Just received notification that the Past Papers for Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Tempest, which were taken by Year 9 (and some Year8) children in may 2007 have been released and are available from SATS PAPERS.
The Direct Link to the supplier is available here : Shakespeare Past Papers.
The “Stage Not Age Tests” referred to by Ed Balls in his Children’s Plan announced in Parliament on 11 December 2007 is an interesting development and will affect every school across the country if his plans come to fruition. His analogy is that it would be absurd for a child taking music lessons and all to sit the same (e.g. level 5 exam at age 11), but he has missed the point I feel.
The Key Stage 2 tests which children take at age 11 (year 6), covers levels 3-5. A child has the ability to obtain a high level 5 or a low level 3 – so there is a huge range of what can be achieved in the same test.
And while it seems like a good idea that children sit the test when they are ready – In reality it will mean substantial new pressures on every school, every parent, and every child in the country. Why? Well because it will bring about even more competition amongst parents in the playground. “Has you child sat the test yet? – mine has and she’s only 7″. Imagine the pressure that parents will now be placed under – and even more pressure for the child.
And what of the schools? Well you can see the league tables now can’t you. While schools have targets now, these are very simple ones – namely to achieve Level 4+ at age 11 (year 6). Educators have the chance to target children over a period of time so that each can achieve their best.
The new targets will probably be annually and like this :
2009 Table for The Primary School
% age 7 and under taking and passing test (as a proportion of the school) – 7%
% age 8 and under taking and passing test (as a proportion of the school) – 17%
% age 9 and under taking and passing test (as a proportion of the school) – 45%
% age 10 and under taking and passing test (as a proportion of the school) – 68%
% age 11 and under taking and passing test (as a proportion of the school) – 76%
And so I can envisage a situation where every schoool is targeted every year across ALL year groups.
The year 2 teacher will be asked to increase the percentage of her 7 years olds who take and pass the test (because she achieved 7% last year). Likewise the year 3 teacher will be asked to try and beat his 17% that he managed last year … and so on.
The new Stage not Age Tests :
More pressure on the whole school for every year group
More pressure on parents to coach their daughter to pass “the test” before little jonny takes his
More targets for every year group – not just Year 2 and Year 6 classes.
More information about the current sats tests are here
The educational publisher ACTUAL SATS has just announced a promotional / discount code for all of its key stage2 and key stage 3 publications for english, mathematics, and science. go to their website and at the checkout enter the code “ACTUALSATS”, and a 10% discount will automatically be deducted from your order.
What a bargain.
The voucher is valid until 31 december 2007, but it doesn’t hurt to try after that date !!!
Bonjour
Just a quick update on the latest information sourced from the internet regarding the past papers. The actual past paper Mark Schemes are available from www.markschemes.co.uk. There you can view or print off the answer sheets to maths, science and english past papers, which will assist you in marking the tests.
These are available for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, across all tiers, 3-5, 4-6, 5-7, & 6-8 for keystage 3 mathematics, 3-6 and 5-7 for keystage 3 science, and 4-7 for keystage 3 english.
They are also available for levels 3-5 for mathematics, science and english for keystage 2.
Happy revising …
