To feel these parent are not understanding ( WhatsApp and Sats )

Sats do not put children on the scrapheap although some crazy parents seem to think that and will spend hours and ponds on tutors who are quite willing to exploit this.
A timed paper would be useful in gathering information on fast and slow thinkers (eg every answer correct but didn't finish paper) so that future education can be targeted.
I can see that in my family members - all scientists but the quick thinker is the medic while the slow thinker is in research and development. DH is can't walk and talk at the same time brigade so can only work if shut away whereas I am better having to juggle tasks

Yes, and the scribe will ONLY punctuate if he says, 'comma' or 'full-stop'. He won't get marks for spelling (that % of the exam will be missed out). If he doesn't paragraph, he'll still get marked down.

I'd hate to have to work with a scribe. Harder than writing yourself I think.

@C152 also of course, assessment for autism, ADHD, dyslexia etc do of course at times come back negative. I know of someone who was convinced their child was on the spectrum, only to have their expected diagnosis denied. Not autistic. Parents were shocked.

That of course is different. You definitely need to have fast thought processes for your job.

I clearly have slow processing. I was useless in seminars at uni, couldn't come up with ideas fast enough, or under pressure. Still can't respond quickly, I need time to consider and to work through my answers. I scraped through exams at school. Whereas at uni, I actively selected coursework based modules and got a 1st. And a merit for my MA.

If I'd been solely assessed by time driven exams I'd have been severely restricted and limited to manual work. Instead of being a highly qualified, higher rate tax paying professional. I was lucky that I had the opportunity to make choices that suited me. Giving kids an extra 10% of time in exams could literally make the difference between pass and fail.

Being prepared to put children at Y6/age 11 on the scrapheap because they can't churn out fast answers is ludicrous.

I hate class WhatsApp’s and I would never usually respond to half of the ignorant fucking moaners in them. However given the situation and the fact you won’t have to deal with these parents for much longer I don’t think I’d be able to help myself putting something like ‘dc has no use of his arm hence why he has a scribe, I hope this clears it up for you.’

Factual, polite but just patronising enough to make them look stupid.

I don't mean to pick on you @bigvig , as I agree that it is probably easier for parents who have more time/energy/a better education to fight for their child to get their basic needs met, and that often means it is the more affluent/pushy parents who succeed.

But I want to address the frustratingly common view about how "easy" it is to somehow game the system just by saying or doing a specific thing. Perhaps you have seen parents who actively do this. I don't know anyone who would go to the lengths you have to just to get extraordinarily basic needs met if their child doesn't actually have a disability. Those of us whose children have genuine needs would much rather they were 'normal' and would be delighted if they could do normal things like go to school and sit exams in the same way that the majority of others their age do. I had to fight for months just to get my child's primary school to allow him back in school because they considered his disability was too much of a "risk" for them to manage (code for: we don't want a disabled kid in our school). Then he wasn't allowed to go on excursions unless I came too, because none of the staff wanted to push his wheelchair and they wouldn't assign him the 1:1 his EHCP says he needs. They refuse the free training sessions that the local council will provide (on-site, at the school, at a time of the school's choosing) in how to meet the needs of hearing impaired children. They do nothing to address the constant physical and verbal bullying. Now I have the SENCO flat out refusing to make adjustments that are legally allowable during nationwide exams. What are the magic words I need to say? I've tried polite requests, referring to his medical diagnoses. I've tried quoting the law. The answer is still 'No'. It really isn't easy at all.

OP - I am sorry you have to put up with ignorant idiots like some of the parents in your WhatsApp group. You're right - they have no understanding and it's actually impossible to really understand unless you've lived it, but it's not impossible to use a tiny bit of imagination and empathy to be less of a dick. I'm sorry they don't realise that. I would post the image of the kids looking over a fence that another person posted earlier; it's a really great, instantly understandable way of explaining why adjustements are necessary and how they work.

Maybe instead of teaching their children to resent others for getting the support they need, they could try modelling some empathy. Exams come and go, but the ability to treat others with respect and humanity actually matters in life.

@JustMarriedBecca the point is the parents aren’t in the class, it’s the kids, who are notorious for reporting things incorrectly. So if a kid says “Amy gets longer because she’s teachers pet”, that’s all the parents hear. The child may not mention that Amy is an asylum seeker who has only been speaking English for 6 months. That’s the kind of detail kids ignore, but parents would understand. As I say, in an ideal world no one would have to justify their adjustments, but we don’t live in an ideal world.

I’m a teacher so I would be highly unlikely to judge. I’ve had plenty of kids get 3s and 4s because they aren’t academic but I can’t think of a single child I’ve taught in nearly 20 years who has had extra time and didn’t genuinely need it to simply level the playing field and make the exam fully accessible. I can only think of one child who had a scribe where I would question their need for it

@Slightyamusedandsilly but speed is part of the assessment. The ability to not just know the answer, but to be able to come up with it quickly, is a part of the assessment in many subjects. For example, I’m a doctor and most of what I do requires me not just to know stuff, but to be able to call it to mind quickly. It would be no use me getting my medical qualifications but taking twice as long as everyone else to write the essays in exams, because then I’d be useless at a cardiac arrest.
(obviously if the slowness is due to a physical disability eg unable to actually hold a pen, then that’s different. But in those cases a scribe would be needed, as well as some extra time).

Omg why are they even discussing it? How sad. Sounds like a horrible WhatsApp group micro-analysing and nitpicking at everything.

It's pretty obvious that if someone is getting extra time or a scribe it's not because their Mum works at school or because their Dad shagged the headmistress on the side.

These people sound horrific. One of the best things about the end of year 6 is leaving primary school WhatsApp.

A lot of good comments and suggestions here.

I'd probably respond, on the basis I hate our group what'sapp -

"Sorry it's taken so long to respond. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor and calm down before responding.

The Equality Act establishes reasonable adjustments for disabled children. It's a shame for you that bias, unawareness, stupidity and discriminatory behaviour is not a protected characteristic otherwise you would have had reasonable adjustments yourself and be familiar with the process (Jane).

I will not be engaging in this topic further on this group and I am not willing to discuss it further in person or via DM with you".

Sometimes the only way of dealing with these cliquey Queen Bee types is to take them head on. Her jaw will hit the floor but GOOD

My ND got full marks in her SATS and is top 1% in national testing but STILL gets reasonable adjustments like a separate room or different seat near a closed window because the sensory issues of other children moving around her / lighting etc. / open window noise / wind would impact her performance. She might (one day) be capable of Oxbridge / solving cancer / composing like Mozart so why should the fact she's "doing OK academically" not permit her an equal playing field.

It is every child and parent’s right to not reveal their medical details, and they should never be made to do so. However, I always think the main thing that causes people to get angry is lack of information. Yes I know we should all assume “hidden disabilities” and just accept it, but human nature isn’t always like that. People want to know why someone else is seemingly getting a leg-up. So if you’re offended OP, would it not be best to educate these ignorant parents, so they have some understanding of what your child is up against? You can’t really blame people for not knowing things that they haven’t been told.

Excellent post.

It's a really interesting philosophical question and I'll put my neck on the line to say both types of assessment are useful / needed.

But the WhatsApp class conversation is no place for that debate, SATs is the perfect type of exam that should allow accommodations as it's to measure school performance in helping their pupils achieve, and I'm sorry the OP's child is having to face this questioning.

How is allowing a slower working child time to be able to finish a text helping them get a higher grade?

My friend who was given extra time STILL had to skip a question in both of his GCSE English exams literally because he worked so slowly he didn't have the time he needed to do the whole exam. He was still disadvantaged. He literally came out at a grade lower than he would have been if his score was averaged over the answers he did complete.

The extra time given isn't that much (it can go up to about 25% extra, but most children don't get this amount of extra time).

There is a vast difference between using extra time to write much better answers and using it JUST to be able to try to finish the whole thing.

It’s ignorance and you’ll be knocking your head against a brick wall trying to explain to these people. Don’t waste your energy.

ADHD and dyslexia are prevalent on one side of my family and only one of them received any help. Had they had some additional help back when they were at school, I know they’d have had a better school experience and their grades would have better reflected their actual ability!

They obviously don’t realise how much evidence is needed to get the assistance needed. When we got it for my son the school had to show it was his normal way of working and evidence why it was needed for SATs. He is now in year 8 and we are looking at establishing what should be his normal working requirements to start to provide evidence for GCSEs. None of it is easy to get and isn’t done on a whim and as you said helps to equalise the exams rather than give added benefit. Ignore them.

Yes my son is looking forward to college next year and I am hopeful he will enjoy it more than school. I just get frustrated when people think his life is easy because he is so called NT (although I think the term itself is meaningless).

I’m not on any WhatsApp group involved with the parents in my children’s school. It’s honesty liberating and so first of all let me suggest you do your blood pressure a favour and remove yourself. I know everyone talks about how wonderful the groups are and that everything from birthday invites to social occasions occur on them so it’s an absolute must to be on them. Most of us have one good friend that can feed back the important stuff and filter out the nasty shit.

With all that said those women just sound ignorant. We are trained about the importance of Equity over Eqality. My child, along with others, needed a scribe during their SATS as their handwriting is illegible. No doubt the mothers would gave been scandalised by that also 🤪. Yes there is some truth that secondary is less pastoral than primary and unless the children have an EHCP laying out the help required it can be more difficult to access help BUT there is still allowances made if children have particularly problems during testing for example - even in GCSEs!!! So those women are going to have to suck it up that some children need a slight leg up to make the playing field equal.

I’m sure no one begrudges giving a child with no arms a scribe! But if we give children who just aren’t very academic for whatever reason extra time so that they can achieve a higher grade, does that not just undermine the value of the results? How would you compare one child with a 3 in GCSEs who didn’t have extra time with one who managed a 4 with extra time?