On this page you will find information about 3 statutory assessments that take place during your child's time at St Mary's; KS1 SATS, Phonics Screening Check, and Multiplication Tables Check (MTC)
Sats (Standard Assessment Tests) measure children’s educational achievement in years 2 and 6, with the ultimate aim of holding schools to account for the attainment of their pupils and the progress they make.
In the summer term, children at the end of Key Stage 1 will sit SATs papers. SATs have been overhauled in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to reflect the changes to the national curriculum, which was introduced from September 2014.
At the end of Year 2, children will take SATs in:
The reading test for Year 2 pupils will involve two separate papers:
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.
There will be a variety of question types:
Children taking Key Stage 1 SATs will sit two separate papers in grammar, spelling and punctuation:
The Key Stage 1 maths test will comprise two papers:
Children will not be able to use any tools such as calculators or number lines.
The Department for Education is introducing a new formal test of multiplication skills in the summer term of Year 4. Our guide for parents explains how the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) will work in English primary schools.The Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) was officially announced by the Department for Education (DfE) in September 2017. It will be administered for children in Year 4, rolling out from the summer term 2022.
Primary-school children are expected to know all their times tables up to 12×12. Under the current National Curriculum, children are supposed to know their times tables by the end of Year 4, but until now they were not formally tested on them other than through multiplication questions in the Year 6 maths SATs.
The DfE says that the check is part of a new focus on mastering numeracy, giving children the skills and knowledge they need for secondary school and beyond. The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether Y4 pupils can recall their multiplication tables fluently (being able to answer times tables questions accurately and quickly, without having to work out the answers).
Announcing the tests in 2017, the then Education Secretary Justine Greening said, ‘A good primary education lays the foundations for success at secondary school and beyond. This year’s (2017) Key Stage 2 results showed our curriculum reforms are starting to raise standards and it is vital we have an assessment system that supports that.’
The times tables test is being introduced in English schools only. It will be taken by children in Year 4, in the summer term (during a three-week period in June; schools will decide which day to administer the check).
Children will be tested using an on-screen check (on a computer or a tablet), where they will have to answer multiplication questions against the clock.
This will be the first time that the DfE has used computerised tests in primary schools. Calculators and wall displays that could provide children with answers will be removed from the room the MTC is taking place in.
The test will last no longer than 5 minutes and is similar to other tests already used by primary schools. Their answers will be marked instantly.
Children will have 6 seconds to answer each question in a series of 25. Each question will be worth one mark and be presented to the child in this format:
n1 x n2 = ____
Questions will be selected from the 121 number facts that make up the multiplication tables from 2 to 12, with a particular focus on the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 times tables as they are considered to be the most challenging. Each question will only appear once in any 25-question series, and children won’t be asked to answer reversals of a question as part of the check (so if they’ve already answered 3 x 4 they won’t be asked about 4 x 3).
Once the child has inputted their answer on the computer / device they are using, there will be a three-second pause before the next question appears. Children will be given the opportunity to practise answering questions in this format before the official check begins.
The six-second time limit per question has been decided on by the DfE because it should allow children enough time to demonstrate their recall of times tables without giving them the time to work out the answers to each question.
Pupils’ individual results will be made available to schools. It’s unlikely that children will be told their individual score, but schools will be required to report the results to parents or carers.
There will be no “pass mark” (expected standard threshold) and no child will “fail” the test. Multiplication facts will be the only things tested (there will be no testing of children’s knowledge of division facts or problem-solving in the check).
The DfE says the purpose of the check is to help teachers identify which children are falling behind and target areas where they’re not being given a chance to succeed.
St Mary’s Roman Catholic First School
Hencotes
Hexham
NE46 2EE