Preparing Y6 Pupils for SATs

As May approaches, Year 6 teachers like me sense the clocks going forward and evolve into forensic education detectives (FEDs), for we have a great, final challenge to overcome: SATs! Or is it SATS? (Maybe it’ll be in the Grammar Test and we’ll get a definitive answer.)

Unlike any other primary year group, Year 6 teachers have the hefty responsibility of getting results that are a weighty part of the accountability system for all primary schools. You can argue that the role of Year 6 teachers is to put the icing on an already made cake, however, COVID has left many gaps in those cake layers and I know from speaking to many other Year 6 colleagues that recent cohorts have felt different, with the basics needing a good whisk and extra oven time.
 

How do I approach SATs preparation?

Using every tool at our disposal, be it previous test questions, Mock SATs, booster lessons, practice books or additional homework, it’s the time of year to be economical with time and focused on the remaining gaps. We have to prioritise and slimline the curriculum for a few weeks while still trying to keep pupils motivated to learn in ways that might be a bit more academic than usual. 

Identifying those gaps is an art form in itself. Quite apart from the heavy curriculum that has to be taught in Year 6, it’s important to consider that the tests will cover materials from the entire key stage 2 programme of study. We have to find a way to uncover those gaps. CGP+ has everything you need to prepare your pupils for SATs — we’ve got heaps of resources for KS2 Maths and KS2 English.
 

How do I help pupils cope with SATs preparation?

For pupils, it can be a different affair completely. Some are confident in tests while others find them a chore. Others crumble completely and don’t behave or perform like they do in everyday lessons. An important aspect of being a Year 6 teacher, which I have been, on and off, for 25 years, is making sure students know what to expect and balancing the inevitable school pressures to ‘get good results’ alongside pupil wellbeing.

In my class, from the start, we talk openly about the role of exams in life. We remind ourselves that this is the start of many formal examinations that pupils will encounter as they make the transition to high school and beyond. Parents and carers are a part of that conversation too. But the overriding message is to work hard, do your best and do yourself proud.
 

Preparing for the SATs — The Reading Test

Another element of SATs to bear in mind is that there are exam techniques to be learnt. These can only be learnt by looking at past papers and having a go. Pupils need to get a sense of time, pace and the confidence to work at or completely skip questions.

Pace is a big issue in the reading test. I try to give my pupils a sense of twenty minutes as the one-hour paper usually has three parts and even though you might be quick on the easier first part, the weighting of marks means you need to get to the end to ensure you can get the magic pass mark. Getting to know this test, out of all the others, takes the longest and needs the most practice, in my experience. We have to teach pupils how to retrieve information, read deeply enough to be able to infer and then to get that score up by proving your points with a good explanation or a quick quote from the text. We learn sentence stems to help us with this, such as ‘I know this because it says in the text’, followed by proof.
 

Preparing for the SATs — The Maths Test

The Maths test feels far more straight forward. We will work through efficient methods for the arithmetic test and share these until pupils have a toolkit of methods that they can quickly draw on.

Gaining a solid score in arithmetic can take the pressure off the tricker aspects of the two reasoning tests. One area we really focus on here is knowing how many marks you can score for each question. Generally, one mark in reasoning is about one minute in time. If you can’t get the drawing done in a minute, move on and come back to it.

Pupils need to learn to break the reasoning questions down into two elements: the information part and then the actual question they’re being asked. This is always highlighted in blue. Once they have these two parts, they can underline key information and work out the number operations needed. Show your working is a mantra we instil from day one in Year 6. You can’t check something you did in your head, so it works out quicker in the end to write it down.

Preparing for the SATs — The Grammar Test

Grammar is a knowledge test – knowing the tenses, punctuation names and purposes, grammar terms, word type etc. It’s got a geeky edge to it that either floats or sinks your boat. Along with other Year 6 teachers, I have noticed a dip in spelling knowledge recently. Preparing for this test involves finding fun videos and songs, using the grammar terms in real writing experiences and trying to find patterns in spellings.

Year 6, with all these barely hidden SATs elements, can feel a little bit like a military campaign at times, all efforts on the battle ahead. But children are amazingly adaptable and open to challenge like this. They can see the value of the mission to do their best and like to see their scores going up over the year. The best part of all this is that it does prepare them for the next tranche of exams at high school.
 

What can I do in SATs week?

Finally, in SATs week, one of the ways I make sure nerves and pre-test problems are smoothed away is to hold a breakfast club just for the Year 6 pupils. We all meet, eat, chat, do an early register and home in on the pupils who might need a bit of extra TLC (Test Last-minute Confidence). The free breakfast, which most of the staff also attend - especially their previous teachers, who are proud to see their former pupils flourishing - helps us ensure all pupils arrive on time for the tests with a hearty breakfast inside them, or maybe just an extra sugar boost. They have their friends beside them for a chinwag, too - a sense that we’re all in the same boat. In the past, this has also helped us deal with freshly broken limbs, pupils who are M.I.A. - (Moving In Aeroplanes, on the way to Spain for a cheap holiday) plus the inevitable mini-panics that can scupper confidence in the test.

My pupils will already know which test room they’re in, which staff are nearby, what help they can and can’t have and the structure of the day. We share top tips for each test before going into battle and remind them to make full use of any assistance that’s allowed within the strict rules.

Many teachers balk at the idea of being put into Year 6, and I did too, once, but I like the focus, the laser precision and the sense of mission we have. It’s still a bit scary though.

I have been a teacher for 28 years, deputy head for about twenty-four of those, and taught from Reception all the way up to Year 6. In this time, I did a two-year stint with my local authority as an adviser for ICT, working in a wide range of schools with teachers and children. I have always been a class teacher at heart, inspired by the wonderful minds of pupils, which makes teaching such an intense but creative and satisfying career.
 

To see CGP+ resources by Simon, click here.                

To feast your eyes on CGP Books’ huge Primary SATs range, follow this link.