2021 KS2 SATs Cancelled – Primary School Closures
On Monday 4th January, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, made the decision to close primary schools across the country, disrupting education for millions of children. On Wednesday 6th January, Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson announced that all primary school KS2 SATs are cancelled for 2021.
This has left many parents feeling overwhelmed and concerned. With so many unanswered questions, parents across Britain are now wondering how their child’s education will be affected. In response to this, the entire team at Think Academy UK has been working tirelessly to create free home learning study packs for primary school children. We’ve made packs available for each year group, and we invite you to download them using the links below.
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Why are the KS2 Year 6 SATs cancelled?
It is now the opinion of the Government that if schools were to hold exams this summer, students would be underprepared. A consequence of school closures due to repeated national lockdowns, students sitting exams in 2021 would experience an unfair disadvantage. Put simply, their results would likely not reflect their true ability.
While there are some advantages to online learning, the academic year 2020-2021 has already seen multiple periods of students forced to make the transition to full-time remote learning. This is not an adequate substitute for the learning that takes place in the classroom. It has likely been a significant mitigating factor in the decision to cancel the KS2 SATs for 2021.
Are the KS2 Year 6 SATs important?
Students usually sit the KS2 SATs in Year 6, with the tests held by primary schools around May. The tests are important in allowing schools to benchmark a student’s progress. The KS2 SATs are used to analyse whether a student is at the expected level of education when compared to the national average of their peers. Likewise, it is a good indicator as to whether students are underperforming.
Ofsted also refers to a school’s KS2 SATs results in their reports when conducting an Ofsted inspection.
How will your child’s education be affected by the cancellation of the KS2 Year 6 SATs?
Measuring a child’s progress in core subjects such as English and maths will now become more challenging. The Department for Education has suggested that individual teacher assessments will suffice in place of the KS2 SATs tests.
This is unlikely to reassure parents who are all too aware that repeated school closures will increase the likelihood of their child falling behind, especially if they struggle in subjects such as maths.
That’s why an increasing number of parents have taken the decision to further invest in their child’s education.
Online Tuition
Using online tuition is an effective way to ensure that children can catch up and progress in core subjects such as English and maths. Remote though it is, it remains accessible for many children; allowing them to continue learning in a safe environment, albeit remotely. At Think Academy UK, we’ve extended enrolment to our online maths courses for children in Years 1 – 6, offering affordable group tuition at £6.00 per class for KS1 and £8.00 per class for KS2. Moreover, as learning takes place within a group setting, children will learn alongside other students to provide the peer-learning environment that they have been deprived of due to school closures. You can learn more about our courses here.
Home Learning Study Packs
Our team have been busy preparing study packs to support your child’s home learning routine. We’ve put together our very own maths booklets, and we are offering a free study pack for each Year group. As well as questions, we have also included answers so that you can check your child’s work.
Simply click the links below to access each pack. We invite you to download and print them out so that your child can do them at home:
CBBC Primary School Programming
The BBC has also announced that from January 11th it will broadcast 3 hours of primary school programming per day starting at 9am, in an effort to make digital learning available to everybody. Viewers will be able to watch this on CBBC.
How will your child be assessed if the KS2 Year 6 SATs are cancelled?
As explained, schools are putting procedures in place to carry out teacher-led assessments. Not much is known about how these will assess pupils and when they will take place. Please be sure to check this article for regular updates.
It is also not known how this will affect Year 6 pupils’ transition to secondary schools, however it likely that the Department for Education will clarify this in the coming weeks.
Use CODE: 247HYP7In5 to redeem £12.00 off Think Academy’s January 2021 maths courses! Enter your code at the checkout here! Give your child a confidence boost in maths and help them to prepare for the 11+ exam or simply catch up and make progress in maths!
Read more:
Help with Maths – Top 5 Reasons to Choose Group Tuition in 2021
