Key Stage 1 SATs testing

At the end of Key Stage 1, children sit English and maths SATs. They are marked by the class teacher and the majority of children are expected to reach level 2 (2C, 2B, 2A). Teachers are very good at making these seem like an ordinary day at school, using lots of practical exercises so children really don't realise they're being tested

English

Reading is assessed by either a test or task.

• The task involves the child reading to the teacher from a book and answering questions orally to assess your child's understanding of the story.
• The forty five minute test involves reading a story and answering written questions that assess children's understanding. Teachers decide whether it is taken individually, in a group or as a class.

One reading assessment focus is on a child's ability to understand, select, and retrieve information, events or ideas from the text. So to help them achieve Level 2c they need to retell part of a story in their own words or describe simple aspects of character. Those who will eventually get Level 2b need to check meanings using both illustrations and text and identify the main events in a story or information text. To achieve the higher Level 2a, your child needs to be able to locate information or details within a text or justify responses by reference to the text.

The Key Stage 1 writing assessment involves two writing tasks: a handwriting assessment and a separate spelling test of twenty words in half an hour. 

Maths 

In the maths SAT children draw on their skills of using and applying maths, such as:

• counting, reading and writing whole numbers up to 100, and putting them in order
• doubling numbers or halving them
• explaining how they solved a problem
• being able to tell if numbers are odd or even

An example of a typical question might be:

There are 60 sweets in a bag. 20 sweets are red. 16 sweets are yellow. The rest are green. How many sweets are green? Show how you work it out in the box. In addition a child working at Level 2a would be able to show that twelve counters go into three groups of four and four groups of three, whereas working at Level 2c, the child may realise this but might not be able to show it clearly in their working or may only get one of the correct answers.