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Original poster

Year 6 SATS

60 replies

KenAdams · 07/05/2023 18:02

What advice have your school given children?

Ours have cancelled all homework and are opening the school early so the children to have breakfast together which had really helped them to be more relaxed and focus on the breakfast part instead.

OP posts:
gauntthorn · 09/05/2023 19:47

Reading Twitter, some teachers thought that the spellings seemed quite hard this year! Will be pleased when this week is over!

WhiteFire · 09/05/2023 19:51

No high level pressure here. No early morning breakfast at this school, though the primary school my older two were at did breakfast, I had presumed that this was partly to ensure that all children had ate. (High deprivation rate in the area)

Parker231 · 09/05/2023 19:53

Hothousing, ongoing revision and homework is the sign of a poor school/teacher. It does nothing to teach the children anything! Schools should be covering the curriculum not practicing on how to do a SATS.

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KingscoteStaff · 09/05/2023 19:53

Our Year 6 came out of today’s test bouncing today - apparently they ‘nailed it’! I agree that the spellings were tricky.

Our Head went to pick up 3 whose parents had overdone it over the weekend and weren’t going to bring them in…

ElvenDreamer · 09/05/2023 19:58

No pressure at our school, the kids have had the same level of homework in yr 6 as previous years (one piece a week, 10 mins max.) It's not really been talked about much in class other than making sure they are aware of its existence. Normal curriculum, plenty of arts, science, etc. Think they have done a practice test, definitely no revision classes or anything some of the other local schools (and parents) have subjected their kids to. DS very relaxed, found it easy, enjoying being in early for a second breakfast lol.

Fantina · 09/05/2023 20:19

Our school takes an excellent approach to SATS - or perhaps the Year 6 teacher DD
has does. DD has been super chill about it, she seems to feel prepared and went into school as happily as usual today and said it was ‘fine’ but then talked about playing at break time.

Obviously I don’t know how well she will do but there’s been no extra homework and all homework is optional anyway, so some
state schools can take a normal
approach. When we moved to the area and were shown around the head said they were happy to have a ‘good’ rating and not outstanding as they felt they prioritised the right things for the children.

Original poster
KenAdams · 10/05/2023 18:58

Apparently the last text on today's paper didn't make much sense to any of them.

OP posts:
ElvenDreamer · 10/05/2023 19:14

DS just gave me a massive eye roll when I asked how it was and said it was 'sooo easy', hoping he hasn't missed some kind of crucial point now! He was in a grump when he came out of school because he had time to spare and wasn't allowed to leave the room and just finish.

KingscoteStaff · 10/05/2023 19:24

We thought very hard today - hardly any easy marks on the first text to settle them and then a BIG step up on text two that was very long. Quite a few of mine who have swanned through past papers only just finished by the skin of their teeth.

Butteredtoast55 · 10/05/2023 19:27

Today's paper was challenging. Lots to read in the available time and quite a few tricky questions where it would be easy to miss marks.

Nothinglefttogiv · 10/05/2023 19:47

Rockingcloggs · 08/05/2023 13:57

@Iamnotthe1

So, since November they have done 2 practice tests per morning, then they will mark them and go through any answers where children are not doing well at, that takes them up to lunch time. After lunch they then 'revise'. Apparently this is all very important to do 6 months worth of because children would be 'disappointed to fail'. FAIL?!!!

Usually, on Fridays they get golden time but this has now been replaced and children can vote to do whichever other topic they would like ie History, Science, Art etc - so and I quote 'they're not missing out entirely on other subjects'. They do PE once a week.

Since January, children have been going into groups that they're good at - so mine has been going into English/spag/reading/spelling groups so that they can maximise points in the tests - that's all well and good except these groups are at dinner time! There are no intervention groups for subjects where they aren't doing so well at!

They have also been telling us, through letters since January to ensure that our children are in bed early, that we must do practice tests each night. I'll decide what my child does at home.

Their teacher is telling the children that they will 'pass' or 'fail' and if they 'fail' then they will not do very well when they go to secondary. I know this to be true, because when I queried this with her she did a little laugh and said 'it just gives them an extra little kick up the bum' - ditto for when she she told them if they didn't practice hard they might not be able to go on the PGL residential in June!

My sons teacher is in her 3rd year of teaching, her first two years were year 4, however, the head teacher retired in July and the then, experienced year 6 teacher took up the Head position hence why she is now teaching year 6 and I'm sure she wants to be seen to have outstanding results but clearly doesn't give a shit about the damage she's doing to young minds whilst doing so.

'Course they have Hmm

Sweetie1980 · 10/05/2023 19:51

My DS did well on the mock reading paper but thinks he did badly on this and had to rush the end . I told him not to worry , he was quite upset bless him.

SummerHouse · 10/05/2023 20:08

My DS said he missed a whole double page of questions as he turned two pages at once. He realised when he finished and was checking his answers. Can any teachers tell me if this is possible? After I thought he was absolutely spinning out about SATs he was totally unbothered by this.

We have a totally optional breakfast - no need to say if you are going or not - so I think it's not necessarily about getting them there but more about feeding them, settling them.

Sweetie1980 · 10/05/2023 21:05

Ah that’s such a shame .
yes our breakfast was optional also . I think it’s nice for the kids .
my ds keeps going on about hard the reading paper was but said the SPAG was fine .. did anyone else get any feedback from todays test ?

dameofdilemma · 10/05/2023 21:11

I think it's a little unfair to blame the teachers. They didn't create SATs presumably.

Schools are judged by their results and teachers are therefore judged by the results of the classes they teach.

The education system isn't rounded and doesn't necessarily prepare young people for viable and suitable careers.

SATs are just one part of that.

AreMyDucksinarow · 10/05/2023 21:36

It’s all been very relaxed at our school.

The year 6’s head off to a classroom (without the year 5’s) and have some chill time before they begin. I’m sure they all had some harribo after as well

My dc hasn’t said that they have been particularly hard or stressful 🤷‍♀️ saying that Maths starts tomorrow..!!

I don’t care how well my child performs, it’s only used to judge the school really, but we have done lots of work so they hopefully pass playing catch up from covid

Summerwhereareyou · 10/05/2023 21:42

What type of spelling were they

Remmy123 · 10/05/2023 21:42

SATS are of no benefit to the kids. It's for the school results.

secondary school dont even look at them!

toomuchlaundry · 10/05/2023 21:47

Do teachers have to be careful how much they post about the papers

starpatch · 11/05/2023 12:11

Finding this a bit horrible - just too many of the exams. DS was coping well in the run up and first couple of days. But last night and early this morning was struggling. School underperforms and not particularly putting pressure on- its just the number of tests.

Nothinglefttogiv · 11/05/2023 18:00

Remmy123 · 10/05/2023 21:42

SATS are of no benefit to the kids. It's for the school results.

secondary school dont even look at them!

They do...that's how they get their progress 8 scores for GCSE.

What you've probably heard is that some schools use their own internal assessments for streaming rather than SATs scores.

Parker231 · 11/05/2023 18:08

Nothinglefttogiv · 11/05/2023 18:00

They do...that's how they get their progress 8 scores for GCSE.

What you've probably heard is that some schools use their own internal assessments for streaming rather than SATs scores.

Show quote history

Less than half of schools use the results for streaming in year 7 - the majority of schools don’t stream at that year group.

Progress 8 was introduced as a method of determining a secondary school’s effectiveness, in a similar way to how SATs results are used for primary schools. It doesn’t affect what grades someone may or may not get for their GCSE’s.
The SATS monitor the schools effectiveness in the different key stages - they do not have a positive or negative impact on pupils or how they will do in their exams. They are for the schools benefit not the pupils!

Nothinglefttogiv · 11/05/2023 18:13

OK...but I was replying to a comment that said secondary schools don't even look at SATs results - which is completely false.

Nothinglefttogiv · 11/05/2023 18:14

And in my area, the majority of schools do stream in y7.

GrazingSheep · 11/05/2023 18:15

Are SATS used for Ofsted reports as well?

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