Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)

 

The RBA is an assessment of children’s early literacy, maths, communication and language. It is carried out on a 1:1 basis and consists of practical tasks. The assessment must be carried out within the first six weeks of a child entering their Reception class. It does not provide a numerical score but rather narrative statements. It is not a legal requirement for schools to report these statements to parents but they can be provided should a parent ask for them.

 

For more information, click here.

Year 1 Phonics

 

Children’s phonics is assessed at the end of year one using the Phonics Screen Check. Children are asked to read 20 real words and 20 ‘Alien’ words by phonetically decoding them. Children must recognise ‘Letter groups’ or trigraphs or diagraphs to pass the test. The test is administered 1:1 with class teachers. If a child does not pass their phonics check then teaching will continue and there will be opportunity to retake.

Key Stage 1 SATS

End of Key Stage 1 assessments (commonly known as SATs) are no longer statutory from September 2023.  It is now optional for schools to administer tests and make teacher assessed judgements in English reading, English writing, mathematics and science.  At Greenmount we will be administering tests and making teacher assessed judgements informally at the end of June 2024 to help inform our in-house achievement data, as we do at the end of each school term.  This helps us to measure pupil achievement over time and to identify where children need additional support.

Reading

The Reading Paper consists of two papers with five passages of text. These have a simple question/ answer format.

 

Maths

The Maths paper consists of two papers. Paper 1 is based on written arithmetic methods and quick recall. The 2nd paper has a problem solving focus.

 

Writing

Children’s independent writing will be teacher assessed and moderated during Summer 1.

Opportunities for parents to talk about the KS1 SATs will be offered by class teachers in the build up to SATs week. Results will be reported to parents in the Summer term.

Year 4 multiplication check

 

The year 4 multiplication check will go ahead for the first time in 2021. Pupils will take a short test to make sure their times tables knowledge is at the expected level.

The multiplication check is an online test in which pupils are asked to answer 25 questions on times tables from 2 to 12. They are given 6 seconds per question, with 3 seconds rest between each question, so the test should last less than 5 minutes.

First and foremost, the check is about finding out which children are struggling with their times tables so that they can get extra support. It is not a judgement on what your child can do, but a way for the school to know how their teaching is going and to adjust their focus if needed.

For more information, click here.

Key Stage 2 SATS

SATs (standard assessment test) are a statutory assessment for pupils in year 6. Pupils are tested in English (reading, punctuation and grammar) and maths. These tests are set and marked externally. The results help measure the progress pupils have made in Key stage two.

Reading

The reading test is a single paper with questions based on three passages of text. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test.

 

SPaG

The spelling, punctuation and grammar test consists of two parts: a grammar and punctuation paper requiring short answers, lasting 45 minutes, and a spelling test of 20 words, lasting around 15 minutes.

 

Maths

Pupils sit three papers in maths:

Paper 1: arithmetic, which consists of calculations that involve numbers, fraction, decimals and percentages. It lasts 30 minutes.

Papers 2 and 3: reasoning, which consists of a range of questions that cover all the topics taught in key stage 2. This paper contains more problem solving and reasoning style questions which are often worded. Each of these papers lasts 40 minutes.

 

The results of these tests are reported to parents. Each result is a scaled score. Scaled scores of 100 or more indicate that the pupil is working at the expected standard in that subject.