How can I help my child prepare for the KS1 SATs?

As a maths and science tutor for KS1 and KS2, I often have parents asking how they can help their child prepare for their SAT exams. First of all be aware of all the subjects that will be assessed in the KS1 assessment. The key subjects are Maths and English. The curriculum is normally covered over a two year period from Year 1 to Year 2.

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This is the process I would recommend.

1. Identify all topics in each year group for Maths and English.

2. Ensure your child understands what is being taught in class, and try to do some informal tests for each subject using workbooks for KS1 Maths and English. These can be purchased at any bookstore ore even online.

3. Engage with the school to know your child's progress each term. 

4. Identify the gaps in learning. You can tutor your child yourself or you can get a tutor to do the work for you.

5. Ensure that the tutor covers all the areas of difficulty, but also ensure that they cover the other areas of the curriuclum to  futher support your child.

6. At the end of each term during the holidays, try to revise the topics covered during the term. You could get some workbooks or use other activities to help with this.

7. During the Summer, it is also advisable to revise the topics covered in the previous year, so that your child does not forget their learning.

8. SATs are normally held in the month of May after the Easter holidays. It is best during this particular holiday, to purchase KS1 practice test papers or download free ones online.

9. Let your child first of all get to grips with answering questions and answering them correctly.

10. Once you are sure that your child has a good understanding and is able to do well across all the topics, you can then begin to set the SATs exam papers and time your child infomally,

11. This may prove difficult at first, but over time it becomes easier. 

12. Let your child know that they need to answer questions that they find easier first, and then focus on the harder ones, so that they do not run out of time.

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I used this same process for all six of my children and it worked well. The only difference was that I was their tutor from KS1 right up to GCSE level. If you need the help of a private tutor for maths and science lessons for your children, feel free to get in contact for further information.

I hope this helps!