Mumsnet Talk

So DD is in year 6....first term not too bad, lots of topic work, fab PE lessons with an Olympic standard athelete coming in regularly, mock SATS each half term....

So far this term...no art, music or drama and half an hour a week PE in order to make room for daily spelling, puncutation and grammer revision. No new concepts in numeracy or literacy, but lots of revision. Weekly mental maths tests. Mock SATS last week.

After half term - no topic work at all, just SATS revision.....plus the school now wants parents to buy their approved SATS revision workbooks....

When asked, the teachers could not say how the SATS would benefit the children....

Is it me or is this mad?

It is mad. Completely. SATs ruin year 6. The teachers think it's just as pointless as your do, btw.

We don't have SATs in Scotland, and I don't see anyone suffering. Quite the opposite, in fact!

Its mad...completely pointless. The schools get so frantic over the league tables that the fun is sucked out of learning. The kids get pushed to make the school look good and end up thinking that this really matters to them as well.

Wish they'd abandon the league tables...happy to have standard tests that help to show up learning issues for the children but the current system isn't doing anyone any good.

Teachers hate it too, but there is no choice in many schools. It's a brave school that risks the negative attention of OfSTED and the possibility of being forced to become an academy, with the certain dismissal of the HT and SMT, by being creative in year 6. We all know that there are better ways of doing it, but if it was your job on the line ....

Until they change the system you have to suck it up or home educate. I don't agree with them either BTW.

LaBelle is right, no school wants to risk a crap ofsted report. DD's old primary school is in the top 50 in England. There is no way they aren't going to push their year 6s.

I'm dreading this next year, dd is sen and doesn't cope with any kind of pressure, she falls apart and dds school is a bit of a hot house. They have been full on for year 6s from October half term.

All three secondaries told me they retest within weeks.

Wow. I thought DD1's school was bad last year when they sent home a stack of revision worksheets for her to do over the Easter holidays - to the tune of an hour a day. We recycled it.

"Wow. I thought DD1's school was bad last year when they sent home a stack of revision worksheets for her to do over the Easter holidays - to the tune of an hour a day. We recycled it."

That is completely overkill. Even DD's high performing school didn't do that.

At least we provide the revision guides, it's a bit much asking parents to buy them!
Actually my year 6's love the guides and start asking in January when they are getting them! I hate SATS with a passion, surprisingly the majority of the children don't, they like the tests and we aim to ensure they continue with the vast majority of the curriculum for as long as is humanly possible!!!

Hooray for Satisfactory schools!!

DD is not being drilled at all, no wonder our (under-subscribed, DD is in a class of 22) school gets such mediocre SAT results (*hooray!*). Yes it IS a state school.

So far this term they have art (Henry Moore style drawings), journalism, music (guitar and Glockenspiel), Science (forces), history (World War II), sport (Cross country and tag rugby tournaments).

Other new for DD things = probability in maths and maybe some of the journalism exercises (English).

DD vaguely knows SATs are on in May. She's predicted Level 6 in at least one subject and she's not the only one.

Lljkk your school does music?

Dd hasn't done music since September!

DD's old primary school did music - exceptionally well. The orchestra played at the Albert Hall last year.

We've studied Matisse and had a whole school french day, been to a football and a rugby tournament, are going on a school trip next week, have a visiting science expert in next week, trip to church for pancakes, studied the normans, written a newspaper, made a cross stitch panel and a few other things too! Not all schools are SATS factories, but the vast majority have to take them seriously, sorry but our jobs depend on it and until the Government changes the rules, or parents stop looking at league tables, we have to ensure the children do the best they can!

bunbaker and it wasn't a particularly high performing school, just an ordinary middle that was going to be closed due to going two-tier.

I have a DD in Yr5 this year, you can tell they're worried about the spelling/grammar test, they get homework on the topic every week and she's only in Yr5 - not that I'm against learning grammar thoroughly, but I;ll be keeping an eagle eye out for undue pressure when she's in Yr6.

Isn't there something to be said for the intensity of teaching in yr 2 and 6, and if this was maintained throughout school achievement would be higher? I don't know, just a thought. I have a child in yr 2 and there are intense booster groups to push everyone and I think if this happened every year it would be good?

Only if the only thing that you are interested in is academic levels. A lot of other stuff would have to go.

Not all schools are like this. Our y6s have a similar diet to all the other classes in KS2 and it stays like this too.

I don't understand the problem with spelling tests. DD had spelling tests and times tables tests all the way through primary school. And rightly so. I work in publications and it appalls me how many people can't spell properly.

DD1 already crying at night with pressure of SATS mocks! Not looking forward to May ...

I started a thread about this last week. Dd was beside herself with already heavy homework and sats on top. She had fallen behind with the sats book she's doing and was told to complete 14 pages of it in one evening when we weren't home till 6.30.
She ended up being ill the next day and still is (virus)
I have made an appointment with the head after half term and will be discussing this and the fact that she is suddenly having one to one help with maths after three years of me asking for extra support for her.
I am fuming.

Bunbaker, all the research says that spelling tests make an astonishingly small impact on actual spelling in real life. Good spellers do well in tests; bad spellers don't and get further demotivated. Some children effectively learn their spellings for the test, but rarely remember them when actually involved in writing.

I am putting my y6 class through the hell that is frequent mock SATs spelling tests. The most able children love it; they take their papers home to share with their families (I am happy for them, really), while the bad spellers get sadder and madder, and their parents come in to complain.

Now I am off to start this week's spellings with my own child. There will be tears here too.

Not all schools are like this, at my DS's school (last Ofsted 'good') there was no pressure at all, all extra curricular activities carried on as usual, plenty of trips, sports etc etc. Not nearly enough homework (in my opinion ) and no child (to my knowledge, and I was quite involved in the school) got particularly stressed out. I think it says something about the school if they pile on all this pressure right near the exams. Not sure what you can do about it now though .

Yep, dreading yr 6 for my Ds if yr 2 SATS were anything to go by......bloody nightmare!

I love the fact that my ds non selective independent (hes on a huge bursary) use the NC levels but don't actually do SATS, so best of both, diverse curriculum but parents still get a good idea of where their children are by the end of yr 6