What are the consequences for not doing year 6 sats?

There is nothing wrong about stretching and actually it is most welcomed. The problem is some teachers don't know how to stretch but are expert at stressing.

My DS1 was at a school that has never achieved 100% in Maths.
My DS (coming from another school) could do it easily and every time.
The teacher, instead of stretching him, gave him the job to teach few children who were really struggling and she told him '' you deal with those and I'll deal with the rest of the class''!!
Her dealing with the rest meant shouting constantly!!
On the day my DS made a silly mistake on one of the tests and didn't achieve THE 100%, she not only lost it and shouted at him continuously but told him in assembly that his maths was appalling!!
When I inquired about the incident nicely, she told me (looking like a mad woman in front of the headteacher) that my DS would fail his SAT!!

The head could not believe it but kept quite....later she called me all apologetic and blah blah

My DS did get his 100% and they were all proud of the achievement of the school.....lots of BS....the parents knew it and on the final day they brought thank you cards and gifts to my DS for his help to their DC.

And there are also plenty of threads MNers moaning that their bright Dc isn't being stretched enough. So school tries to push, challenge & stretch & gets accused of ridiculous pressure. Schools can't win, can they?

After all, there are many threads on here with posters clutching their pearls at the thought of their dcs being allocated schools with dodgy Ofsted reports. But a dip in results at a school, for whatever reason, can (and does) lead to Ofsted swooping in and wiping the floor with an otherwise lovely school.

Morale and recruitment in schools is dire. I know this is meant to be about stressed kids, but there's a very real link to the stress the schools (and teachers) are under. They didn't ask for any of this either.

...anyone agree that this YEAR there are more...

Anyone agree that this thread there are more threads than ever before about kids super stressed out at KS2 SATs? I wonder why?

Clam & MN164 You might be right but in the meantime the stress is caused by the teachers who are trying to impress and couldn't careless about DC.

Clam

Good point well made. Thanks for putting that right as I'm sure many teachers would like to be rid of them. Soz to them if they're reading.

"SATs are for the schools benefit"

They really aren't. They're for the Government to use as a stick to beat schools with. Schools would be thrilled to see the back of them.

It is worth remembering that the SATs are for the schools benefit. They show that they have made sufficient or good progress since year 2.

If they school has been good for your child it would seem drastic to penalise them by total withdrawal.

Maybe dropping out of level 6 or saying to your child to sit them but spoil the papers. However, sit the 3-5 normally and do their best.

Madness but I think this is the last year of SATS - too late for her DD though.

This is not the last year of SATs. They are changing from next year (removal of mental maths paper, more problem solving questions etc) but they are not going anywhere.

Schools use baseline KS2 Sats levels (together with CAT's and other data) to come up with target GCSE grades. Secondary schools must demonstrate a certain amount of progress per pupil between KS2 and KS4. Schools may also use them to set or stream - although our school uses a fair banding test (run in conjunction with 8 other schools) and uses the results of the banding test to stream, confirmed by CAT's early in y7.

As others have said, your friends should request de-selection from level 6 papers if that is the cause of the daughter's stress. 11 year olds should not be getting ill because of a test!

I have had the exact same issue with Dd.

After tears all weekend for the third weekend in a row I spoke to the head teacher and told her I would be withdrawing her from level 6 unless the school supported her more.

She is much happier about them now.

I did think a parent could withdraw the child from SATS though. Is that definitely not the case?

My daughter did take the SAT, but we moved areas and the high school in the new area, as it turned out, didn't bother to get any of the test results from the kids who moved in. They just put them automatically into the bottom set for maths and science, the two subjects they streamed. (fyi She got maximum score for maths, near maximum in science .)

My daughter's primary school was way ahead in maths, so despite being only taught simple stuff she had learned years before during year 7, she was consistently getting test results the same as the top end of the top stream. They did grudgingly offer her the chance to move (in an offputting way designed to discourage her luckily she took up the offer anyways). However she seemed to be the only child in year seven who changed streams.

In science, we were more dependent on what the high school was actually teaching. The kids in the bottom set receive the same tests, but are taught a lot less material so are fundamentally disadvantaged; the idea that "they can easily move up" is not something I recognise. During the year her test scores were well above the rest of her class, but below the middle class because of specific topics not covered by her class. She finished year seven at the same level as year six (5a), making the year look like a waste of time. This year (year 8) she was moved up to the middle class, and then was achieving test scores equal to the top scores in the top class. It still took most of the year till she was moved up to the top class. Meanwhile, her interest in science has really taken a tumble.

Of course, it depends very much on the specific high school, but I would say there is definitely a risk if they are not taken (and, obviously a risk if they are taken and ignored!), And I would be sceptical about schools' claims that they take great care in allocating people to the right streams our high school made plenty of claims about that!

And being put in inappropriately easy classes is not great for the kids. My daughter was bored stiff in the lower classes, but really interested once working at a suitable level and pace.

I agree with NWgirls. Just ask her to be withdrawn from level 6 SATs and do the normal 3-5 SATs- problem solved???

As the school is selecting which students will take level 6 exams, my suggestion is for the parents to push the school to "de-select" her for level 6 (which probably drives a lot of the stress) but to agree that she will sit the "normal" level 3-5 exams that all kids take - and for the school to stop stressing her out! Sats are primarily for the benefit of the school, but it is quite drastic to go on "exam strike" if you have a near-banker level 5 child.

My dd would be y6, but also H.ed no no SATS.
There are no ramifications for dc not taking SATS, what does it matter what is written down by a teacher in terms of assessment/ targets/ levels etc as long as the child has a good attitude and tries their best. They could exceed the target given by the school as they may improve a huge deal more than is predicted.

I do know its illegal for a head not to issue the test to a child unless they are not expected to reach a certain level, is it 3?
If they miss the day of the test they have something like a 2 week window for the school to administer the test. So to enable you to be exempt from the test you either keep them of for 2 weeks or deregister and H.ed

If you were to keep your child off school for the official week of the SATs, then I expect the school would still give them to her to do on her return. The papers wouldn't be officially/externlly marked, but a level would be ascertained.

dd didn't do SATs (or have any reports etc) as she was home educated. No ramifications at all - the school put her in the middle set for maths but she was moved to the top set within 2 weeks. They did their own CAT tests for monitoring progress/underachievement.

Her predicted grades/targets have been based on her teacher's assessments & progress (she's y9 now).

I had this with DC1 2 year ago, she was predicted to get 5's possibly a 6 in English and they pushed her too hard, groups after school, workbooks every night at home, was just constant pressure, she is really good at English but struggles with Math's. Anyway it was just to too much and she ended up not understanding the maths as it wasn't explained properly, just make sure you do these books and have them in next day. She ended up getting a 3 in Maths and just scraped a 5 in English. She is now in Yr8 and working back to the level she should be

DC2 is in yr 6, same school with a different teacher with a totally different style, praise based teaching, she has a mild learning difficulty but got outside help from the school in yr4. She is now predicted and on target to get 5's which no one thought was possible, she was expected to get 3's/4s. She has had no workbooks, no clubs and no pressure.

The difference is amazing, she is not stressed, she's enjoying learning and loves all the praise and encouragement she gets, DC1's teacher was very strict, if you didn't complete the tasks she set you stayed in at break time or lunch time, it was just relentless, Dc1s whole attitude changed in yr6 from trying hard to playing up, she was sick, i hate school etc, i think it really effected her result's, if she had dc2's teacher she would have done a lot better

many phone typos sorry

a parent can't withdraw their child from the test. if the child I'd in school on the day of the tests then head is legally obliged to make them do the test. they have no discretion in as the government doesn't trust them not to withdraw any children who may lower their stats. your friend will have to keep their child at home if they want to avoid the tests.