To be bored shitless by SAT talk

[mamma12]

My daughter attends a very insular white middle class school where the vast majority of the other mum's don't work and have no idea how most people live. She's in year six now and whilst I could vaguely tolerate these people until now, their obsession with SAT preparation, secondary school offsted results and private tuition is literally driving me up the wall. Sometimes I feel like I'm biting my tongue so hard it will fall off. The final straw was a conversation I had with someone this week where she glared at me whilst announcing that her child had got into a grammar school and scored "in the top 5%". My daughter is doing fine at school but it's started to worry me that this competitive talk is rubbing off on her. They had a test today and the daughter of this woman was going around asking everyone what mark they got and it made my daughter feel a bit insecure. It makes me feel like a bit of a crap parent that I'm not paying for a private tutor or forcing her to do past papers or whatever else it is these alpha mummies do. The logical part of my brain tells me it's far healthier to just let her enjoy her childhood and let her focus on being a happy 10 year old. Her teacher is pretty rubbish so there's no point in bringing it up with her. I'm counting the days until July so I can be finally free of these God awful people. That sounds terrible seeing it in black and white I know 😬

[Sunnydawn]

The good news is that Secondary is nothing like this! Very little contact with other parents, and too big to be keeping track of everyone else's results.

You need to time your drop off and pick ups so that you slip into the playground just before the bell, and then smile your apologies as you rush off to an important after school activity.

Year 6 IS the hardest, after Reception, for competitive parenting.

[AmeliaJack]

Just teach your daughter to say "it's rude to ask for other people's grades" with a big smile.

I dislike the competitiveness.

I do feel bound to point out that just because someone is middle class and SAHM doesn't mean "they have no idea how other people live".

You can't possible know the history, background or empathy levels of every parent at the school.

[KathArtic]

My DD has just done her GCSEs. She got equal and in one case better results than the 'clever' ones who went on to Grammar Sch.

[onemorecupofcoffeefortheroad]

They sound awful - I empathise. We had one or two mums at primary school obsessed with SATS and tests and achievement and where their kids were upbto in the hierarchy of life ... yawn. We gave them a wide berth. YANBU let your daughter enjoy her childhood there'll be plenty of years and tears ahead for the tedium of being monitored and assessed.