Did you know there is a 4 month gap between SATs and the tests Year 7 will complete at secondary school? That’s 24 weeks or potentially 27 weeks until they are assessed again! And this Year 7 data will be used to re-set and predict their GCSE grades (yes, really).
We are so proud of our Year 6 students and all they have achieved this year and although we know SATS are now thankfully a distant memory, we know it is time to think about what’s next.
Why are we offering more support even though SATS are over?
We want your child to have a break and know that they deserve rest and time to enjoy summer! But, from my 19 years of experience in education, I have seen the impact of the ‘summer dip’ and how much children forget because their muscle memory isn’t working for such a long period of time. This is an international trend after the summer holidays as shared in our blog.
What proof do I have?
Many years ago, when I was Primary Transition Coordinator, our partner primary school teachers were always shocked when they saw their former Year 6 students and the work that the same child produced in Year 7. It was like a different child.
When I was English Curriculum Leader and Head of English, I was baffled and no matter how I designed the schemes of work for half term one for Year 7 and/or ensured Year 7 had stronger teachers, students couldn’t demonstrate what they could do in Year 6. It felt like they had regressed by up to 2 years and had forgotten a lot of what they were taught.
This meant, and still means, that the SATs results your child has completed will be unreliable and inaccurate by September 2025.
But, why?
This is due to something called neuroplasticity. Just like building body muscles, if the brain isn’t exercising and continuing to practise using skills and retaining information, it forgets.
After the intensity of SATs and teaching students how to perform and achieve the best scores for their SATs, it now means that students aren’t learning as much in the final half term, mainly because they are burnt out and deserve a break!
However, there is a problem: this means that for the next 12 weeks (including the 6 weeks holiday), students aren’t using or stretching their brains by using the skills they were using before.
How is my child placed in a set when they start secondary school?
When your child starts Year 7, they are placed in sets based on their SATs scores and then reset within weeks of starting or by the second half term. Some schools start Year 7 with mixed ability and this is the reason why.
Unsurprisingly, a Year 7 student’s attainment score no longer reflects their SATs score from 12 or more weeks ago. This is because, at primary school, students are taught over a concentrated period to pass their SATs and the questions rather than taking time to develop skills that are transferable and stay with them to build on (which is what our tutors concentrate on!).
So, what do secondary schools do to make sure they have accurate information in the first half term?
Many schools use the CAT4 (or CATs) tests which include 4 online tests each lasting 45 minutes. At Sowing Seeds, we are now helping Year 6 students prepare for Year 7 CATs tests alongside teaching the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum.
If my child has already attended tuition, shouldn’t they already be prepared for all these new tests?
We Have Good news!
Over the past 3 years, the Sowing Seeds approach has helped students start secondary school with confidence and achieve excellent results in their baseline subject based tests and CAT4 tests in Year 7 – these are accurate tests!
We have found that students that join us from Year 4, 5 and 6 have no longer needed us by the end of the first half term of Year 7 because they quickly grasp new challenging content because they already have the foundation knowledge. We also found that students that continued after their SATs and/or completed the Secondary Ready sessions over summer were more prepared for the CAT4 online tests and knew what to expect.
As a thank you for supporting us since we opened our doors, we have an introductory offer to access our new online learning platform, Century Tech, alongside our tuition for £37.50 per week. You can also take advantage of using our online only platform from £30 per month to gradually prepare for these tests.
For more information, contact us to book summer tuition or receive a login for our online platform.
