Can I ignore the headteacher?

[KittenVsXmastree]

DS is in year 6. We went to his Christmas performance today, where the head proceeded to say, while he had us all together, he wanted to emphasise the need to not let the kids slow down and have a break over the Christmas holidays, and we should be getting them to do some SATs practice most days.

I'm tempted to ignore the head, and let DS have a proper break over Christmas. How much of a bad idea is this? Will DS really suffer?? We are new to SATs. Neither child did Y2 SATs, as we weren't in the UK, and haven't had much experience with this school in terms of ethics and expectations - except the only homework is one English and one maths worksheet a week, along with reading.

Voting for ignore

SATS are just the government’s way of monitoring teachers. School will do the work required to get your child through them. Obviously, if dc struggles with maths or reading then it’s important to help them as I’m sure most parents would. The Head is probably feeling the pressure as his performance will also be monitored by the SATS results.
The best thing you can do is to ensure your dc has a good breakfast before the tests and a good nights sleep and chill time. That’s it!

I'm pissed off that my yr4 dds teacher went on about the yr6 sats in this current year's parents evening.

We have had to bow to this woman and have my sen dd do extra work at home every damned day. It's causing her to meltdown so much that it's almost split me and my partner up recently.

But anything for the schools fucking reputation, eh.

It's a bollocks idea - ignore the silly woman.

I will absolutely NOT be allowing my dd to revise over Christmas when she gets to year 6. At the age of 11 children should NOT be revising at all, let alone during their Christmas holidays!

I wouldn't expect even year 11 to be revising over Christmas. And I've been advising sixth form to have a week off for Christmas before starting revision for their mocks.

Ignore!!

I can’t believe the HT said this. I would definitely let your child have a rest. I’m a secondary teacher and will not be setting any homework over Christmas. We all need a rest. Only yr11 will be revising because they have mock exams in January.

Don't let the kids slow down?

Fuck right off! I imagine if my yr6 DS chooses to do anything school-like, it will be to read about Ancient Egypt or learn about rivers, NOT fart arse around with apostrophes and the like.

It really saddens me to see children as young as 10 learning how to jump through the hoops to 'succeed'. They get wise to it and it deadens creativity and learning just for the love of it.

What message does it send when they frequently miss PE in favour of doing a test?

Told our year 6s to chill these hols and enjoy themselves. No homework at all. They are kids.
Some heads are idiots.

absolutely ignore the head

Sod that! My eldest is in 6th form and I’m hoping they don’t set loads of work and he can at least have a few days off. (Preferably longer!!)

Bollocks to that. Also have a year 6 and we got a letter today reminding us about various parties, Christmas jumper day, Christmas lunch next week.

It finished off by saying they have all worked really hard all term so there won't be any homework set over the holidays and to relax and have a good time

The next thing this type of Head will be saying is SATS homework each week and revision breakfast and holiday clubs. There is no need if taught properly for school work out of school hours.

IGNORE him!! I'm a teacher, please take no notice at all. Encourage your DC to read something they enjoy and to have a lovely break

I am not surprised, my ds is year 6 and for the past 3 weeks has been attending SATS boosters after school intended to run until the SATS. I would pull him out but my DH does not agree. It's too much pressure. The more I hear this stuff the more I want to stop him going, they have had SATS mocks all week too.

I would however not let my ds do this over the Xmas hols, they need a break.

Ignore him, that's madness.
I teach secondary and both my year 11s and upper sixth have mocks after the break, I feel bad enough that they are having to revise.

Let him be 11, eat mince pies for breakfast in his jammies and watch films.

DS is 15 months and I so hope this has all been reformed once he gets there.

God yes! Downtime is essential for a child's mental health. The head must know that so they're being a dick. Kid's well-being is far far more important than SATS.

SATs only effect the school not your child and where they go and what they do.
Hence HT wants your kids to work all through Christmas break !!

as someone who is very much of the camp ‘what can I do to support the school’ even I think the head teacher is spouting bollocks! Those tests are supposed to be what your child is capable of, not what your child has been coached into.
And effective learning requires downtime anyway.

Definitely ignore - have they not heard of burnout?

I’m still cross (when it crops up, it’s not a constant state 😜) about the amount of pressure my youngest was put under because she’s was an able child in school desperate (understandably given given the pressure they themselves are under) to move out of inadequate and avoid the academy route.
Yet her older siblings told her don’t do too well as your GCSE targets will be based on them. And there’s no room to plateau during your education, you must be on a constant trajectory according to politicians as opposed to educators.

My Y6 son is practically in his knees with exhaustion from the onslaught of homework and SATS prep he’s had this term. I’m nit expecting him to do anything much over the Christmas break.

Eh? Year 5 teacher here so I know the pressure of SATs (we’re the final full year before SATs so there is huge pressure on us too). I would never tell the children or parents that. I never tell my class in advance when we’re going to have assessment weeks so that they don’t panic. I don’t want them to spend their free time practising test technique. They are children!!!

Sats are not needed for students. Ignore. But ensure the dc is still reading everyday.

Year 11 though is very different.

Absolutely 100% ignore! Christmas holidays are not for revising, there about having a well deserved break and spending time with family and doing things they enjoy.

Who the earth wants to spend the festive holiday revising, they do enough work during school hours and get sent home with enough homework as it is for their holidays to then be took over!

Last year a poll found that up to 30 per cent of schools are asking pupils to revise for SATs at home and one in five are sending them home with previous papers.

Why? My DC’s are older but they didn’t do school work out of school hours. They did after school music and sports and played with friends. The stress some schools and parents put the children under is ridiculous and for what?