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Original poster

Rewards for completing SATs

88 replies

SATsSitsrewards · 09/06/2026 07:18

Did your child get a reward for doing their SATs? Not for how well they did, but for doing them? The results will be out later this month at our school but I don’t know if other schools get them at the same time.
Dc came home yesterday and told me two people had been taken to Center Parcs as a reward, and one had been bought a laptop. Another child was told they’d get £100 if they did well on the tests even though they’d already passed the entrance exam to one of the local private schools.

Dc has just been diagnosed with autism and ADHD and we went out to our local pizza place at the end of the week in acknowledgment of it being a tough week and time recently.

Are holidays, laptops and cash the usual reward for sitting the tests or do people usually wait until they get the results? Or are rewards not really a thing?

OP posts:
TotallyKerplunked · 09/06/2026 07:54

I dont think saying "it's a test of the school not you" is fair to the kids who've gone through them. For my DD SATS has swallowed the whole of year 6 and been a constant pressure. She had rewards of a restaurant once they were all done that week and I've got her an experience day for when she gets her results. I'm not rolling in money but the pressure they get put under for exams is huge these days so they need something to make it seem worthwhile (I work in a school so see meltdowns due to exam stress regularly).

Original poster
SATsSitsrewards · 09/06/2026 07:45

I’m glad it’s not just me that went low key. One child was revising for SATs all through the Easter holidays which I thought was ridiculous. The high school she’s going to doesn’t even pay any attention to the results. She’s being groomed to follow in her parents’ footsteps with a medical career. So much pressure on a child. I told dc that it was to see how well the teachers had been teaching and that the results didn’t matter. There was some bullying over practice SATs results so for dc the actual SATs were a big worry.

OP posts:
Teeheehee1579 · 09/06/2026 07:45

We reward hard work, never results as they don’t necessarily correlate! Dinner out for my Y6’s SATs this year (he did work hard and it doesn’t really matter who they are testing, it’s always good to encourage best effort regardless) and for my daughter a post GCSE holiday (bigger than usual). She has worked really hard but I doubt it will result in really top grades.

Moonnstarz · 09/06/2026 07:29

No, I didn't do anything big but now you mention it my son did mention someone in his class got a new gaming computer after SATs.

I don't know whether these people with big expensive events already have these in mind and then just say it's a reward for SATs or whether they are genuinely go out and spend a fortune on a big item for that.

Sartre · 09/06/2026 07:27

No way. Think I put a note wishing them luck in the lunchbox on the first day and a cupcake or something…

Will be rewarding GCSEs with a laptop which is useful for college obvs.

ACynicalDad · 09/06/2026 07:26

School arrange a post sats trip to the theme park and another day out. We gave ours a book he wanted. For 11+ he got dinner out and my old phone (which was coming soon anyway), but that was linked to working hard, not necessarily passing. The message on sats from us is that they’re testing the school not you, it’s been good to you do your best for them. He had us pushing him through Y5, e we told him to enjoy Y6 before secondary ratcheted up a level. He worked hard at school and will do well, but none of us really care about the results and there’s been no pressure from us.

Londonrach1 · 09/06/2026 07:24

SATs are a test of the school not the child. Yes for gcses no for sats

BendingSpoons · 09/06/2026 07:23

I guess it's how you frame it. I can imagine thinking 'oh a holiday to Center Parcs would be nice, we could go in half term after DC finishes SATs'. We might then use it motivation. We once went to Center Parcs for DS's birthday. In reality his birthday fell in half term with a conveniently timed inset day, so it was a family holiday.

ShetlandishMum · 09/06/2026 07:22

No. Not a thing here.

HappySeven · 09/06/2026 07:21

Not sure there's any such thing as "normal". Your gesture seems lovely as it acknowledges it without overdoing it. I tried to tell mine that SATs were just tests to check the school were teaching what they were meant to and not really to do with them.

My daughter is now doing GCSEs and I have no plans to do anything to mark the end or herv results.

KnickerlessFlannel · 09/06/2026 07:21

We went on holiday during the half term. We'd have gone anyway but dd feels like it was her sats reward !!

dairydebris · 09/06/2026 07:20

Not for SATS.
Will probably do for GCSE.

MidnightPatrol · 09/06/2026 07:20

SATs are irrelevant so no, I wouldn’t.

They are testing the school, not your child!

At GCSE level and above, I would probably use some kind of incentive to encourage performance.

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