32. A) Read the interview about Standard Attainment Tests. Match questions 1-5 with answers a-e.

1) What are SATs for?

2) Do children have to take SATs?

3) What do the tests involve?

4) How will children be helped to prepare?

5) So should children be so anxious about SATs?

Standard Attainment Tests

A Some children do become stressed over the tests but they don’t involve a pass or fail – they just reflect how well the child has understood what they’re learning at school. The more relaxed you are, the better your child will be able to tackle the test. So don’t make a big thing of it at home.

B SATs help teachers and parents learn more about the child’s strengths and weaknesses. Teachers can compare how well each child is doing with their peers, both in their school and across the country. They can also measure how much each child improves from one Key Stage to another. In addition, head teachers and local authorities use the results to help identify schools that are struggling and, if a school is doing really well, it can share what it’s doing right with other schools.

C Children are tested on what they have been learning at school. At Key Stage 1 children will be assessed by their teacher (known as the teacher assessment) on speaking and listening, reading and writing, maths. At Key Stage 2 (year 6), teacher assessment will cover English, maths and science. Children will also sit in exam conditions to take written tests in reading, writing (including handwriting), spelling, maths, mental arithmetic, and science. Teacher assessment can help to judge children’s performance in a subject over a longer period of time. The results of teacher assessment are equally important, as a teacher may feel your child is doing better in a subject as a whole than in the parts of it covered by a test.

D In England, the tests are compulsory for all 7 and 11 year olds. SATs in Key Stage 3 have recently been scrapped.

E Teachers try to make sure that the tests are as stress-free as possible, and that they are fair as possible to all children. Teachers can arrange extra help for children that have special needs. Teachers use past papers so children can practise the kind of questions they may need to answer in a test environment. This will help children feel more comfortable with exams.

b) In pairs discuss if you agree with the idea that SATs is a good idea. Use the Essential Strategy Language.

33. Read the text and fill in the gaps with the word which fits it. Use only one word in each gap.

Young people (1) _____ don’t appear to care much about exam results are often secretly very anxious. Try to get your son or daughter to talk to you before results day about how they’re feeling. Poor exam results are not disastrous. It’s very important to make sure your child understands that. (2) _____ the grades, there will be choices open to them. (3) _____ , whether your child does well or does badly, it’s not the results in themselves that will make a difference (4) _____ what happens next – it’s what your child does with them that matters. Plenty of successful people did badly in their GCSEs, and plenty of not-very-successful adults did very well in theirs. So, make sure your son or daughter knows that (5) _____ happens on results day, there’s a way forward – and make sure you believe this message yourself. You won’t be able to convince them to think positively (6) ____ you are. Talk to your child about how, and with whom, he or she wants to open the results envelope. It might feel less competitive to find out their grades away from their classmates. And don’t be offended if they want to open their results alone - just let your son or daughter know that you’ll be there for them (7) _____ they’re ready to talk through their results with you.

On the day itself, be prepared for all eventualities. Your child might have done very well, and will want to celebrate (with friends or even with you!). But the news might not be so good, in which case they’ll need your support and reassurance that it’s not the end of the world. It goes (8) _____ saying that good news will be much easier to handle than bad news. Try to be prepared for either. Clearly, bad results will feel crushing for you as parents, as well as for your child. But your job is to offer a sense of perspective.

Your child has far less experience of life than you - he or she may not have experienced a sense of failure before. You might want to talk to them, at some stage, about the failures you’ve suffered in your own life, and about (9) _____ you turned them round and made things work out. Encourage your son or daughter to talk to teachers at school about the possibility of resits. Remember – it’s not about success or failure. It’s all about what they do next. There are plenty of people (10) _____ will tell you that a failed exam, or disappointing grades, didn’t stop them from going on to make a success of their life.