Rising Up

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By Hazel ShearingEducation correspondent

The details of last week's Year 6 Sats reading paper have been published, after some teachers and parents said it was so tough it left children in tears.

One question asked 10 and 11-year-olds to find a similar word to " eat" in a passage that contained both " consume" and " feeding".

Even staff " had to really think" about the answers, The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said.

The Department For Education (DfE) said the Sats were " rigorously trialled".

Bbc News was given The Paper on Wednesday, so was able to look over The Questions before their publication.

Concerns have been raised about its length and complexity, with some parents and teachers reporting that children were unable to finish it.

The Paper has fuelled a debate among teachers and parents about the purpose of Sats.

In The Test , children had One Hour to answer 38 questions about three set texts.

The First was an extract from A Story about friends who believe they have come across sheep " rustlers" - a word used in the text, which means someone who steals animals from farms.

Another was an interview about bats in Texas, which was based on a 2016 New York Times article.

The Final passage was taken from a book called " The Rise of Wolves".

Three tough questions in the KS2 Sats reading paper

One head teacher identified three of the toughest questions in a phone call with Bbc News on Wednesday, before she had seen The Mark scheme.

Question 17

Look at Harriet's answer beginning

Find and copy one word that is closest in meaning to " eat".

Answer: The Teacher tells us The Answer is likely to be " consume" but believes many children will write " feeding".

Question 8

What does this tell you about how Priya got inside The Tent ? Tick one.

Answer: The Teacher tells us The Answer is likely to be that she had to squeeze in, but believes many children will have chosen that she crept in.

Question 13

Look at The First two paragraphs.

In which American state is The Congress Avenue Bridge found?

Answer: The Answer is Texas but The Teacher tells us it is likely children will not be familiar enough with American Geography to know that Austin is not a state.

Joe Saunders , from West Sussex , said his son Alfie does not usually talk too much about school at The End of The Day , but " immediately" wanted to tell his parents about the Sats paper last Wednesday.

" Alfie, certainly in his case, was going into this having done really well in all his practices. He was completing all of his reading tests. So he had no concerns that he wasn't going to complete it, " He Said .

" Of the 15 or 20 that he's done over The Last couple of months, the only one he hasn't completed or been able to complete is The One that he did last week, which makes it feel like something went wrong with that paper. "

'Complex'

Simon Kidwell, NAHT vice-president and principal at Hartford Manor Primary School and Nursery in Cheshire, said children had " Gone Home really struggling because they hadn't finished the reading test".

" Staff had to really think about how they would answer those questions. So clearly it was quite a challenging, complex paper, " He Said .

Asked how hard he thought Sats papers should be, He Said : " Children should be able to finish them. "

The NAHT has raised concerns with the Standards and Testing Agency (STA), which delivers assessments, and Ofqual, England's exams regulator.

Gillian Hillier, chief executive of the STA, said this year's papers were " trialled with thousands of pupils" last April and had been developed over " at least three years".

" We use a range of rigorous and robust processes to ensure the tests are Appropriate and fair, including reviews by teachers, curriculum and inclusion experts and other education professionals, " She Said .

There were measures in place to " ensure that each test is of similar difficult to those in previous years" she added.

" As Is the case every year, we will use data from the marked tests and trials to ensure The Score needed to meet the expected standard reflects the relative difficulty of The Test , " Ms Hillier said.

" We will continue to engage with schools, unions and other stakeholders to understand their views on the papers this year, and in regard to all aspects of primary assessment. "

A DfE spokesman said Sats were " an important way of identifying pupils' strengths and where they may have fallen behind as they head to secondary school".

What are Sats?

Standard Assessment Tests, or Sats, are tests that children take in Year 6, at The End of Key Stage 2. They are national curriculum assessments in English grammar, punctuation and spelling, English reading and maths.

The government's Standards and Testing Agency the purposes of Sats tests are to:

Children also sit Sats in Year 2, at The End of Key Stage 1.

Related Topics

Source of news: bbc.com