To hate year 6 SATs

[Voidka]

I hate them - the pressure that the children are put under, the pressure the teachers are put under.

Year 6 has basically been a 6 month cram so far. DS is so anxious and its dragging on until the end of May!

I can understand that individual children may need more support but where a child is normally confident I think that starting the testing at that age is a good thing. They arent babies, they will soon be going into an environment where testing is far more rigorous.

So long as the school doesnt over-stress the SATs, so long as parents dont over-stress them either then the experience is IMO a good thing.

We were in the Dutch system for a few years. There during the last to years of primary all pupils do tests to identify where they will go to for secondary. DD1 had done one year of tests when we moved back to UK. She then did Y6 SATs the following year. The experience of earlier tests meant that she was not stressed for SATs. The experience of SATs meant that she wasnt stressed for the exams she did in year 7 and so on.

IMO learning how to sit tests is part of education.

I hate them too because as a secondary school teacher they are used as the basis for MY targets. Kids are schooled to the tests so the results aren't an accurate indication of anything other than how well a kid can sit a KS2 SATS test. The data-loving types then decide that a kid who can squeak a level 5 aged 11 should automatically be achieving a B grade or above at GCSE. When they don't, I am dragged over the coals for not ensuring enough progress is made. We get kids coming to us in Year 7 who are apparently level 5, but they're really a low 4 or even a 3, so how the feck am I supposed to get them a B grade?

Am under sooooo much pressure from senior management to achieve these results I feel like crying just thinking about it.

Armi - that's interesting. People seem to think they are an irrelevance because in most cases the child will sit banding tests at Secondary, but you are saying that they remain very important.

Just make sure that your chil dknows that the tests are for the teachers and not for the child

IMHO that is actually putting more pressure on the child as they wont want to let their teacher down.

and agree with Armi, my dcs secondary used their SATs and CATS(sat in July) results to set from day one.
My DS is dylexic and had no problem with SATs as they really boosted his self esteem when he found out he got the highest marks in the class for science.
Both dcs enjoyed the challenge of the SATS and it set them up for secondary when they were having tests on very regular basis for every subject

They don't sit 'banding tests' at any of the schools I've taught in. The KS2 results are taken as gospel. I re- test Year 7 on entry but the results aren't used for target setting by SLT and are totally ignored. I use them for setting within the dept but they aren't considered to be official data.

The problem is that primary teachers are being pressurised to achieve high results so I don't blame them for trying to squeeze kids over the Level 5 boundary in tests and teacher assessments, but it buggers things up for us, particularly now that we no longer have the KS3 SATs to influence official data crunching. It's actually bloody terrible. We're told we have to achieve the grades and that's that. It's very stressful. I love my job and have done it fir 15 years, but having spent the last week in tears and not sleeping I'm considering jacking it in.

Am clearly one of those teachers that Michael Gove thinks should, 'Man up.'

Meant to say they are also used by dcs school for their target setting. The ks2 sats scores were on their personal online eschool page which has their reports, targets etc.

in a sliver-lining kind of way, the SATs have galvanised everyone into action on DSs writing, which has been a worry for years but not addressed up til now. Luckily, he's coping with the stress of that.

silver-lining

I can't believe how much pressure is on everyone, my kids are not at this stage yet, but I do Scouts and we have accidently arrange a weekend camp the weekend before SATs as it was the only time the leaders were available. We have so many kids not able to come because parents want them revising and resting before SATs. It seems really unfair to put this much pressure on kids this young who should be out enjoying being kids.

That's the parents fault then, half the boys were at district scout camp the weekend the SATs started

Sorry on my phone
Half the boys in ds,s class were at the camp including Ds.

1 school here is doing a holiday club for sats!
My ds was sent home with revision to do over the holidays. We are not doing it.
He had enough pressure with the 11 plus let alone this. At least the 11 plus work benefited him.

Yes we have revision guides. DS has worked on the maths one because he likes maths and we have done some mental maths as he sees that as fun (odd child!) but I cant persuade him to even look at the literacy book.

TBH, it would have been more helpful to have the revision guide at the beginning of the year, so I'd have had more of a clue about what was required in homework. What and how things are taught has changed so radically since I was a lass