Y7 son missed class to do weird tests

[Buryedmunds]

My son is in y7 and told me today that he missed his dt lesson as he was taken to a meeting room where he did these weird tests, one of which was writing about anything for 10 mins. Another task was to read some random numbers as fast as you can. He was not told what this was for or why…..does anyone know what this could be about!?

I agree with those saying why do you need to know? There's obviously a reason behind these tests or they wouldn't have got him to do them. I'm sure they will inform him of the purpose at some point but until then I'd personally just be pleased they are being proactive in tracking the needs of all their students.

As a parent I should be told so maybe I can be proactive in supporting him too.

Sometimes if you tell the parents they play their faces and refuse as they don't want to admit their child has issues, and then the child then doesn't get the support they need.
You wouldn't, but some might.

But what support do you need to give him before these tests? It sounds like you're a little annoyed that they might have flagged that he needs some support?

Both my sons have had something by similar. I dont knw the exact tests they did but it was to assess processing speed and handwriting. They both now are able to use laptops in class and exams.
btw both always top class, great marks etc so not linked to intelligence so you dismissing peoples suggestions as your son is exceeding etc isnt really anything to do with it. Intelligent kids are just better at compensating so not spotted as early

I’m just surprised if this is the case, as he went to an outstanding primary and they never flagged anything and they were very involved with special needs etc

But that's exactly the opposite of what's needed if these are checking for EAA.

But that's exactly the opposite of what's needed if these are checking for EAA.

I'm a secondary school teacher.

These certainly sound like diagnostic tests for additional needs.

If they were diagnostic tests for additional needs, it is absolutely not appropriate for your child to be tested without your knowledge or consent. As a school we are not permitted to do any diagnostic testing without explicit written parental consent. Some parents do not want their children tested - and even if we as a school disagree, that is their right and we have to respect that.

If the school is concerned about possible additional needs, you should be informed and be part of whatever conversations are going on.

I would be very surprised at such poor practice and the school would be putting themselves in a very dodgy position if this is indeed what these tests were for. As such I think there may well be a more ordinary explanation - as others have said, some kind of national pilot for something or other - in which case the school wouldn't need to let you know.

However, this does all sound a bit odd and you are not wrong to be concerned. I would contact his form tutor in the first instance for clarification and then go to the Head of Year if you don't get anywhere.

Yes my exact thoughts that it has to be a pilot or something otherwise they’d need to make me aware!

Why?

I do dyslexia test and always explain to the parents where the concerns have come from and the nature of the test

it’s not ideal that they haven’t explained it to you or him but it will be helpful in the long run

i would prefer not to get parental permission personally as we test kids all time in lessons

I’ve had parents refuse as they believe special needs testing is racist and because they simply do not believe that their child had any issues ( they did))

email and ask

Could it be PISA or TIMS? International methods which pick random children to be tested. Then the country is rated against other counttues

But this is why they’re doing the test.

It could be that they eventually do it to everyone or just a few that they think may need additional support.

If he needs additional support or flags up as potentially dyslexic etc then you would be told.

It could be as simple as needing a sample of abilities across each year group to see the range of abilities/get a mean average and he was chosen as he’s a high ability.
Schools do tend to track general trends.

It may have been an interview and the interviewee was giving him the tasks - I’ve done this for interviews before.

This. Lots of parents refuse testing because they don’t want kids to have ‘labels’ and it can be very very damaging to their progress.

Nothing was picked up with my dd until half way through A levels. She is now diagnosed with stealth dyslexia, which is super difficult to spot, and slow processing resulting in being allotted 25% extra time in exams. As others have said, this all goes unnoticed as kids compensate. I even asked for the SENCO to look into any issues with dd in year 10 as I had long suspected there was some kind of neurodivergence. The teachers responded that there was nothing so I didn’t pursue anything in time for her GCSEs.

As a parent I’d think asking the school would be what a proactive supporting parent would do.

Dyslexia assessor and access arrangements assessor here. This sounds like a test of handwriting speed, with the fast digit reading a test of verbal processing speed. My guess is that they’re looking to see if he might benefit from extra time and establishing an early picture of need. If they’ve done more than that they might be screening for dyslexia. All of this is a good thing as it means they’re proactive and on the ball. The exam boards want a strong history of arrangements in place with further brief testing similar to this from Y9 onwards.

A full dyslexia assessment takes 2-3 hours and wouldn’t be done as a matter of course and definitely not without parental involvement/ permission.

My dd is excellent at spelling, has always worked to greater depth in English, very strong on verbal reasoning. but has dyslexia. Her working memory is like a sieve that someone has taken a can opener to.

My school did the opposite.

We would do diagnostic tests for every new student.

These weren’t official diagnosis as only a trained professional can do a proper test for things like dyslexia and diagnose it but it would give us an idea of any areas they may struggle with and if there is any potential LD like dyslexia.

If they flagged up as potentially dyslexic then we’d talk to the parents and explain that it might be worth getting them tested.

Can you really not see why it would not be appropriate for a school to suspect a child has additional learning needs and not bother to inform the parents?

It's incredibly poor practice to be secretly doing diagnostic tests behind parents' backs. If there is concern about a child's learning or progress, the parents should be informed and part of the discussion from the very earliest stages.

It is not appropriate under any circumstances to test children without parents being aware there is an issue. Some minor tests carried out to see if a concern is echoed across the curriculum or just in a particular subject, for example, perhaps don't require formal written consent - but they should always require the parent being informed in advance that the teaching staff suspect there is an issue.

I am surprised that people are being so blasé about this. Would you really be ok with the school emailing out of the blue to let you know your child was dyslexic, that this had been suspected for quite some time, and the school had gone ahead and tested your child for dyslexia without your knowledge or consent, without bothering to let you know at any point in this process? I doubt it.

But this is different. This is blanket testing of everyone as per school policy. No one is being singled out and it's not based on suspected concerns.

Pulling one child out of class to do diagnostic testing because concerns have been identified by teachers without informing the parents about the concerns beforehand is an entirely different scenario.

We do similar tests to see if they need extra time in assessments.

Those were my thoughts too!

teacher told me in December no concerns at all

No advice, OP, other than to ask his form tutor but I am astonished at how many posters seem to think the school might test for a disability without at least informing the parents!

Imagine if a primary school took a child for an MRI or something without written permission from the parent. It's the same thing! A child doesn't stop being a child when they reach secondary school and disabilities don't ever stop being private medical information.