Today was the publication day for the assessments completed at the end of Key Stage 2, commonly known as SATs.
The possible outcomes for children are:
that they meet the expected standard in each subject or
are working towards that,
or exceed it at what is known as Greater Depth.
The published figures typically are percentages at Expected+ and percentages at Greater Depth. A key metric is the percentage of children meeting (or exceeding ) the expected in all three of Reading, Writing and Maths, the so-called Combined measure.
| National Average | Parkdale
Expected+ |
Parkdale
Greater Depth |
|
| Grammar, Spelling & Punctuation | 72% | 80% | 40% |
| Reading | 73% | 73% | 28% |
| Maths | 73% | 85% | 32% |
| Writing TA | 71% | 82% | 19% |
| Combined | 59% | 70% | 10% |
We are pleased to have exceeded national averages in all bar Reading (where we meet it). Our results in Maths have exceeded our targets and represent one of our best ever years. Similarly with Writing. This is very pleasing, eespecially given the amount of disruption caused to the education of this cohort by the COvid pandemic. Other than the Reading, our results have been restored to typical pre-Covid levels, which was always a key target for us.
The Reading results, whilst still national average, are some way below our expectations; a small number of children who we have always identfed as ‘on track’, who have previously repeatedly reached Expected or Greater Depth on old SAT papers, did not quite make it this time. The paper was controversially difficult, with much concern aired in the media, but we would have anticipated a slightly higher pass rate for this cohort of children regardless. We had expected 75-80% (a further 4 or 5 children passing). Of course, we are constantly trying to improve and will investigate this fully. First impressions are around tricky vocabulary and technical language, but we’ll dive depeer into that.
What we do know is that the children and staff all worked incredibly hard for what they got. The children did their best and we know that some who did not pass the tests actually can operate consistently and confidently at the expected level. Some children far exceeded predictions. For some children who did not ‘pass’, their scores still represent amazing progress and quite an achievement. We also recognise that our children have skills, character and values that cannot be measured in these tests. Developing the whole-child, rather than simply teaching test content, will always be our ethos.