To wonder if holiday revision classes for Y6 are really a good idea?

[DrSeuss]

The primary school where my daughter is currently in Y4 are running revision classes on three days of this week. Two hours a day by invitation of the class teacher if she judges that a child will be helped by this. I commend the teacher for giving up holiday time for free and am delighted that she cares so much but I am still unconvinced that ten and eleven year old children should be in school working while on holiday. The local secondary places children in sets from September using end of KS 2 results so I suppose they need the best possible results but I still don't like the idea of the pressure being placed on them, even though I am myself a teacher.

Are other schools doing this? Are people sending their children to revision classes? Does it not all seem a bit much?

YANBU, i had parents evening with DS's year 6 teacher this week, i asked if there was anything they should be doing over the holidays and he said no, they are working hard enough in term time and need their holidays.

There is no way DS would be going and I have ignored School's suggestion that we might like to do revision with them. Did the same when DD was in Year 6. GCSE is a totally different matter and would be encouraging DD to go to those sessions if her school were running them for her options which they don't seem to be.

revision classes on three days of this week. Two hours a day by invitation of the class teacher if she judges that a child will be helped by this

6 hours of free non-compulstory extra tuition for those pupils the teacher thinks could benefit from a bit of extra help outside of class during a two-week break… I admit to scanning the thread so might have missed some vital information… otherwise… what on earth's the problem? Again, apologies if I've missed some vital info.. otherwise, top marks to the teacher in my opinion - shouldn't we be encouraging this sort of dedication to kids?

YANBU, too much too young, I say.

Also some children will go the local secondary from private schools and won't have done SATS, so they will have to be accommodated somehow.

Hard to see how this benefits the child at all. All this will result in is artificially boosted grades which the poor secondary teacher has to "improve". This all about the school, not the child, though I can see the pressure they're under.

If this was about extra classes to boost basic literacy/numeracy, I'd see the point. But it isn't. Funny that.

I don't even agree with homework for under-14s, so there's more chance of a cold day in hell than me agreeing to this!

It's non-compulsory and for 6 hours out of the entire school holidays… why are people so upset?! Either send your child if you have the option and you think they'd benefit, or ignore it..?!

Because it is indicative of a culture that promotes test-passing above learning, test passing above play and test passing above enjoyment. For eleven year olds, that's a shame.

Do we know the content of these revision classes? Would it help if they had a different label?

In my case no, although given I can't persuade my child to attend school in term time I wouldn't have much luck for holidays!

If the run up to the SATs was teaching time rather than revision time I might consider it. But as an awful lot of lessons will be revision then it's just overkill.

For the school's benefit.

Underthedeepblueocean… sympathise with that! But at least these 6 hours total of sessions are non-compulsory so no one is trying to make you go through an extra struggle on top of the one you're already going through… x

Hang on… really, am I missing something here?… these are a non-compulsory 6 hours over the duration of the school holidays… right?

Laurie - yes. But schools can be very insistent about children attending; I know some schools will make prom tickets available only if children turn up to them (secondary admittedly) and snooty letters can be the order of the day.

Laurierf, it's not about best outcomes for the children, it's about best outcomes for the school's value-added ratings.

2 of my dc got 5s and 6s at KS2, with no 'extra tuition'. Dc3, who also looks on track to get the same sort of scores (if KS2 SATs still exist by then) is at a different school, where they invite children to academic 'holiday clubs' and other, term-time 'clubs'. How will it benefit dc3 to get higher scores than 5s? Or to get 5-6-6 instead of 5-5-6?

No way! YANBU, I teach year 6 and no way would I expect them to come in during the holidays. They've worked hard enough as it is all year! My class have got some revision work to do over the holidays and they had the option of purchasing some CGP practice papers through school. There is a tremendous amount of pressure out on schools and teachers unfortunately to meet targets but there comes a time when enough is enough. I refuse to have a class of stressed out 11 years olds come SATs week. I feel I'm in the minority though as I'm still doing some nice (in my opinion ) topic work, PE, art etc with mine in the lead up to SATs, as well as revision.

DrSuess can you provide some input? Are the primary school children the teacher has invited to do an extra 6 hours of free tuition during the school holidays going to be penalised if their parents don't take up the invite?!

OinkBalloon what's the problem though….???!! don't send dc3 if unnecessary as it's non-compulsory… right?!

It is what it is indicative of.

Many parents unfortunately buy into it hook line and sinker which is what the schools want.

Ds is at a high achieving state primary (c 1/3 go onto - usually selective - private school, to give you a sense) & they suggested a page of grammar practice, and a few maths games over Easter. About right, IMO. Sats cramming benefit for the school, not the kids

It would be fine if the 'invitations' were extended only to the parents. Unfortunately the school also talk to the children invited, and this puts them under pressure to conform.

As a parent it's your right and responsibility to raise your children as you see fit… but what is being offered here are a small number of extra lessons that no one is forcing anyone to take advantage of. If the teacher is pressurising your primary school child to do something, then clearly that's a whole different level of conversation that needs to be had with the head teacher.

I was following thread about this on another forum, it made interesting reading as I feel that extra exam cramming in Y6 primarily benefits the school.
However, some of the posters were adamant that, not only do secondaries set using KS2 SATs, they also set GCSE targets according to KS2 SATs. So if your child doesn't get a high SATs level, then they will be set a B or C grade target for GCSE. This target apparently then sticks to them like shit on a stick and the teachers will teach to that level and they will not be expected to exceed that target. It all sounds complete madness to me, that a child's GCSE is determined by their KS2 SAT level from 5 years earlier. I would have thought that secondaries would rub their hands with glee to get a bright child with a low KS2 SATs result so they can add lots of value boosting them to a high GCSE result.

So - are KS2 SATs results the be all and end all for our children's educational outcome, or is that bollocks?

Yanbu Year 6 was bloody awful, the pressure my dcs felt throughout the year was immense. Our school had these revision clubs and I said no, it's way OTT! I suppose on the plus side Year 7 is a doodle by comparison.

I hate setting but that's another discussion I suppose.

In all honesty I would like to say 'no absolutely not - that doesn't happen!' But it probably does! That said it's quite hard, at least in English, to 'teach a B' or similar or at least I never did; I was probably a shite teacher though!