SATS cheating - by the Head!

It doesn’t matter whether SATS are nonsense, whether they ruin the last few months of pupils’ primary-school life, or how good the head’s motivations are! What is wrong with you lot?

Of course you must report it. It’s a flagrant breaking of the rules and a bloody awful example to set to children of how to behave. It also denigrates the seriousness of the exam, which is insulting to pupils, the class teacher, and parents. Finally, if the head is willing to do something like this openly, how do you think they’re operating when no one is watching?

I think it does matter that SATs are nonsense in this scenario.
I understand the principle about honesty, but there needs to be a sense of proportion here. A less than ideal action in relation to a piece of nonsense us different from one in relation to something of importance.
I think the OP should just let this go.

It doesn’t matter whether SATS are nonsense, whether they ruin the last few months of pupils’ primary-school life, or how good the head’s motivations are! What is wrong with you lot?

Of course you must report it. It’s a flagrant breaking of the rules and a bloody awful example to set to children of how to behave. It also denigrates the seriousness of the exam, which is insulting to pupils, the class teacher, and parents. Finally, if the head is willing to do something like this openly, how do you think they’re operating when no one is watching?

In that case, you really ought to know the difference between the recommendations and the rules of SATs administration! As well as understanding the difficulties of finding enough willing, available, DBS-checked adults to have more than one person per room in a school with 96 Year 6 children and a fairly high proportion of children with SEN, which necessitates using a large number of rooms.

It’s completely different. SATs are in primary schools, when the emphasis should be about fostering love for learning not practising the same boring stuff day in day out,

Yes. I am in charge and completed the HT declaration on Friday so my opinion I think has some value. Thank you!

This stuff about intensive practice annoys me as well. No one accuses secondary teachers of hot housing for GCSEs when they are running endless revision sessions and I applauded my son’s school when they did!

My dh is an A level teacher and similarly moans about hot housing. Meh.

No, they don't. I've seen thousands of SATs results over the years and compared them to the zero stakes CAT4 data - they broadly match to within 5 points/map over to comparable standards for the non quantified or if you look at the raw data on GIAP.

I can see where there might have been more intensive practice in some schools, I can see where an entire cohort probably had an awful time with supply staff all year, I can see where a school has been proactive in evidencing SEND need for access arrangements - and I can see at a glance where it is literally impossible for those levels to have been reached, as their raw ability scores are right at the bottom but their primary has somehow got them all to 105-109 and the firm 100 averages apparently all got 111+. It'll be one or two schools out of 30.

I know that really, I am just shocked by the responses on here.

How do you feel knowing your results will be compared to those of schools where cheating does happen?

ALL schools cheat on Sat's. ALL OF THEM.

Really pissed off!

One thread on Mumsnet isn't evidence that "most" schools cheat on SAT's. I have no doubt that some schools do, but the poster claiming it happens in all schools is talking rubbish. It certainly doesn't happen in my school, we follow the rules and recommendations to the letter and I doubt very much we're the only ones.

Really?

I mean it sounds like most do cheat judging by the shocking ratio of people defending this behaviour to those criticising it.

Do none of these teachers stop and think about what kind of message is being sent to the children?

What awful role models

Writing as a headteacher of a primary school. For clarity, by raising it, you are opening the door on it becoming a significant issue. You should report to the STA or the chair of governors as your complaint is about the headteacher. Don’t send an email to the head.

Ultimately, the results of the cohort and the outcomes for the headteacher are not your responsibility- both lie with the headteacher. If the situation happened as your child has reported, you are not ruining their career, the headteacher has made that decision for themselves. I wouldn’t worry about the implication on secondary school sets or GCSE’s- I don’t think SATs hold that much weight for individuals. Secondary schools generally do their own testing for this metrics. We have children in secondary schools now with no SATs outcomes because of covid and that won’t have impacted on theirs sets or predicted grades.

Obviously, I am pro headteachers and think schools and teachers are on the receiving end of vitriol all the time. But, I say with certainty, I think you are right to raise this - the headteacher is a key pillar of the school community and should be modelling integrity and moral clarity as part of their leadership. Cheating does neither of those things.

ALL schools cheat on Sat's. ALL OF THEM.

Why have you included a screenshot of something which proves me right and you wrong?! I already knew what it said in the document! Hence why I was correct!

And it's really not 'ludicrous quibbling' to point out that there is a difference in meaning between the word 'recommendation' and the word 'rule' when it is entirely relevant in the context.

All I can say is, all four of the Heads I have worked for (most of them sane...) have ignored the recommendation in question, because we cannot lay our hands on enough adults to do this. This SATs week just gone, we used 12 adults (plus the Deputy Head who did random 'drop-ins' on each room throughout the duration of each test), and three of them were unpaid volunteers. There is just no way we could have got hold of another 12 adults.

Sure.

What’s the MN phrase? “When someone shows you who they are”.

Keep posting and let everyone have zero confidence in any level of independent governance of teachers, who aren’t always that popular.

No interest in engaging with you further.

Okay, but are you actually in charge of administering the KS2 SATs at a primary/junior school? Because if not, your opinion is irrelevant.

Doubt it. I have sorted out a GB that was previously failing, got praised by Ofsted, am pretty popular, and no-one else wants to do it.