A very warm welcome to Year 2! 

Phonics and spellings:
Phonics is the term we use for the prime way we teach children to read and write. Phonics teaching is an essential part of every day teaching in school for all the children. Each child in Key Stage 1 will participate in a daily phonics session.  Phonics allows children to learn the letter sounds in clearly defined sequences. Children will learn to segment (split it up) a word and then blend (put together) the sounds in order to read or spell a word.  At Middleforth daily systematic synthetic phonics is taught through Pearson's Phonics bug, based on the Letters and Sounds programme which is made up of six phases.  As children move into Phase 6 they begin to learn  spelling rules and will move onto NoNonsene Spelling Programme.  

Phonics Screening Check:
The National Phonics Screening Check was introduced in 2012 to all Year 1 pupils.  It is a short, statutory assessment to ensure that children are making sufficient progress in acquiring the phonics skills needed read words and that children are on track to become fluent readers.  Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check for 2020-2021 did not take place.  Therefore, children in Year 2 during the academic year 2021-2022 will take part in the Phonics Screening Check in the second half of the Autumn Term.  Further details to follow.

Reading:
At Middleforth we try to promote a love for reading.  At Middleforth we have fidelity to one phonics and reading scheme based on a systematic synthetic phonics approach through the use of Phonics bug.  All children will receive home reading books and login to access Phonics Bug online.  This will allow them to rehearse learning taken place that week in their phonics sessions and a range of e-books.

Standard Assessment Tests (SATS):
In the Summer Term during the month of May children at the end of Key Stage One (Year 2 children) will sit SATs assessments.  Children are not made aware that they are doing a 'test' or made to feel anxious leading up to the assessments or on the day of administration.  The SATS assessments will consist of:

• English Reading 
• English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
• Mathematics

English Reading SAT:
The reading assessment for Year 2 pupils will involve two separate papers carried out on different days:

• Paper 1 consists of a selection of texts with questions interspersed
• Paper 2 comprises a reading booklet of a selection of passages.  Children will write their answers in a separate booklet

Each paper should take around 30 minutes, but children will not be strictly timed, as the assessments are not intended to assess children’s ability to work at speed. The texts in the reading papers will cover a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and will get progressively more difficult towards the end of the paper. Teachers will have the option to stop the assessment at any point that they feel is appropriate for a particular child.

There will be a variety of question types:

• Multiple choice
• Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show in which order they happened in the story’
• Matching, e.g. ‘Match the character to the job that they do in the story’
• Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title’
• Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that shows what the weather was like in the story’
• Short answer, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’
• Open-ended answer, e.g. ‘Why did Jenny write the letter to her grandmother? Give two reasons’

Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling:
Children taking Key Stage 1 SATs will sit two separate papers in grammar, spelling and punctuation:

• Paper 1: a 20-word spelling assessment.
• Paper 2: a grammar, punctuation and vocabulary assessment, in two sections of around 10 minutes each (with a break between, if necessary). This will involve a mixture of selecting the right answers e.g. through multiple choice, and writing short answers.

Mathematic tests:
The Key Stage 1 maths assessments will comprise two papers:

• Paper 1: arithmetic.
• Paper 2: mathematical fluency, problem-solving and reasoning. There will be a variety of question types: multiple choice, matching, true/false, constrained (e.g. completing a chart or table; drawing a shape) and less constrained (e.g. where children have to show or explain their method).

Children will not be able to use any tools such as calculators, number lines, counters or base 10 equipment.

How will the assessment papers be marked?
Although the assessments are set externally they will be marked by the Year 2 Class Teacher and moderated in school.  The scores will not be shared with parents, instead, parents will be informed in their childs school report whether their child met the expected standard for Year 2.  The scores from the SAT assessment papers are used to support yearly ongoing Teacher Assessment. 

Concerns / Queries
If you are concerned or have any questions regarding the SATS assessments.  Please feel free to contact the Year 2 Class Teacher directly through SeeSaw or via the school office.