SATS explained...
What are SATS?
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SATS (Standardized Assessment Tasks) are tests which enable the government to measure the standard of English in schools. They are an appraisal of the student and not designed to give a pass/fail result. SATS are taken at the end of year 2 and year 6. As of 2010 they are no longer taken by students aged 7-9.
SATS for year 2 are prepared for in key Stage 1.
SATS for year 6 are prepared for in Key Stage 2.
As of 2010 there are no SATS tests for key Stage 3.
Primary School :
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Key stage 1
Ages 5,6 and 7
School year 1 & 2
Students take their SATS at the end of year 2.
Key Stage 2
Ages 7,8,9,10,11
Years 3,4,5 & 6
Students take their SATS in May of year 6 and receive their results in July.
Secondary School:
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Key Stage 3
Ages 11,12,13,14
Years 7,8 and 9.
There are no SATS in this period. Students are assessed formally by their teachers.
Key Stage 4
Ages 14,15,16
During this period students are prepared for their GCSEs (General Certificate of Higher Education).
See our GCSE English revision page.
What is my student expected to be able to do in English at each stage of their schooling?
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Here is a breakdown of the requirements for each key stage level. We offer a comprehensive revision programme covering all of the topics, or you can choose to focus on specific areas that your pupil struggles with.
KEY STAGE 1
Reading and writing:
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Listening to, independently reading and discussing a wide variety of poetry, fiction and non-fiction.
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Becoming familiar with traditional, popular and recent texts.
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Summarizing and retelling texts.
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Linking texts to personal experience.
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Identifying key characteristics and themes in texts.
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Memorizing poetry.
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Self-correction of inaccurate reading.
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Discovering the meaning of new vocabulary from context/own knowledge.
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Inference.
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Predicting what will happen next in a text.
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Homophones.
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Alphabet order through dictionary practice.
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Singular and plural endings of words.
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Prefixes and suffixes.
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Dictation.
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Handwriting practice.
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Capitalization, paragraphing and punctuation.
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KEY STAGE 2
Ages 7,9,9,10,11
Years 3,4,5,6
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Reading and writing:
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Writing non-fiction e.g. converting texts to charts.
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Poetry e.g. Haikus, free verse, acrostics, concrete poems.
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Fiction e.g. characterization, setting and plot.
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Spelling:
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Prefixes
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Adverbs
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Tricky words e.g. double letters, /aɪ/ spellings, i and y spellings...
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Homophones and homographs.
Grammar:
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Apostrophes and punctuation.
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Past tense with ed.
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Processes with ing.
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conjunctions.
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Prepositions.
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Capital letters.
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Adding er to verbs to make nouns.
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Vocabulary:
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Word families.
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Creating new nouns.
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KEY STAGE 3
Ages 11,12,13,14
Years 7,8 and 9.
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Reading and writing:
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Thinking about a text's audience and purpose.
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Writer's viewpoints and tone.
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Using figurative language e.g. metaphor and simile.
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Sound patterning e.g.alliteration and onomatopoeia.
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ISRB - irony,sarcasm,rhetoric and bias.
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Style and register of a text.
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19th Century fiction.
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20-21st Century fiction.
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Fiction and non-fiction exam style questions.
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Fact finding in fiction.
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Use of language.
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Use of structure.
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Comparing texts.
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Giving a personal judgement.
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Quoting, PEED and paraphrasing.
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Paragraphing and punctuating a story.
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Plot and setting.
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Characterization.
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Writing description.
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Non- fiction writing.
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Writing a poem.
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Analyzing a poem.
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Using standard English.
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Strategies for comprehension.
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An introduction to Shakespeare.
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Language.
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Themes.
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How characters behave.
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Directing your own scene
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How to plan and answer a Shakespeare essay question.
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Grammar:
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Active and passive voice.
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Word classification.
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Anaphoric, cataphoric and exophoric referencing.
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Cohesive devices.
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Sentence construction.
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Tenses.
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Vocabulary.
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Spelling.
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Punctuation.