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It may seem like every second week your primary school is testing students to get them ready for the new curriculum being phased in this year. If you’ve had a look at the new standards, it might seem as if this year requires your child to use more reasoning skills in order to do well. To meet these demands MagiKats has designed a new SATs revision programme that is now running in all our local workshops.

• We think it is important to start revising students in examination groups right now.
• We’ve come up with some creative ways to ensure core skills are placed inside critical thinking-style questions.
• We’re helping everyone get-to-grips with new ways questions will be asked and what style of answer is expected.

At MagiKats, we all agree that what is crucial to our students undergoing this tougher curriculum is locating the right information and being able to explain what they’ve found.

Gaps in Learning

MagiKats HQ is keen on giving students the opportunity to enjoy their learning. After all, education is the pathway to life-long enjoyment of learning – right? Each child receives a combination of activities in Maths and English, a variety of question papers, and one-to-one mentoring in every workshop. Fun activities and focused revision materials offer students a solid opportunity to fill gaps in learning – and enjoy the process.

Misunderstanding Question-types and Wordings

In our workshops, mentors find that lower results can be put down to lack of practice or learning something important only once, or in one way. This leads to students being confused when a question is worded in a different way. We know important concepts get missed sometimes. Tutoring sessions with our mentors cover all curriculum areas – and students are always relieved when a gap is identified and addressed.

Extra Support Requirements

MagiKats Mathematics and English revision programmes are designed to check the boxes. Feedback sheets from our mentors each session identify gaps - including the “sticky” areas students often say they’d like to revise.  We tailor our programmes for individual learning and we don’t just teach to the tests. This is an important part of our approach to learning at MagiKats. Students can practise for tests, or they can feel confident about tests, and there is such a difference between the two.

Who can study the New SATs Revision Programmes?

We’re offering our KS1 and KS2 SATs revision for Maths and English to our more experienced students who’ve been with us a while and enjoy the challenge of learning that stretches them. If your child is not yet studying at MagiKats, then you can enquire today by visiting www.magikats.co.uk/find-a-centre to see if there are any spaces left in your local workshops.

What’s in the New Specifications?

You might have read up on this already, so I’ve only included a brief summary and our response to it. If you’d like more details or to discuss your child’s progress please feel free to find your local centre at www.magikats.co.uk/find-a-centre and give them a call. They would love to hear from you.

English reading Paper 1: combined reading prompt and answer booklet

English reading Paper 2: reading booklet and reading answer booklet

Both papers concentrate on reading unseen texts and answering comprehension-style questions. We’ve introduced a topic-based comprehension unit.

English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Paper 1.

Several spelling tests consisting of the key words. Tailored grammar and punctuation sessions.

English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Paper 2.

A 45-minute paper with critical thinking-style questions about these core skills. We’ve introduced a Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Revision Unit to cover gaps in learning related to the paper guidance materials.

Mathematics Paper 1: Arithmetic

We’ve added a new arithmetic no calculators revision unit.

Mathematics Paper 2: Reasoning

Various question combinations including word sums and spatial reasoning practice.

*Source: 2018 Assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA)