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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

the consequences of not going to Saturday School.

114 replies

Binkyridesagain · 02/05/2013 09:17

not necessarily an AIBU but as I posted about Saturday School in this topic, I thought i would post the consequence of mine and DS stand against school pressure in here.

Obviously the ENTIRE year went to the 2 SATurday School events, except my son of course, and a great fuss was made over the huge success of the event in the newsletter. All fine, blow your trumpet. I have a happy DS who doesn't feel pressured.

Until this morning. he'd forgotten to do his homework, so panic mode kicked in, as he can't possibly let down his teacher. He does acknowledge that doing homeowrk 10 mins before he's due to leave is not acceptable but HE HAS TO GET IT DONE BECAUSE HE WILL HAVE TO STAY IN TO DO IT!! (capitals are to demonstrate the importance he has placed on this piece of homework)

All is fine until he reaches calculating probability, he knows what it is but doesn't know how to calculate it, it was shown in SATurday School.
This question I can help him with, so he calms down a little.

NExt question involves a table, a spinner and estimating the probabilty of the spinner landing on particular section when only spun once. 3 marks, so it must be a complicated answer, Cue melt down. This was also taught in SATurday school.

In fact most of his maths homework, relates to what the children have been taught at SATurday school. So I now have a distressed 11year old because he doesn't know how to do stuff because he hasn't been taught because he didn't go to fuckin SATurday school. He has now decided he is a failure.

It seems that SATurday school wasn't just about priming them for passing the SATs but was also to teach them extra bits.

Fuckin SATs, fuckin SATurday School and fuckin School. This is my 3rd DC to go through SATs and he is the first to be put under stress for something that doesn't fuckin matter.

I am now calm, writing it down does help, doesn't it?

OP posts:
DadOnIce · 02/05/2013 14:06

I must admit my first reaction was, "What fresh hell is Saturday School???"

TantrumsAndBalloons · 02/05/2013 14:10

ophelia in my case the reason I would opt out of thsi educational advantages is because
1- trying to cram information into childrens heads in a short space of time in order for them to gain a higher level on a useless test which has very little purpose other than to look good on a league table is ridiculous.

2-There is no benefit to be gained from forcing a child to go to school on a weekend when they do not want to go. For no reason other than supposedly to revise for the said test.

3-children do not always have to be doing something worthy and educational. Neither do adults. Things like football, swimming, family time etc is also just as important and IMHO more beneficial than trying to hothouse children who have already spent the required time at school.

If your child needs extra tuition to catch up, fair enough. But if it just so they are "doing something educational" or to get a level on the SATS that is not a true reflection of their actual ability but the result of trying to cram info into their head, then I honestly think the time could be spent in a better way.

thebody · 02/05/2013 14:11

What tantrums said.

pickledginger · 02/05/2013 14:14

How is two days out of a year hot housing???

seeker · 02/05/2013 14:19

I think the issue here is really that it is very unlikely that if this class was being taught even reasonably, they would have come across basic probablility in year 5.

So either the teachers are panicking because they realize they haven't covered the curriculum, or the OP's son is using it as a convenient excuse. Which, considering what a big deal everyone involved is making of it seems quite likely.

OpheliasWeepingWillow · 02/05/2013 14:19

tantrums I see your points as valid but I still don't get it Blushpersonally I'm afraid.

I remember crying like a banshee when I had one weekend to learn all my times tables backwards and forwards aged 8. But, now I can recall them in seconds.

I guess it's perspective. I worked hard at school, went to Oxbridge and have a really good career. None of that suddenly happened by magic.

Perhaps my priorities were wrong. Who knows.

TantrumsAndBalloons · 02/05/2013 14:22

Did you pick out the one word there that you objected to pickled?
Rather than responding to the actual point?

Goldmandra · 02/05/2013 14:22

My DD has SN's and would never have coped with an extra day being added to the school week. Even if I had insisted she attend she would have learned absolutely nothing.

If she had therefore missed part of the curriculum I would have written a note explaining that she could not complete the homework until the teacher had taught her how to do it in class and that she was not to be sanctioned for not completing it.

It's great that the teachers are willing to offer extra revision sessions in their own time but no child should be penalised for not attending by missing out on part of the curriculum.

If the teacher hasn't been able to teach the full curriculum in the time available during normal school hours they should be wondering why this is.

thebody · 02/05/2013 14:23

If my 8 year old was in years because a knob of a teacher had told her to learn her tables forwards and backwards in a weekend I would presume the school was so awful and teachers so crazy that I would have moved her.

My oldest 2 are graduates but balance this with offers of sport and socialising.

Saturday school!! Bloody ridiculous.

The school and teachers must be truly crap if they need to play catch up like this.

TantrumsAndBalloons · 02/05/2013 14:26

Ophelia well we dont all have to agreeGrin

I have had 2 dcs go through their SATS, they have not affected their lives one tiny bit.
They have not had any additional schooling and are still managing to work very hard and produce excellent results. And there is no tears, and they have a lot of outside interests.
To me it is very important that they enjoy life. They realise they have to work very hard to get on in life. But not to the point of tears and hysteria.

pickledginger · 02/05/2013 14:30

No.

  1. Two whole days is actually a lot of teaching time and is more than enough to cover new ground and reinforce previously taught stuff. It's maths they'll use and build on over the next 5/6 years.

  2. Children often don't want to go to school. When did we start giving them the choice? School hours are a minimum recommended time not a suggestion that extra learning might fry their brains!

  3. Yes, children don't always have to be doing something worthy and educational. Which is why they have 8 weeks over the summer, 2 at Easter, Christmas, half term weeks and every other weekend in the year. It's 2 days not a 10 week course.

AmberLeaf · 02/05/2013 14:34

I just don't understand why one would opt out of the opportunity for better educational advantages

Because SATs results don't give any educational advantages?

Saturday 'school' for GCSE students with upcoming exams = Brilliant idea and I am thankful to my sons teachers that give up their weekend time to do this.

Saturday 'school' for year 6s about to take SATs = Ridiculous. I would not send my child to school on a saturday.

TantrumsAndBalloons · 02/05/2013 14:47

It was not a compulsory class was it?
It was supposed to be revision, covering things they already knew. Not for learning things that are on the curriculum that should have been covered during normal school times.

School hours are recommended? That's one way to look at it I suppose. But do you honestly think children that have been working hard all week should be forced into giving up leisure time to go into school? To scrape a higher SATS level?
It's not about wanting to go to school or not. This is not a school day, not a compulsory day.

And yes of course they have holidays. Does that mean they have to give up a weekend activity? Do your DCs not do anything at the weekend? Have commitments to teams, clubs, things like that?
Does having a half term holiday mean that they need to go into school at the weekend in order to get this wonderful level 6 that everyone must aspire to, even if it puts the most ridiculous amount of pressure on children?

It makes no sense. To me anyway. I understand people have enormous respect and admiration for these tests. Like I say, we don't have to agree on that.

But the OP did nothing wrong by not forcing her DS to go to Saturday school with the sole purpose of revising for a test.

The school did something very wrong by giving homework based on what was taught in anoptional lesson

And where are these classes to teach the very bright children at any other time? It's funny how they only occur just before the SATS.
Because the only time it benefits the school is a few points on a league table.

daftdame · 02/05/2013 14:47

OP - YANBU!!! It should have been covered during the week. Even for Level 6 teachers should be differentiating. If he needed that much extra tuition, is the material too much of a push? Or is it they haven't taught the material adequately?

Your poor boy, but at least once he's at secondary this will have passed.

Complain by all means but can you do a little of the probability with him to reassure him? Not homework but explain what he wants to know. I think its time for damage limitation.

SuffolkNWhat · 02/05/2013 14:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

YoniFoolsAndHorses · 02/05/2013 15:05

My children do Saturday school from age 8 to 12, 2 out if every 3 Saturday through term time.

I pay a lot in schools fees - and I am thrilled that this extra teaching time is there as it means a lot more curriculum time in the week (and tons of time for extra games and PE and art, etc).

But they upside is, they don't bother with a SATS or 'levels' at all. Nada. And while I am a bit Hmm about THIS Saturday bring a school day, with it being a BH weekend, it's probably worth it.

Btw, we have tons and tons of family time - that's not restricted to weekends. Does nobody of here work on a Saturday???!

Tbh, I'd send him. Not for sats. But for education!

TantrumsAndBalloons · 02/05/2013 15:09

But yoni thats different. Thats something that you want to do, that you feel is beneficial to your children all year round.

Not 2 weeks in order to try and scrape a better level on SATS

A lot of parents I am sure decide they would like their dcs to have extra schooling. But theres a reason for that. This is because the school want good results for the league table.

ReculverTowers · 02/05/2013 15:13

My son school doesn't have SAT her day school but I am increasingly incensed by the amount of pressure he is being put under to do well this year (6)
he is a bright boy, i wish they would leave him alone

Cherriesarelovely · 02/05/2013 15:13

This is horrible. I hate SATs. Our parents would do their nuts if we suggested anything like that. Yes, they are doing some SATs revision in class for the next few weeks but Saturday school as well.....it's too much.

Cherriesarelovely · 02/05/2013 15:15

I'm really happy to say that most of our parents are more worried about their children being put under undue pressure. They know we have taught them well, they know their children will do their best.

Fillyjonk75 · 02/05/2013 15:18

Will his SATS scores actually make any difference to him in the long run - i.e. is he going to try and get into an acedemically selective school? What do SATS actually matter except to the school itself?

Sounds like a big pile of bunk and YANBU to put him in Saturday school.

Fillyjonk75 · 02/05/2013 15:19

To NOT put him in, duh.

edwardsmum11 · 02/05/2013 15:20

It just shows it is a crappy that can't complete all work in five days imo. Sats are stupid for 11 yr olds tbh.

Wibblypiglikesbananas · 02/05/2013 15:20

I posted on your previous thread and am still 100% behind you. What kind of school is so badly organised that core elements of the curriculum have to be taught at the weekend?! You have no obligation to send your child to school outside school time. The school does have an obligation to teach your son what he needs to know during school hours - not panicky extra make up classes as they haven't covered what they needed to.

Given all this hassle, I'd be tempted to take your son out of school for SATS week. It's as though people have forgotten that learning should be fun, a mind broadening experience - not a tool to improve the results of a power crazed head who clearly couldn't organise herself and her staff properly over the course of the last year.

MummytoKatie · 02/05/2013 15:28

Ophelia - Were youborn in 1822? Why in the world we're you given a weekend to learn all the tables forwards and backwards? That was a daft way of teaching - tables should be built over time with understanding.

I still know all mine (in fact I can do all the way up to 25 * 25 without really having to think) but learnt them nice and stress free.

When I was 11 I spent my Saturdays racing from gym to drama to swimming. At that age dh had already started spending competing at a sport internationally so would spend his Saturdays training. Didn't stop us getting into Oxbridge. Working hard is important but not to that extent at age 11.