Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to take ds yr6 out of school for the summer term?

121 replies

ingeniousidiot · 11/04/2016 14:38

We've talked about it for months, spoken to his teachers, school governors and a couple of people that work in that sort of area. We've spoken to him about it, he want's to do school work at home. He's due back tomorrow, I've just rung the LEA to speak to the Education Welfare, got put on hold and put the phone down.

OP posts:
PennyPebbles · 11/04/2016 17:16

They won't just turn up and sit it, though. They are going to be taken out of other subjects for intensive 'intervention'. IMO SATS are in no way a reflection of the ability of the individual child anyway. Time they were scrapped.

G1raffe · 11/04/2016 17:18

Oh I agree completely. It's ridiculous. I just wouldn't use having to sit them in year 7 as a reason to not homeschool year 6.

My daughter is a few years off yet but it just feel like education policy is going so so backward. Written by people who never attended a state school by people who will never use them.... And not in conjunction with any teachers or people who know about education. It's mad!

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 11/04/2016 17:19

It's madness at my dcs' school. The teachers appear to be doing their level best to wind them all up into a state of massive anxiety and telling them it is all hugely important to their futures. (There was nothing like as much stress and pressure put on me when I did my Eleven Plus and that actually DID matter!) Quite what they think this will achieve, I don't know. And she's not learning anything new, it's all tedious revision.
I am assuming the schools where parents are considering withdrawing children are similar.

BabyGanoush · 11/04/2016 17:22

The only person who knows if it is the right decision is you. A friend of mine took her Y6 boy out of school in February, but now he says he won't go to secondary either. We shall see!

Moved my DS to private in y3, so he is doing some kind of SAT's "light" this year (he's year 6). The school say they will practise a bit, but so far DS has not even heard of the concept of SATs yet, so yay!

They don't count anyway, coming from a private school.

My other son (Y8) did SATs that didn't count, and they still gave him predicted grades for the end of Y9 when he went to State Secondary. (Think Sats are only part of the predicted grades system anyway, lots of schools use the Family Fisher trust data). They don't just "not give you predicted grades" because you've been out of the state system.

Just saying all this to let you know it's quite nice to be "outside the system" in these times of testing madness!

PhilPhilConnors · 11/04/2016 17:25

For ds it's not the tests themselves, it's the build up.
I post on things like this, and every time it feels like such a no brainer to just take him out of school.
It feels like such a massive decision to make though, and with ds2 would probably be irreversible.

allowlsthinkalot · 11/04/2016 17:31

You don't need to speak to the LEA. You just send in a deregistration letter to the school and it's effective immediately.

Undercooked · 11/04/2016 17:31

We intend to do this next year. My husband and I will take a sabattical and we will travel for five months as a family. No SATs and in its place an amazing life experience to share as a family.

chickindude · 11/04/2016 17:33

All of the SATS talk has got me a little concerned. My DS year 6, is a happy bright boy. I honestly don't think his teacher has even mentioned SATS to the children. If she has it has washed over their heads.
If anything the class are doing even less work than normal. It appears they do very little. DS hasn't done any school homework since Christmas.
He has had a tutor ( 11+ ) and got a place at a selective indie. I don't think the SATS will have any baring on his academic future. He will stay until the end of the term. Lots of fun stuff. I do intend to take him out of school to visit some museums, and maybe a day at the sea side if the weather is nice.
Kids should be happy, if they are not then things need to change.

readingrainbow · 11/04/2016 17:54

I fervently hope this change to SATs is scrapped like the baseline assessments for reception students.

Our dc have dipped in and out of home education over the years - my eldest even spent six months in Spain, going to school there. There isn't a lot of so-called continuity in their education, but I'm not worried. They love learning, which is the most important aspect of education imo.

ConfuciousSayWhat · 11/04/2016 18:23

Yanbu. My dc who is off to grammar school and scores full marks on practice papers has had a full on melt down this week about them and how they feel they'll be letting the school down if they don't get their predicted score. Angry

Lucsy · 11/04/2016 19:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
ingeniousidiot · 14/04/2016 23:13

If anyone is thinking about it and teetering on the edge - it's very early days but it's going bloody well!

OP posts:
G1raffe · 14/04/2016 23:39

Fantastic ingenious!

Littlefluffyclouds81 · 15/04/2016 00:06

I saw an article about the new SATS on FB tonight, can't link as it was a photo of a newspaper rather than online. It was saying that masters students had been given the new tests as a bit of an experiment, and a lot of them struggled. Doesn't bode well for the average 11 year old. It's scary stuff.

fatmomma99 · 15/04/2016 00:38

Hello... SATs are in May, and OP is talking about taking her DS out of school in the SUMMER term which starts in June. So unless I've missed something, she's not suggesting her child doesn't do SATS (and SATs are a whole different thread)

To make a child miss the last term of a school they have (presumably) attended since they were 3 or 4 is, to my mind, horrible.

Post-SATs the school will have lots of lovely things planned, plus all the transition stuff (visits to other schools, etc) and all the emotional stuff about saying goodbye and moving on. I really think robbing your child of this isn't nice, but that's just me.

Good luck with what you choose... It's your child.

My DD is Yr 9 now. Still whenever I think about the song they sang at the leavers assembly, I well up. And the leaver's bbq and play was gorgeous.

Feenie · 15/04/2016 00:44

The summer term has just started. You're referring to the second half of the summer term.

MattDillonsPants · 15/04/2016 00:52

I think you've done the right thing OP. His mental health is more important than doing "the norm".

He will have a brilliant time and remember it as really special.

Original poster
ingeniousidiot · 15/04/2016 16:33

Fatmomma the summer term has just started so of course he won't do sats. That's the whole point. And he wasn't at that school until yr 2.

'to make a child miss' - nope, we decided that it was an option, then told/asked him and gave him a few days to think about it. He chose to leave.

'lovely things planned' - you obviously didn't bother to read my post which explained that he's already done his fun stuff, doesn't enjoy what is left, and still goes to the leavers party.

The secondary place is secure and he still does all of the transition activities.

And I've already made the decision.

I really think that making snippy comments when you clearly haven't bothered to READ THE THREAD isn't nice, but that's just me.

OP posts:
lljkk · 15/04/2016 16:59

There has been so much hype every previous year about how bad SATs are, the yr6 teachers on verge of slitting wrists, the kids on verge of nervous breakdowns with self-esteem down in the gutter, every spare moment of yr6 devoted towards mocks & revision & boring dull stuff.

Every sodding year. (except yr6 wasn't like that for my DC at all).

Is this year truly worse?

Original poster
ingeniousidiot · 15/04/2016 17:09

It is according to the teachers/friends in education that I know - it's the relatively sudden change of curriculum and the fact the this year 6 have been studying for X and will be tested on Y.

This time next year the teachers will have a better understanding of the curriculum and also of the levels to be achieved, which as I understand are really rather woolly at the moment.

OP posts:
Papageno · 15/04/2016 17:13

I have older DC who were in yr 6 5 and 4 years ago. There was nowhere near the same hype. Teachers were under pressure, but nothing like now.
For my older DC, they vaguely knew that SATs were happening, they knew there were going to be a few tests, but that was it.
My yr 6 child now has had pressure since the start of yr 6, comments every day about SATs coming up, must work hard.
The teachers aren't happy, but don't seem to have an option.
All the DC in my child's yr6 are stressed, some to the point where their parents are trying to see if they can withdraw them from the tests, but school says no.

KittyCheshire · 15/04/2016 17:21

My kids school, gave dumped the ks1 sats this yr. The ks2 ones are going ahead but they have focused on them trying their best and not worrying.

The students are doubly fucked with them as we have a new HT who is fighting the current yr6 students suffering from some very poor teaching in previous years and not only has he had the curriculum change to deal with, but the fact the kids are only just at yr4 level with a lot of their education.

Lucsy · 15/04/2016 18:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lljkk · 15/04/2016 19:08

fwiw, my yr7 DS is getting some ridiculous exam stress, too. Older DC did not get that in yr7.

Swipe left for the next trending thread