Year 6 SATs

[Beansandcheesearegood]

How important are Year 6 SATs? My dd is really stressing about them. They start next Monday and end on Thursday. I'm due to be away from Thursday morning until Sunday and seriously having second thoughts about going as I feel like I should be here for her! I'm probably being unreasonable....

Yes some parents did get jealous that one of DS's teacher gave him extra hw just for him

They are and they’re not. They’re important to the kids at the time and to the school for their stats. Once in secondary though they’re soon forgotten. My DDs attended a primary that didn’t focus on SATs and they barely did any prep. They didn’t get as high results as many of their friend at secondary who came from hot housing primary schools. They didn’t however do better at than those kids who had been taught specifically to pass the test. So I wouldn’t stress too much.

Sorry Op for contributing to derailing the thread. My daughter has done so much extra work and deserves to do well and the nastiness of @Rabhhhdreally touched a nerve.

other posters are right, they are and they aren’t important. Good you’re able to move your travel to another day x

When DS was in year 6 people did ago and say "oh for the SATS they just told us the answers".

I did some googling and Year 6 SATS cheating is quite common.

Who can say whether this happened years ago or not? Cheating can cost teachers their jobs.
Youve failed to address your ‘dumb kids’ and ‘they weren’t exactly gifted and talented’ comments.

What a ray of sunshine you are calling those with learning needs dumb. Horrible.

Not important

secondary schools do not look at the SATS

its for the school's benefit

As a former school governor - I hate SATS. They are an indicator of ability in one given week but will not impact on their future. A decent secondary school will reassess the new years 7’s when they start the autumn term.
The attached quotations are spot on.

I don’t remember SATs being as much of a thing when I was younger, we did them sure but there wasn’t really any build up or feelings of worry around them as far as I can remember.

my son has SEN and his main area of need is cognition and learning so he is worried. He’s very aware his peers got higher scores on the test papers and he is very nervous for them. Guess he’d be what you class as one of “dumb” kids eh @Rabhhhd I hope you’re nicer in real life than you seem to be on MN.

@Parker231
Are SATS used as a metric by OFSTED?

When I was a governor, sats were important to the teachers. Not because of their performance (they knew they were good teachers) but because sometimes so many DC were on the cusp of meeting expectations/exceeding expectations or just falling below. The teachers really wanted these dc to have good sats results for the self esteem of the child. We always had one or two disappointments and one or two pleasant surprises. The boundaries can come down to getting a few questions right or wrong. This won’t affect how well dc do in GCSEs.

No child was “hot housed” or “taught to the test” (whatever that means) but they were taught the NC, some revision was done, and dc were given timed tests to help with time management on the day. This was all to give them exam strategies in their first exam and good practice for the future.

If a dc is anxious, it’s foolish to say the sats don’t matter when the teacher thinks they do and all their friends think they do. It’s better to talk about strategies for keeping calm and seeing them as a challenge and prep for their next school. They are a gentle introduction to exams. I would make sure dad has a treat lined up when they finish!

They are used but more for an understanding of the profile of the children - how many were SEN - were they showing improvement and getting the required support. Had there been a significant change in results for a particular area - did the school understand why.

My son is in year 9 and SATs have still been referred to this year when devising target grades (particularly for non core subjects like history etc).

@jgophacc Sats don’t really inform technology or art targets, for example. By y9 schools really should know what dc can do! They are useful for benchmarking progress of course. Progress 8 will be his 8 best subjects at GCSE but I’m not sure sats affect individual subjects not related to them. Teachers should set targets based on work they see but expectations in some will be based on sats.

Dumb kids. Nice.

As I say our school using SATs to help inform their target grades throughout KS3 for non core subjects (humanities predominantly), I have had in depth conversations with the trust’s data analyst on how target grades are devised, it’s an industry in our trust!

It’s part of the picture, not the whole picture.

What a vile comment. I’d rather have a less academic child than one lacking in class or kindness.

@Rabhhhd no, certain children (like my son) are taken into separate rooms because they have additional needs that require regulated and carefully selected additional support tailored to their needs, which can include things like rest breaks, a scribe, or just a smaller space to try to keep their attention. They do not get the answers. If you suspect your school is giving answers, you report them. You’re the one coming across as “dumb” here.

And for the avoidance of doubt my son is not “dumb” and actually on track for greater depth in 2 areas, but he has ADHD and struggles to focus which is problematic for him, and potentially others in the class.

Accept her feelings and normalise them.
"Of course you are feeling a bit anxious, it's the first time you have done these sorts of national tests and you aren't quite sure what to expect. Nearly everyone will be feeling a bit nervous. That's completely normal. These tests feel scary, of course they do, but they don't really matter. It's nice to do well but if you have a bad day it isn't going to ruin anything at all. Just take a deep breath and do your best. And this time next week it will all be in the past."

@jgophacc They just like to make work for someone and pay them a fortune. It doesn’t improve teaching I think you will find. You don’t fatten a pig by weighing it all the time. Some schools go overboard!