Transfer from primary school to secondary school
Comparison between the cohorts
Measures were available for all participants for reading, numeracy and standard
attainment tasks (SATs). As Table 3 shows the typical cohort performed within the
average range on measures of reading and numeracy whereas both the SSLD cohort and
the SEN cohort performed at a lower level. Differences between SSLD and typical
cohorts were large and statistically significant for measures of reading (t =-9.57, df =
107, p < .0005, d =-1.92) and numeracy (t =-7.94, df = 07, p < .0005, d = -1.93 ) but
there were no significant differences between the SSLD and SEN cohorts (reading t =
0.14, df = 96, ns; numeracy t = -0.22, df = 97, ns).
INSERT TABLE 3 ABOUT HERE
These difficulties in language, literacy and numeracy were reflected in the
children’s achievements in their KS2 SATs as shown in Table 4 with each cohort’s
modal score highlighted. The TDgroup performed as per national norms with the
majority achieving level 4 or above. Children with SSLD performed particularly poorly
in English with the majority of pupils performing below expected levels. In addition to
performing below national targets on English and Maths a significant number of both the
SSLD and SEN cohort were not entered for the assessments.
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Teachers’, parents’ and pupils’ views of transfer in year 6
Parents from all three cohorts reported that a secondary school had been
identified for their child and levels of satisfaction with the choice were high (SSLD 82%;
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