the consequences of not going to Saturday School.

[Binkyridesagain]

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?

Not 1882 I'm mid 30s.

My school was super strict and there was a lot of prep. GCSEs were a doddle though given all the homework and emphasis on rote learning. I'm grateful they didn't try and make learning 'fun'. Ick. I like structure now

And I did manage to have a life besides school

No. i've decided not to bother doing anything extra for them as it's not compulsory. Surely they get enough stimulation in school.

I remember your other thread OP.

SATS are shit. FWIW I think you made the right decision

What a ridiculous thing to say pickled

Honestly, good luck to you if you value SATS and extra work for them works for your children. I don't agree. But I understand a lot of people do. And that they rate their importance above other things.

I have given my opinion. You clearly don't want a debate or a sensible conversation about it. Fine.

But learning is fun. Otherwise what's the point? Ok - revision can only be made tolerable with large amounts of cake but the original learning should be enjoyable. There is no way I would have the career I have now if I hadn't enjoyed learning. Getting to this point would have been unbearable.

Learning has to be fun. There is lots to show that children (speaking generally of course) don't learn well learning by rote, they learn by doing and engaging in their learning.

My daughter was in the first year that were given SATs (I am that old) and it was sold to us as a measurement of the school not the child.

It was to make sure that the children on the whole, were learning the right stuff, and the league tables reassured prospective parents that the school provided a good learning environment.

Why is it now an assessment of each individual child? My youngest' s school is SATs mad through April and May (although no Saturday schooling has been offered - the parents round here would tell them they could fuck right off )

binky what a nightmare. I'm so pleased I don't have children in education any more, the pressures on them are ridiculous at this age. It doesn't benefit the children, it's just to try to make the schools look better in the league tables. When they're 22 and just graduated, they're hardly likely to look back and say, 'Thank god I got a level 6 in English when I was 11, or where would I be today' are they?

As a former teacher I don't think these classes are for the children's educational behefit at all. They're about league tables, Ofsted and covering the HT's arse.

I also think it's quite possible the teachers didn't want to run them either.

Ghastly story, but this is part I don't get:

"Its the HT that has set the homework, she's the one thats pushing for some of the children to pass their level 6 maths....she has spent the past couple of years getting the standards back up, so increased pass rates in the SATs ups the standing in the league tables. "

If Saturday school must be pushed (obviously stupid idea imho, but never mind) then it should be encouraged most to the children who are at danger of not scraping a level 4 or maybe not scraping a level 5, no? Because headline rate is the L4 passes, isn't it? Or L5+ pass rates, but I'm not sure the info on L6 passes is available easily (is it?). Also, only like 3% of children pass L6 for English & 0.5% for maths, so putting so much energy into possible L6 is crazy. I just don't understand how pushing L6 is likely to be a successful strategy.

Do you know any stats, OP, about how many children at this school gained L4/L5/L6 last year? Are you in an area with especially high KS2 SAT results, does the school compare badly to neighbours? (I mean really badly, not just a bit below group average but obviously well below). Is the school underfunded because it's undersubscribed? Else why care so much about the league tables?

My 10 year old has been stressed over his upcoming SATs, but I've told him they don't matter, so don't stress about it and to just do his best. He won't look back in 10 years time and wish he had got a better grade at 10 years old. I think its far to much pressure to put a child under and haven't decided yet whether keep him home during the exams. His teacher unofficially agrees with me. He has some Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia) and struggles enough at the best of time with out being made to feel like a failure when his marks come back.

I really think you need to clarify whether the extra classes were to cover new information (unlikely IMHO) or to revise topics covered previously before you go in all guns blazing. I think it's very unlikely that your DS won't have covered probability before in earlier years. It is much more likely that he's forgotten he's done it before (understandable with the amount of curriculum content and the way units are spaced out).

My school has (differentiated) weekly 'booster' classes after school in the few weeks before SATs. These are not to cover new information, but to refresh the children's knowledge of topics they have covered a while ago, or may not have grasped first time. This does benefit the school, who obviously want the children to do well, but also the children who have their understanding developed in smaller, more focused groups.

Please be aware that the teachers probably don't get paid for this and would definitely rather be at home with their families.

OP, how do you know this was taught at Saturday class if your DS didn't attend?