BGfL maths booster resources make revision easy!

All of the boosters target the nastiest, nightmare maths topics - from multiplication, division, fractions, ratios - and make them easy, interactive and fun - in small easy steps.

Why not try just one a day from now to the SATs?

Go to School Booster and mouse over each area to see what's on offer!

www.bgfl.org/schoolbooster    BOOST YOUR SATS    www.bgfl.org/schoolbooster    BOOST YOUR SATS    www.bgfl.org/schoolbooster

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What ARE the BGfL maths boosters?

• They are engaging, interactive and free maths activities to boost Birmingham pupils' mathematical attainment.
• Birmingham Grid for Learning designed and created them.
• They help to prepare Birmingham pupils for end of Key Stage SATs assessments or for the transition to secondary school.
• They are designed to bridge the gap between Level 3 and Level 4+.
• The topics chosen from the 11 SATs topics identified by Athena EAZ as those hardest to teach or to learn.
• These include: multiplication, division, ratio, proportion, area, perimeter, money calculations and problem-solving.
• They are suitable for KS3 and KS4 pupils, either for classroom-based consolidation or personal revision.

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SATs tests and arrangements

Dates
Monday 14 May 2012
English reading test

Tuesday 15 May 2012
(For schools administering externally marked English writing test and schools selected in the sample)
English writing test (shorter task) and spelling test
English writing (longer task)

Wednesday 16 May 2012
Mental mathematics test
Mathematics Test A

Thursday 17 May 2012
Mathematics Test B

Friday 18 May 2012
Science sampling tests (selected schools only)

Monday 21 May 2012
Level 6 test in English reading

Tuesday 22 May 2012
Level 6 tests in mathematics

Lord Bew’s review of KS2 testing

In November 2010, the DfE set out its education reform plans in The Importance of Teaching: The Schools White Paper 2010.

One of the concerns was end of KS2 assessment:

“The National Curriculum will continue to inform the design and content of assessment at the end of KS2, which will apply to every child and which will provide a guide to the performance of primary schools.”

The Department expressed concern that “there is excessive test preparation” for SATs, particularly in year 6.They therefore tasked Lord Bew with reviewing KS2 testing who published his final report in June 2011.

Lord Bew recommended that:

“There should be a greater emphasis on teacher assessment. Teachers are best placed to give an assessment of their pupils and uniquely qualified to identify the areas on which a child needs to focus in order to improve.

But there is also a need for externally marked tests as they give confidence that results are reliable and credible. That is why we have recommended a system which will properly balance the two forms of assessment. We looked at each core subject separately and considered the most appropriate way of assessing them. We concluded that a test is not appropriate for every subject. The writing test has been heavily criticised and we believe writing composition should in future be teacher assessed. At the same time, we think that, for instance, maths is well-served by a test.”

KS2 testing, assessment and accountability review: final report published, DfE

Review of KS2 testing, assessment and accountability, DfE