How to Prepare Your Child for SAT’s

SAT’s can be a stressfull time for both parents, teachers and children but it doesn’t have to be. Like most parents we want our children to achieve their full protential and be happy.

With that in mind I decided to put together these 12 helpful tips to help you support and guide your child through SAT’s and how to help them be more prepared.

What are SAT’s?

Next week is SAT’s week. SAT’s or standard assessment tasks are designed to assess wether a child matches the expected National Curriculum Levels. Love them or loathe them if your child is in Y2, the end of KS1 or Y6, the end of key stage two chances are they will be sitting thess formal assessments next week.

SAT’s week starts on Monday 9th of May with children being asessed in English and Maths.  I didn’t really think about SAT’s when I planned my family (I doubt most people consider atall!) and so have ended up with both children sitting SAT’s in the same year! 

However, it has meant that as a family we have been working towards this for the past month or so.  Both children have had revision sessions at home.  Maybe its because we are both teachers, but talking to friends I know it’s not just us who are focussing as a family on this important milestone.

Will The Children Know They Are Doing Tests?

Many children in Y2 will not be aware of the SAT’s as they are carried out discreetly. However I am not sure that this approach is the best. I agree with not worrying children about them but I think its important that the child knows and understands the procedure.

Imagine doing a test without being told its important and its a test! Imagine learning to drive again and suddenly you get in, turn on the engine, bunny hop down the road and want to give up, then you are told you are being graded. Surely that would panic you more than a gradual build-up where you understand what is happening.

Therefore we have gently introduced Dylan (Y2) to the concept, he knows he has to try and answer every question. We have bought and practiced a couple of past papers, alternatively, you can download some past papers on sites like Parents in Touch.

This helps the child to get familiar with the layout.  Y2 SAT’s should just be confirming the teachers expected levels.  The children are continually assessed and this should just clarify where the children are.

There is a much bigger emphasis on the SAT’s in Y6, the children will have been prepared by their teachers, they will know what is expected and will have done some practice papers in class.  Chloe’s school has been informing us each time they do a practice paper and notifying us of the scores.

What can parents do?

As a teacher I know that a joint partnership between school and home is vital for our children.  Therefore as parents this week and next there are lots of things we can do to help.

1. Ensure Regular Routines Are Kept

This means sleep times and recreational times.  You want to keep the child happy and secure as a happy child can be a successful child.

Many children don’t work well when out of a routine, a routine is a great way of keeping your child happy and healthy. Many are adaptable but during these extra learning hours and worries over SAT’s you want to make sure you are keeping everything else the same.

2. Ensure A Big Hearty Breakfast Kick Starts The Day

We all need the right fuel to function and blood sugar levels have a lot to answer for!  Also make sure lunch is nutritious to avoid that after-lunch slump, remember they will be doing tests in the afternoon too.

3.  Make Sure Children Have Rest Time Too

Exercise is so important to keep confidence and motivation high.  It makes us all feel better as it releases are happy hormones.  Therefore their weekly dance lesson or kickboxing is a good distraction and shouldn’t be dropped.

Make sure whatever hobbies they have or what they like to do in downtime is still set into their weekly routine. As they will often look forward to these days and times you want to give them something to work towards.

You can also keep these written into the calendar or timetable if you decide to use one.

4. Have A Revision Space

Make sure that your child has somewhere to revise or work from.  Keep younger siblings out of the way as not to interrupt them. This gives them an area to be focused in and when they are in that space they know its their revision time.

Keep areas of the house that they enjoy such as the living room for TV time and bedroom for playing etc. Make the space in one area so if they get overwhelmed the feeling can be left in that space and the rest of the house is still a free space for them to enjoy as they normally would.

5. Be positive – always

This might be an obvious one but honestly, it can get as stressful for us adults wanting our child to achieve their full potential as it is for the child actually taking the SAT’s.

Be there for them, encourage them and help them the way you would want to be if the tables were turned.

6. Have The Practical Equipment Ready

Make sure they have the practical equipment they need, especially for at home.  The school will provide the equipment in school, but they may need a protractor or dictionary at home if they are revising.  Chloe enjoyed a shopping trip to get new pencils etc last week, it made her feel good to have nice equipment.

7.  Have Rewards Ready

Put some rewards in place, these don’t have to cost money, the reward can be your time, a trip out somewhere or an activity they like to do. Rewards are a great way of creating positive feelings towards revising and learning.

Having anything as a reward for getting a certain score, doing well on their revision or just getting through the SAT’s without a tantrum is great. This can also create a good relationship with your child and future tests. Although having material goods are often a motivator – Chloe wants an I Pod Touch if she hits her targets!!

8. Try Different Forms Of Learning

Not everyone learns the same way and while yoru child will be sat doing the paper, the information they learn can be taught in a number of ways to help it stick in place.

Find out a way in which you child learns best, whether it is from writing and copying, interacting in an activity or by listening. Children often find it easier to learn when they are having fun, make certain task more interactive and memorable.

This will help them take more note in the task, be entertained and involved in the learning process. Use tools, toys or activities to help create scenarios to help portray the question and answer.

9. Create A Timetable

Creating a timetable can be a great way of creating a pocket of time where your child knows its time to revise and do some extra learning. Having a visual timetable is great as they can see the breakdown of the day and what they have to look forward to.

Visuals in children are great as they can see what to expect and mentally prepare for it, helping them have less mood changes and outbursts of ‘no, I don’t want to do it’.

10. Practice Timed Tasks

Some children thrive on competition and so making everything into a form of competition gives them the drive and willingness to do the task at hand. Whereas some children couldn’t think of anything worse, they like to take their time and get their head around the task at hand.

As your child will be sitting the SAT’s for a set period of time you want to make sure they are comfortable with using that amount of time to get the papers done.

If you feel your child is one who might take longer than is given or will struggle with the time, create timed activities to help them work in the given time.

Use a number of different tasks around the house, in their revision times or even in board games to help them get used to working within a time frame.

11. Encourage Independent Learning

Along with being there for your child and helping them learn in new ways, try and encourage some independent learning. This will give your child the confidence to make decisions alone and not look to another person for help.

This is important as they will need to be able to get through a paper on their own. Put independent learning into a timetable once a week to encourage them to be responsible and take on the task alone.

12. Track Their Progress

Some children struggle to have confidence and to know if they have progressed at all. A great way of knowing if any of your techniques and if they are learning is to track their progress.

Keep a record of papers and how well they have done on each one, or track which subjects they have made the most progress in. This can be influencial when they feel they might not be where they want to be, especially in certain subjects.

Remember your child cannot FAIL SAT’s they are measured against levels and will receive a level.

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