, plants, solids/liquids/gases, light and electricity). The questions made a lot of use of diagrams and pictures.

Science Paper B
Lots of reading in this paper making it more demanding. I wasn't too keen on the Heart Rate question, nor the Shadows and Space where I found the questions a little confusing, with unusual contexts.

I can't believe that there was nothing on animals, sound or micro-organisms.

Any thoughts?

Use Monittor.com to read about #SATs.

Science SATs to be scrapped

It's hard to believe the timing of the news about Science SATs. In our school we've just spent five school weeks revising for the Science SATs, and just a few days before the children get stuck in, they get the news that next year's Science SATs won't even take place. How frustrating for this year's children! I'm sure it's going to have a negative effect on this year's Science results, too. After all the children are now bound to think that they are pointless. What's the point - they are about to be scrapped!

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the SATs being scrapped altogether, but once again Ed hasn't got the Balls to do the right thing and has only agreed to drop one of the three subjects. Teacher assessment clearly gives a better representation of a child's ability. But, for the time being, apparently tests give a better indication of standards in English and Maths.

If the SATs are set to continue, I wonder how long it will be before an ICT SAT is introduced...

The Guardian reports:
Ed Balls, the education secretary, today backed a drive to improve teacher assessment to the point where it is robust enough to replace national Sats tests in England.

Accepting a report from an expert group on assessment, he announced that Sats tests in maths and English for 11-year olds would be retained, but tests in science would be scrapped in favour of teacher assessment.

The review argued that while the current tests were beneficial and gave parents objective information, teacher assessment provided a richer picture of children's learning, and it appeared to open the way for scrapping Sats in the long term. This type of national testing was dropped in
Wales and is not used in Scotland.

The group, including the former chief inspector Sir Jim Rose, urged the government to "invest in, strengthen and monitor the reliability of teacher assessment, to judge whether a move away from externally marked national tests might be viable at a future date".

Rose told a press briefing: "Clearly if you had a situation where you had teacher assessment that was so robust that you were confident the information it was delivering was as good, or better, than national testing, then by God wouldn't you go for it? Meanwhile, you would want to run both together, wouldn't you? We want a belt and braces job."

But retaining Sats in the short term sets the stage for a confrontation with two of England's biggest teaching unions, the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers, who are to ballot on boycotting next year's tests if they are not scrapped.
A move towards teacher assessment has already happened for seven- and 14-year olds, and will now take place in science at the end of primary school. Single-level tests – taken by children when the teacher thinks they are ready – also involve more teacher input. A pilot study of these tests in 400 schools has been extended for a third year, and they could form part of the eventual replacement for Sats.

League tables based on Sats results will not be abolished, but Balls accepted the expert group's recommendation that report cards sumarising a wider range of information on each school's performance should be developed.

NUT intend strike action over SATs

The Daily Mail reports that the country's biggest teaching union is today expected to give the go-ahead for a controversial boycott of the national testing system. Members of the National Union of Teachers are expected to vote overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action to scupper SATs for seven and 11-year-olds.

But Schools Secretary Ed Balls told NUT members gearing up for what is being seen as their biggest battle yet with the Government that they cannot just refuse to comply with the law. Government lawyers are considering the legality of the boycott amid claims teachers may be in breach of their employment contracts if they refuse to abide by national education policy. The boycott would involve refusing to administer SATs in spring 2010 for more than one million primary school children unless ministers agree to axe them.

The country's biggest head teachers' union will put a similar industrial action call to its members in May. In a speech to the NUT annual conference yesterday, Bill Greenshields, the union's ex-president, urged members to back the boycott. 'We will end this child abuse,' he said.

But the planned action has split the teaching profession. Other unions fear ministers will be less likely to implement changes to SATs to avoid being seen as bowing to union pressure. Mr Balls has given clear hints he wishes to change the testing system and league tables accompanying results but has said he has 'no intention' of abandoning tests in some form.

League Tables published today

School league tables are published today. Read them at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/school_league_tables/. Today's league tables show around 150,000 pupils failed a performance measure the Government is introducing.
They show the proportion of pupils who took SATs for 11-year-olds last summer and achieved the Government's expected level in both English and maths.
As many as 27 per cent of pupils started secondary school in September without having met the benchmark, this morning's figures show.

Youngsters who missed the benchmark will need extra help to cope with the curriculum at secondary school because they failed to reach level four in the core subjects of English and maths.

Separate official figures showed yesterday that a fifth of bright children - those who exceed Government expectations at 11 - make no progress in key subjects in their first three years at secondary school. More than 20 per cent of pupils who gain level five in English and science are still at level five three years later after 'coasting' once entering secondary school.

Opposition politicians said teaching should be better tailored to pupils' abilities.
The trends emerged as the Government faced fresh criticism over the decision to publish today's tables amid claims they are tainted by last summer's marking fiasco.

The headteacher of the top primary school in the country has warned cramming for Sats tests would only result in short-term success. Lorraine Cullen of Hall Meadow Primary School said pupils needed to be "thinking" learners to see real long-term improvement.Hall Meadow and Combe Church of England Primary School in Witney had more pupils than any other school in England who achieved level five - one level above that expected of 11-year-olds - in the tests.Mrs Cullen said that their results did not come from drilling the pupils on the exam script. "I think that you get a certain amount of success doing that but you will never sustain it. 'We do very little work around preparing for tests. We spend our time developing children who are thinking, motivated and active in their learning."

Are SATs in doubt?

The future of SATs was thrown into doubt yesterday as a damning report blamed a culture of complacency among testing officials for this year's marking fiasco. Two exam chiefs were suspended and a testing quango was scrapped as an inquiry into the late and chaotic delivery of results to 1.2million children revealed that the system runs on the mantra 'it'll be all right on the night'.

The peer appointed to investigate the marking shambles warned that tests for 11-year-olds next year would be 'difficult' to administer efficiently and welcomed a Government review of the testing system. Ministers scrapped SATs for 14-year-olds in the aftermath of the marking fiasco and have indicated that the current arrangements for 11-year-olds are not 'set in stone'.

The inquiry into the problems, led by Lord Sutherland, uncovered a catalogue of 'massive' failings by the Government's testing agency and the U.S. outfit it hired on a £156million five-year contract to organise marking and the delivery of results. But it also prompted calls for Children's Secretary Ed Balls to apologise and accept some responsibility for the fiasco after he repeatedly claimed it was at 'arm's length' to ministers.

Suspended exam chief Dr Ken Boston told the inquiry that Mr Balls' department was 'in no way' kept at a distance and was in fact intimately involved at all stages, from the granting of the contract to the setting of the tests.

SATs revision already?

A survey carried out by Manchester University suggests that more than 350,000 Year 6 pupils have already begun revising for next summer’s SATs. A survey of 465 teachers and headteachers found that 60 per cent of schools now begin test preparation in the second half of the autumn term.

Professor Bill Boyle, of the Centre for Formative Assessment Studies, found that 38 per cent of schools were already spending up to an hour a week on practice papers or revision lessons by the second half of the autumn term. A further 14 per cent spent two hours a week on test preparation, and 9 per cent spent three hours or more.

By the second half of the spring term, two-thirds of primaries spent three or more hours a week drilling pupils for the English, maths and science tests.

Professor Boyle said: “Why are we still doing this? Why do we have this obsession with tests? These figures are far too high. But teachers will keep on while the system remains in place.”

The survey was carried out in the 2006-07 school year. Three quarters of schools said that the time they devoted to test preparation had increased over the past 10 years.

A study by The TES in 2002 found that only one in seven schools started test preparation in the autumn term.

Professor Boyle’s survey also found that time spent on homework had increased. The proportion of schools asking pupils to spend two or more hours a week revising for tests at home rose from 9 per cent at the beginning of the school year to 30 per cent by the Easter holidays.

Almost nine out of 10 teachers said the curriculum had been narrowed by the focus on tests, 69 per cent thought moderated teacher assessment would be a reliable alternative, and 32 per cent would like to see the key stage 1 model of teacher assessment informed by KS2 test results.
David Tuck, head of Dallow Primary in Luton and past president of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “As far as we’re concerned, we start booster classes after Christmas. We have children coming in sometimes on Saturday morning or lunchtimes. The focus on tests does create a very narrow curriculum and we have to ask if this is the best thing for children.

“One researcher was asking children about their levels and a boy said to him, ‘You don’t want to know my level, I’m a nothing.’ What have we done to children? Where are we going? We need to instil confidence.”

Cancellation of KS3 SATs

Some interesting letters in the TES regarding the cancellation of KS3 SATs.

No more KS3 SATs - but what about KS2?

The Government has decided to scrap the Key Stage 3 SATs with immediate effect. Unions, opposition political parties and newspapers all showed their support for the decision.

But primaries are left bitterly asking why the Government has decided to retain KS2 tests. David Fann, chair of the NAHT primary committee, said, "From what I hear, the announcement has caused complete and utter devastation in primaries."

It seems that the KS2 tests provide some sort of accountability function at the end of primary school.

The child in my class are gutted!

KS3 SATs are scrapped... What about KS2? :-(

The Daily Mail reports that SATs tests for 14-year-olds have been scrapped in a humiliating U-turn by Children's Secretary Ed Balls. And school exams in other age groups will be radically overhauled, he said.

Mr Balls told the Commons today that the key stage 3 tests taken by pupils at 14 were 'not justified' and would be dropped with immediate effect. Tests for primary pupils will remain but the high-stakes examination for 11-year-olds leaving primary school could be scrapped by 2010. The assessment of seven-year-olds will be downgraded.

Mr Balls's announcement cuts a swathe through the controversial testing system embraced enthusiastically by five previous Labour Education Secretaries after its introduction by the Tories 15 years ago. It follows a marking fiasco this summer which heaped misery on thousands of pupils after results were delayed and inaccurately recorded. The overhaul also comes on the back of criticism from teachers and parents of the high-pressure examination regime.

SATs question was an 'own goal'

The TES includes a report about one of the SATs questions in this year's short writing challenge.

How was your last year at school, asked the Sats paper? The tests were the worst thing about it, came back the answer from the 11-year- olds. Key stage 2 pupils used this summer’s reading assessment to complain about the exams, with one moaning: “I hate Sats week.” Another wrote: “Everyone was dreading Sats, including me. We worked ever so hard and I was fed up by the end of the week and could not look at a test ever again.”

The responses came after the writing test asked pupils about their memories of the school year, including their “most fun activity” and “biggest challenge”.

The National Association of Head Teachers, which wants to scrap the tests, collated the answers. It called the question an “own goal” for ministers who defend testing. It asked for the answers after noticing that heads were commenting on them on an internet message board. Some six schools wrote back with details of pupils’ responses.

Another pupil wrote: “The best thing about this year at school will be the end of Sats. No more worrying. Sats are horrible, aren’t they?”

“You might get bullied if you get a bad score or even if you get a good score people will call you nerd, geek and beano,” said another.

While the association admits the seven responses are a tiny fraction of this year’s 600,000 answers, they come at a time when heads are fuming about the admin difficulties surrounding this year’s tests, which prompted hundreds of complaints.

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokeswoman said: “We aim to help all children do their best. Testing is here to stay, but the system is not set in stone.”

Could this be the last year for SATs?

The BBC reports that Schools Secretary Ed Balls has hinted that the SATs tests could end next year. They may be replaced by assessments tailored to the ability of each child, he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

The national tests are taken by about one million children aged seven, 11 and 14 across England each May, but this year's marking was a "fiasco", he said. A five-year contract with ETS Europe was scrapped after it failed to get papers marked in time, and the next contract will be for one year only. "The current system is not set in stone," said Mr Balls. "We are looking currently at a way in which we could assess progress child by child with individual level tests where the tests would be chosen in a way which was right for the child, rather than everybody doing the same test on the same day. For 2009, we are going to do the same kind of tests as in previous years before the problems with ETS, but for the long term I am really keen to get this right, to listen."

The new exams would still be marked externally, Mr Balls added, at least for children leaving primary school.

ETS Europe has its contract ended

Good news - the firm responsible for this summer's national test marking "shambles", ETS Europe, has had its contract ended by exams watchdog the QCA.
The BBC reports that this is due to problems with the marking of the tests, taken by 1.2 million 11 and 14 year olds in England, delayed results and prompted concerns about quality. ETS is to pay back £19.5m and cancel invoices worth £4.6m. The total contract for 2008 was worth £39.6m. The QCA said the five-year £156m contract was ended by "mutual consent".

The National Assessment Agency (NAA) will handle the review process, while ETS Europe will continue to work on concluding this year's national test operations, and publish any outstanding results. There will be no further payments made to ETS.

Education Secretary Ed Balls said the tax payers' position had been safeguarded by the deal because two-thirds of the money spent on the contract was being returned. He told the BBC News website that the £15.5m ETS received for their work represented a loss to them and was smaller than the amount they had spent in the UK. The financial settlement reached means the government is able recover some of its costs, including those of re-tendering and re-marking.
The delivery of next year's tests would be carried out as a one-year contract, tendering for which would start in September, Mr Balls said. He said: "Let's put the national interest first and and get things sortred for next year so we do not see a repeat of the shambles that we have seen from ETS in recent weeks."

Schools Minister Jim Knight : 'I'm pleased the contract has been terminated'

QCA chief Ken Boston said: "ETS Europe was selected due to the strength of their worldwide experience in delivering large-scale assessments. It is disappointing that the issues with this year's national curriculum test results have meant that the partnership between QCA and ETS must end early."

Primary schools are not stretching the brightest pupils

The Daily Mail reports that primary schools are failing to stretch the brightest pupils, as SATs results revealed falling numbers of those achieving the highest level.

Although this year's results show more pupils are meeting the 'level four' pass mark, fewer are going on to achieve 'level five'. The outcome prompted warnings from the Tories that teachers are under increasing pressure to scrape passes for their pupils while neglecting high-fliers. This is despite Labour investing billions of pounds over the past decade in literacy and numeracy drives.

The results, published yesterday, revealed a one percentage point rise in the number of pupils achieving the standard expected for their age - level four - in both English and maths, taking the totals to 81 per cent and 78 per cent respectively. Science results were unchanged on 88 per cent.

However, the numbers achieving the higher level five fell five percentage points in English - the biggest drop since the tests began in 1995 - one in maths and three in science. Official figures from the Department for Children showed only 12 per cent of pupils - one in eight - scored a level five in the three subjects. Pupils achieving level four needed to gain just 43 per cent in English and 45 per cent in science compared to 69 per cent and 78 per cent for level five. Level five pupils are expected to be able to produce well-organised and paragraphed work, use complex sentences and write for their audience and purpose.

A slight fall in Level 5 results and media are already claiming aren't doing their job well enough. I like this comment on the Daily Mail website:
"If you look at a school's special needs budget it goes about 99% to the less able and 1% to the very able. It should be 50% - 50% because there will be equal numbers at both ends of the graph, but we're not interested in stretching bright kids, only in nurturing the less able. It's an insane policy." - John Ledbury, Kings Lynn England, 06/8/2008 09:45