To home educate for year six only

Check with the secondary schools whether they use SAT for streaming. Some do. Also bear in mind that he'll be out of the social scene for a whole year. Not necessarily a good thing.

You won't run the same sort of timetable as a secondary school. And 60-100 small kids in a queue for lunch is lot different to 350 including a good proportion of them nearing six foot tall.

I have a yr 6 child currently and 2 older teens. I personally wouldn't for loads of reasons. Friendships are very important at this age, there is lots of growing up to do in yr 6 and its much easier done when you are seeing everyone every day at school. Your DC would miss all the leavers do's, levers trip, leaver's play, leaver's hoody, days out etc that seem to have become rites of passage for kids these days. My older teen still has her primary leavers hoody and her signed school shirt, my yr 6 DS wears his leavers hoody at every opportunity.
It is already a huge jump from yr 6 to yr 7, if a kid has been out for a year I think that might be even more daunting.
I do also agree that whilst SATs are a pain, they are part of school life and I worry about the resilience we are teaching our children when we pick and choose the bits we will attend the bits we won't. There is a massive attendance problem in schools at present for a myriad of reasons but I don't think it helps that kids my kids age have seen that it is possible to miss school for prolonged periods during covid. I think we need to somehow come back to the idea that, in general, we have to go to school/work and do all the bits even the bits we find tough/make us anxious.
Disclaimer I am very pro home schooling in general if that is what you want to do, I think kids get a lot from it but I don't think I'd do it for just the one year and then send them back (unless we were travelling or something) and if I did I wouldn't pick that important transition year.

Year 6 was my daughter's favourite year! The school really downplayed all of the SATs stuff, so she never really stressed about it. She loved being at the "top" of the school, and buzzed about, visiting teachers from previous years, and generally making a nuisance of herself (not in a bad way). She was confident, happy, and had great friends. Year 7, on the other hand, has so far been an unmitigated disaster!

It really depends on the school. In some Y6 is just purely, miserable SATs preparation. It wasn't at my DD's school. They did do lots of SATs prep but also still lots of trips, outdoor learning, fun and games.

It's like some high schools are miserable places but DD's (now Y7) still does loads of fun activities.

A relative did this with his kid (not because he was anti-SATS particularly, but for other reasons related to moving house). In that instance he didn't do a very good job and she was behind by the time she started Year 7 and basically didn't socialise for a year. So I think it really depends on your home schooling plans, tapping into networks etc. And probably buying in some tutoring/online teaching if you're not up to teaching Year 6 English/Maths etc.

I think there are some nice rites of passage at the end of Year 6 and it's a memorable step for a lot of children. Does that outweigh the stress of SATS, though?

SATS are a very small part of year 6. They would miss out on so much because you don't want them to be a little bit pressured for a few weeks? Mad.

But what about all the fun stuff in year 6 they’ll miss?

Yes sats are crap but they miss the Leavers hoodies (and yes they all want one), the transition visits with their friends to secondary school and meeting their new form tutor as a group. The year 6 play/party/disco/residential. Ours has a big party in the school field after school, with all the parents and children it was great! Why would you want them to not take part in all that? Sats is only a part of it.

Do they do an end of year show? Have trips? Our year six does some great topics after SATs and have lots of fun. They also cover things like Shakespeare and do tonnes of sport.

Ours are all tested again about three weeks in to secondary school. This is to identify any learning needs and put in sets. Then, they are tested at the end of every topic and the end of every school year. They are in a private school so no SATS but they have had formal tests in English, Maths and Science every summer since year 3. And plenty of fun around this, off timetable weeks, trips etc They learn to take these things in their stride, and that hard work is it's own reward, but also that there is a cycle of work and fun that repeats throughout life.

The last year is a big meh educational wise once the 11+ and SATs are done, however ours did do some learning for the year above; so for example they read Holes and did some extra maths which they would be learning in Y7. It was a change of pace and a lot of the kids who had been hot-housed for 11+ did seem quite frustrated, but most of them enjoyed having less intensity. I think there were possibly a few extra friendship dramas when the results came out and some of the 11+ close misses found it very hard as some of the girls in particular became quite precious about only playing with girls who got in. I think it is good to keep them in the social environment though as the social skills are what they will be relying on in their first year at a new school.

Don’t some secondary schools use SATS results to work out sets for core subjects?

A child’s experience of Year 6 is as much to do with the parents attitude as it is about how the school deals with it. Parents who see it as something to be got through alongside what can be the many positive experiences of being in Y6 are imo more likely to have children who take the experience as what it is and enjoy being with their friends, being the oldest in the school, sharing the privileges of Y6, anticipating and enjoying the end of year activities, residential, leavers sweat shirts, leavers assemblies, autograph books etc etc. Most schools I know seem to have got the balance pretty well sorted.

It also slightly depends what the home schooling will look like. Being mostly at home alone with your mother doing worksheets, away from peer social interaction, sport, drama, a good art room etc doesn't sound much more fun than having all the above but also doing SATs. Sailing round the world style home school maybe, but that probably isn't on the cards. Also, do you have other children? How is that dynamic going to work, as you get them up and out to school every morning, with their sib staying home?

Tbh I think this is one of those ideas that crops up over a coffee moan about SATs - "I know - we could just take them out that year!"- but which doesn't really make sense when thought through properly.

It's basically what happened to mine due to COVID. Front line worker who saw little positives in COVID. But was was my year six kid missing sats and having a lovely summer break with their dad who was furloughed before high school slog. Lovely time in fairness less ideal circumstances than you ll be doing it in

No guarantee on that. None of my kids have been to secondary school with primary friends. It's no big deal

I can’t really imagine how scary it would be to have to start secondary school after a year of being home educated.

Because much as I dislike the SATS and am glad my dc haven’t had to do them, I wouldn’t remove an otherwise happy child from school for a single year simply to avoid them. They are going to be tested going into secondary school, it’s part of school life. You have to consider the other things that go in year 6 like the residential etc and leavers events etc, your dc will miss out of those things which he may well resent especially if you are going to continue his friendships as he’ll see his friends and likely feel left out. It can also be difficult to continue friendships when you remove your dc from school, I’ve seen it countless times even with the best intentions things slide.
If you got to the stage where your dc was unhappy at school and it was impacting them then yes I would consider it. Or if you were planning to go travelling for the year or were planning to home ed longer term then absolutely i would say go for it.

Y6 teacher here!!!

Please please don't take them out just because of SATS. If your DC's school is just doing maths and English for Y6 and nothing else, that's a terrible school.

My school continue with a full and rich curriculum - lots of science, PE, history, projects, art, DT, etc. throughout the year.

Ok, we're doing a bit of additional revision as well now but only for the next few weeks. And we're still doing other stuff as well.

Y6 can, and should be, a glorious year for them - trips, residential, sitting on benches for assembly cos you're so grown-up, productions, celebrations...

They would miss so much of the fun stuff too. As well as all the transition & PSHE emotional prep for secondary & friendships, etc.

It's really not as hideous as it's made out to be.
Or it certainly shouldn't be. I adore teaching Y6 as they really do grow up.

My DS was a lockdown kid in Y6. He missed everything. He even missed doing SATS & was pissed off as he'd worked so hard in the run-up.

Y6 is so much more than just bloody SATS!!

@TheWonderhorse also in Wales and so glad our kids don't have these tests they have in England. Its a much more relaxed approach.

My DC primary did a lot of preparation for secondary school as the year went on. Secondary school teachers came into school, they spent a few days at secondary with their classmates.
They also all had "jobs", house captains, running clubs, running stalls at school fetes, etc. Nearer to SATs time, they did some classroom shuffling, to get them used to the idea of moving from class to class. Then they had residential (a real highlight), school play, disco, end of year party, etc. In all a good year.
That said, my DS2 was in Y6 during covid, spent most of the year at home and still managed to settle into secondary school without any problems. Of course, everyone else was in a same boat, but he was certainly relieved to be back in with his peers.

You say all the kids moan but they arnt your kids Your kids may really enjoy year 6 why make a problem before you have even got one ? Year 6 is a lovely year when they get to say goodbye to their friends that go to other schools etc and they have parties and things you would be mad to take them out of school just because they may not like it. Life if full of things we don't particularly like

State schools are obliged by law to offer the full national curriculum to all years. I'm a governor at 3 primary schools and the full curriculum is most definitely provided (most schools do English and maths in the mornings and other subjects in the afternoons).

I think you need to check this - I'll be ery surprised of they're breaking the law.

That was very close to the reality for my daughter in Y6! Or if they did other subjects it was without worksheets or writing anything down. They brought home an armful of virtually empty exercise books.

Personally, I absolutely wouldn't.
Assuming they are going to the feeder secondary, they will miss out on the transition activities that usually take place between the two schools. The biggest issue for me would be friendships. It's hard enough starting secondary without having to start relationships pretty much from scratch.

Exams and tests are a part of school life whether we like it or not. Children learn to take the rough with the smooth. At my son's school they had an amazing summer term with a residential trip, lots of treats and a leavers play which the children wrote and performed. They also had special leavers hoodies printed with all the children names on which they could wear until the end of term. It was a great way to learn that if you work hard there's often a reward at the end.
It was also a huge celebration of their time together at primary school. The play, special
assemblies, a poem written by one of their teachers and a clapping out ceremony on the last afternoon. It would have been such a shame to miss all of that. I know my son has great memories of Y6.