SATs

Pre-SATs Revision Timeline For Teachers

Adam Still

Year 6 teachers unite. SATs revision is upon us and we’re here to help keep you on track for the May deadline. Commencing the week of the 13th May 2024, SATs preparation might be well underway. For those of you still looking for help, let us take you through our timeline to help you prepare your SATs revision slots while ensuring no topic is left uncovered.

Table of Contents:

Summary of Our Pre-SATs Revision Timeline

Preparing your class to revise for SATs exams needs to start early in the academic year.
Having a timeline in place not only keeps you accountable for hitting deadlines and milestones across the year, but also helps keep you on track to covering the whole curriculum in a timely manner.
Breaking down our recommended timeline for SATs revision, we believe:
- 9 months before exams - assess your classes knowledge gaps from previous KS2 learning
- 6 months before exams - when learning and revising topics, introduce SATs exam style questions.
- 3 months before exams - create a checklist of all the topics you’ve covered to help students revise the themes they may not feel as confident on.
- 1 month before exams - start to prepare your students by setting up mock exams in the classroom, to help them envision what test day will be like.
- The week of the exams - the key is to keep your class calm and provide the last minute confidence boost.

Why Teachers Need a Timeline to Prepare for SATs

Timelines can be a great way to prepare for the SATs exam season, especially as a busy teacher. Not only can it help you visualise the date range you have to work with, it can help you set deadlines or milestones to hit at every half or full term. Our top tip for SATs preparation is to start early. By this we mean preparation could even begin at the end of the summer term ahead of your new Year 6 class joining you in September.

Discover our wide range of SATs resources to help you prepare your timeline today. Sign up and receive a 7-day free trial of our premium content.

SATs Preparation Timeline For Teachers

9 Months Before SATs Week (September)

This autumn term can be a crucial time for teachers to prepare their class for the Year 6 SATs exams. It’s within this term that you can truely start to access your classes' knowledge gaps, from previous KS2 learning, which may be essential for the SATs exams. With the exams focusing primarily on Year 6 Maths and Year 6 English curriculums, testing your students' knowledge in these areas should be a priority.

Alongside testing existing understanding, the key focus as a teacher is to build your students confidence and solid foundations of knowledge. One way you can begin this is by one to one SATs revision sessions. By factoring one on one sessions early into your SATs revision timeline, you can ensure the children who may be struggling more receive the help earlier rather than later.

6 Months Before SATs Week (December)

With the excitement of Christmas approaching, it's still important to follow your SATs revision timeline to help prepare your class for the exams ahead. While you think you have plenty of time in the year left, once you return from Christmas the clock really ticks down quite quickly.

Marking six months prior to SATs, you can start to introduce SATs style exam questions into your lesson planning. Whether they are introduced following new topics being covered, or at the end of each lesson, go with whatever works best for you and your class. These questions can help prepare your class for what to expect on SATs week, but also help connect what they have learnt and try to put it into practice.

3 Months Before SATs Week (March)

Having Easter on the horizon, SATs week is inching closer and closer. Three months prior to examination week, revision for SATs should be heating up. At this point you may have completed your schemes of work or be close to finishing the syllabus. Ideally nothing new should be being taught at this stage in the term.

It is at this point that you can be introducing past mock papers to help give an idea of what the test day is going to be like. While it doesn’t have to be formally set up like on test day, it can put into practice all the previous SATs exam questions you have been revising.

Another SATs revision resource to introduce is a checklist for students. As you may have your own teacher SATs checklist, you’ll appreciate how helpful this structure can be. Writing out all the maths themes and English activities covered up until this point, can help students study in their free time, helping to build further confidence.

1 Month Before SATs Week (April)

The one month deadline has arrived. No need to panic! With SATs less than four weeks away, it's time to continue revision and nipping any last minute errors in technique in the bud. A helpful tip towards planning your lessons over this period is assigning time to perform mock exams. Making sure they are sat in the morning and under exam conditions, can help students prepare for what the examination week will be like. It can also showcase that nothing scary is going to happen when the time approaches, because they have already prepared and revised for their SATs under these conditions.

The Week of SATs (May)

SATs week has arrived and all that hard revision is about to be put into practice. The most important thing to remember during this week is to try and keep a calming environment. Some students may feel the nerves build, while others take it in their stride, it's finding that balance that can try to help achieve the best results. Whether you practise mindfulness techniques learnt from mental health week, or incorporate more PE resources into the class, both will help to keep energy levels high.

How Pango Can Help You Prepare For SATs

Made for teachers, by teachers, our wide selection of lesson resources are aligned to the national primary curriculum. Simply find your year group and subject and allow our high-quality resources to help save you time lesson planning. From geography worksheets, to science activities and history resources, sign up today and receive a 7-day free trial to all our premium content.