As this year’s National Test cycle draws to a close, we asked Y6 teacher and Upper KS2 Phase Leader Dave Witham from Plumcroft Primary School for his feedback on the difficulty and content of this round of tests.
Although Dave’s children reported tough questions in the level 6 GPS and Reading papers, on the whole, the impression was of a fair set of tests to accurately assess a child’s progress, strengths and weaknesses.
Dave’s feedback:
Level 6 (GPS, Maths and Reading)
Grammar Spelling and Punctuation
Proposed changes to the GPS paper (Plumcroft Primary took part in the trials!) didn’t materialise and the short answer paper was ‘more of the same’ from level 3-5. Spellings were very challenging and we’re still building a list of examples for the children. The writing element was very predictable and nothing to really challenge the children if they are a strong and solid level 5 writer.
Reading
The children struggled to get through the reading paper, although this was expected as it’s a tough ask in the amount of time given.
Maths
As usual, all the information was presented and ‘disguised’ to really sort out the truly gifted mathematicians; however again, a fair test.
Level 3-5 (GPS, Reading, Maths and Mental Maths)
Grammar Spelling and Punctuation
The GPS paper threw up few challenges and the spellings covered were representative of suggested patterns. Continue reading →