Lillie has just moved into Year 5 and already we can feel the clock ticking away on her Key Stage 2 journey. Some of her friends have already started additional tutoring sessions in preparation for taking their SATs and the 11+. Lillie has been sent a selection of the new design Letts KS2 SATs Success Revision and Workbooks to try out.
It pays to practice
Speaking to other parents there is a divide in opinions on how much extra help you should provide for your child, I tend to sit somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, I think that your child’s natural abilities will ensure that they get the results they need to place them where they need to be but on the other, you want your children to have the best possible chance at school. When your child takes their SATs this will help their secondary school to place them into their sets for Maths and English. There will, of course, be an opportunity for them to move up and down as the year progresses but starting school in a higher set will improve their confidence and get them off to a good start.
Lett’s KS2 Maths SATs Success Revision Books
The books are aimed at children aged 7-11 years so children can start utilising these books from Year 2 which is where Ollie is at right now. Personally, I don’t feel that he is at the stage where he could do these yet but I will certainly keep them in mind as he progresses through Years 3 and 4.
Helpful Tips
Inside the front cover there is a helpful guide which explains how to use the book to your best advantage with a key to the things to look out for;
- Top Tip – help you to do your best
- Keywords – these boxes help you to find out what important words mean
- Listen Up – alongside the books you can download a FREE Audio Book. Listen Up tells you which track to select to support your revision.
- Quick Tests – take the quick tests to see how well you are doing
- Hands-on Revision – revision activities to reinforce your learning
- Mind Maps – using a mind map will help to summarise what you have learnt
Lett’s KS2 Maths SATs Success Workbooks
Although it is possible to just use the Revision Books which contain practice questions throughout each section, you can further practise your knowledge using the SATs Success Workbooks.
The workbook is packed with questions to test your knowledge on the same topics and sub-topics as the revision books as well as top tips along the way and real SATs questions to prepare you and answers so that you can keep a track of how much you are learning.
Topics
The books are divided into chapters by topic, Lillie has started using both her Maths and her English. Maths has been broken down into Numbers, Calculations, Fractions/Decimals/ Percentages, Ratio and Proportion, Algebra, Measurement, Geometry and Statistics and then each topic has been further broken down into sub-topics to make it into bite-size learning followed by mind maps and practice questions.
English has been broken down into Reading, Fiction Writing, Non-Fiction Writing, Grammar and Punctuation, Spelling, Speaking and Listening. Again, each topic has then been broken down further into sub-topics, mind maps and practice questions.
Little and Often
There aren’t many children who want to do school work when they are at home but doing additional work really does help. We have seen the proof with Will and how his extra efforts at home have paid off in the classroom. We have challenged Lillie with just doing one sub-topic from English or Maths in the morning before school on two mornings per week.
Builds Confidence
I was fully expecting her to protest but she didn’t, she has happily picked them up and got stuck in. She said that she has actually surprised herself with what she has remembered so far and already feels like they are helping her. We have noticed in the past that Lillie can become quite negative when she gets stuck and will put herself down so we are working on building her confidence to see that she can do it and that sometimes she just needs to believe in herself. I truly believe that with regular practise sessions with these books she will find that confidence and unlock her true potential.
