To not send my 6 year old to extra Maths after school?

[IHeartKingThistle]

I'm a governor at the school. Eyebrows will be raised.

I'm not sure I care. DS is 6 years old. He is the youngest in the year. In a term he has gone from loving school to saying he hates it. He doesn't, there's lots he still loves, but all he can think about is English and Maths tests. He was quite tearful about it tonight.

Most of the class have been invited to after school Maths sessions. They're not compulsory. He doesn't want to go. I don't want to send him. I expect most of the other children will go.

I don't believe in the SATs system at all (I'm a teacher, but not primary) but I am usually quite careful to be diplomatic in front of the DC. WIBU to put what he wants first for once?

Disclaimer: I'll do some Maths stuff with him at home. I just think a full day of school is ENOUGH.

We're having exactly the same problem with phonics. I was quite surprised when I found out that DD was receiving extra lessons in phonics and maths at lunchtimes, as I'd previously thought she was doing OK and thought this meant she must be way behind. After a quiet request from the teacher to up the ante at home, we lived and breathed phonics from morning to night - including 'no, you can't go to bed yet as we haven't done your phonics quizzes as well as your homework. Just identify four more split diagraphs on this worksheet and we'll call it a night'. Turns out this has happened to the whole class, and that her 'problem' is her 'inability to decode nonsense words as she seems to need context to decode a word rather than using the approved diagraphs as clues'.

Of course she does - it's how language works! I know I've been guilty of continuing the pressure at home and feel terrible for it. It's so sad to see them put off at such an early age - I can't see anything positive about pressurising young children in this way, it really squashes a natural inquisitiveness.

I think YANBU, for what it's worth. We live in Germany and our 4 year old twins go to kindergarten, where they'll remain for another 2 years. They won't even start reading or arithmetic till they have turned 6, never mind doing extra tuition for tests! And yet, I've not noticed that Germany lacks scientists or engineers...

Another one whose dc didn't know they were doing Y2 sats - teachers and SMT were very clear that they were fundamentally testing the teachers and that the dc were not to be stressed about them.

Both dc were good at maths but ds2 really struggled with handwriting which was also part of it... He had extra sessions in school in small groups with a TA which were made really fun and he really enjoyed them - he never ever felt stressed by them or the need for them. There were similar groups for the dc that needed help with their maths or spelling. So they did support those that needed it, in school time and without stressing them out - but likewise needing the majority of the class to go to after school lessons would have been seen as an admission of failure by the teachers that they were unable to teach their class to the required standard.

Unbelievable it turns out that your child's mental health is more important than the school's league table position.

YADNBU.

YADNBU Ds2 went from being a school loving to a school hating child due to SATs last year. I was horrified at the pressure put on 6 and 7 years olds to "achieve"

You're NBU at all OP.
6 years is very very young to be sitting tests.
My German only started school fir the first time, at 6.5!
The worst thing is when a child, especially that young, becomes scared of something at school. Keeping that original enthusiasm and love for learning intact, is the big challenge for us parents, I reckon, and I for one will do anything to ensure my DD (8) continues to enjoy school as much as possible, tests or no tests.

German niece!

Don't he is still very little, and has done 6 hours of school already, one way to put children off learning.

Sorry in advance but I am about to go off at a tangent.....
I have two children at primary school (year 2 and 5) and I dont get how children are stressing about tests. I realise they are carried out but not one of my children ever mentions them - I understand the year 2 SATS are looming but I, nor my son, care not a hoot about them (that's not to say I dont care about their education because I do - passionately). I was in his classroom helping out a few weeks before Easter and they were doing some "mock" tests (I guess for the new curriculum SATS). There was no pressure.... the teacher called them "quizzes" and the kids were all perfectly relaxed.

As for the extra curricular / intervention "clubs" - I would go with your gut instinct and if you feel he is not ready then don't send him. My son is in school half and hour early Mon-Thurs for reading and handwriting but that is because an early morning drop off works for me and he doesn't mind going but I can understand it would not be everyones cup of tea!

This sort of thing sucks the pleasure out of learning, you know your own child, and at 6 this is not going to affect his GCSE result potential!!. Go with your gut feeling here, I am totally against hot housing kids, and I am also a teacher.

Oof it's so depressing isn't it? At this age they should be learning about how interesting numbers are not being made to do sums 'til their eyes bleed. My DD is really good at maths (her dad has a 1st in it from Oxford - i am crap at maths so I'm not showing off) and she is now saying she hates it too.

We're going to have a generation of kids who are terrified of numbers!

Apart from the public school lot....

By the way I meant don't send him. There's really no point if he's so dead against it IMO.

I wouldn't send a 6 year old for extra maths like that. The school day is plenty long enough for them.

I hate the pressure the SATS system is placing on both teachers and children.

They are children for such a short time. They need to be allowed to just be children at that age, not be stressing about exams and tests.

Mine are all older now and youngest is 13, but when they were in the infant school they were unaware that they were actually doing tests. It was all just part of their school day and nothing out of the ordinary for them. I liked it that way. It didn't stress them. Is that all changing now? Why?

DS is 6.5 and an August born boy. His teacher has sent home some extra sheets he can do one or two at a time but there isn't a maths club after school for the Yr 2 children who are not yet sufficiently developed to get a proper grasp on the maths the government thinks they should be doing, which is what it amounts to.

Just take him home at the end of the school day - at this age they have done enough and need a rest not further maths.

My DS is in Y2 and has no idea he's doing tests this year. He goes to an optional after school maths club called Magical Maths and really loves it, but he chooses to go and there's no pressure. In fact I thought it was a bit much for him at the end of a school day (and he does Beavers the same day early evening), but he begged to go and loves it. So I think in terms of hours it shouldn't be too much at that age, but ONLY if they enjoy it and don't get stressed. In your position I wouldn't send him, governor or not.

The sessions will be for the benefit of the SATs and not for the child. You are entirely correct to allow him not to attend. Home life matters too.

They will repeat all this maths when they get to secondary school.

OP, I agree with you - if it's for your ds's benefit then all well and good. If it's to cover shoddy and/or incompetent teaching then let them whistle.

If at a later date, he really has a problem, there's always Kumon.

For those who find 3pm a late finish, I never finished primary school before 3.30pm, had homework every night from the age of 7, learned tables up to 12x12 at the age of 7 etc etc.

In my last year at primary school I learned separate subjects of arithmetic, algebra (simultaneous equation and solving quadratics) and geometry - which I always hated. Thank goodness I did modern maths from 11 -16. I also had French and Latin, history and geography and art. Every Friday morning after break without fail we had a Latin grammar paper with the major distraction of the headmaster's golden retriever licking my knee, and then my nose, when I didn't pay her any attention. When she got too stroppy, he used to send her back to her corner by the ink bottles.....

I didn't chose any of this, and in addition to 2-weekly positions in class for points for my house (or team) and written exams twice a year (Christmas and Summer), just took it in my stride. At the same time, on a sunny afternoon, he cancelled lessons and took us out either over the beach, or at high tide, over the hills to run off steam among bracken and heather - with the dog in tow, of course.

The school results - long before SATS - were extremely good. The head knew how to motivate and teach children more than any teacher I had before or since. Shame that teachers like that are so rare.

For those in Germany, the post-war system of education there was based on the current (at the time) British system of primary followed by either grammar school or secondary modern school with the possibility to transfer to grammar school at 12, 13 etc.

DH did that - they carried knives at his primary school, and I refused a grammar school place in the local convent, preferring to go to another school where we rather resembled St Trinian's on a bad day - complete with lacrosse sticks and indecently short skirts. The convent with white gloves in summer, indoor shoes etc etc would have killed either me or the nuns.

You know what is best for your child. Stick to what is good for his wellbeing.

You can upskill him at home, and make it more fun (hopefully).

Governor or not, what matters here is your ds and if you can provide the support and help he needs at home then that sounds fine.

I suspect others are so enthusiastic because it means they don't need to do anything at home and get a bit of free childcare!!

I am a primary governor, and DS1 is in Y6. His class were given SPAG work to do over Easter and a letter about how important revision is. He didn't do the homework. SATs are for the school, not the child, and we will not be cramming for them.

Do some extra maths if you feel it will be useful. (DS2 who is in Y2 did do his times tables homework, because I think that fast recall of tables is really useful, and also because he wanted to.) But don't do it for the test.

When my DS was in year 6 (last year) there were extra maths and English booster sessions after school because the head was determined to get a high proportion of level 5 and 6 passes at SATs. DS didn't want to go so I said he didn't have to (I HATED the SATs pressure) and I got a call from the deputy head saying I was letting DS down and that he really did want to go because they'd 'had a chat' about it and she knew!

He was on a School Action Plus ILP and when he sat his SATs tests, he did so on his own in a room with a teaching assistant. I strongly suspect she helped him with the answers as he got a level 5. He was delighted, me not so much as I knew it would put extra pressure on him for targets in KS3 and KS4. He is not a natural above-average in maths. His Y7 teachers have worked that out and he is in a mid-low maths set at the moment. Trouble is that Level 5 SATs result still means he will be targeted to get an A (or whatever it will be then) at GCSE in 5 years' time. If he doesn't get that, he will feel a failure. That's the kid he is.

Horrified that they are doing it for KS1 SATs as well. Just say no.

tb I'mnot sure what your point is? Those of us with kids in the German system know how the German system works, your post reads as if you think we have no idea about anything except the time school finishes for 6 year olds...

I'm with you SJL2311. I really don't get this obsession with kids doing revision for this sort of test. When DS (who's almost 9) did his year two SATS we were asked by the school NOT to mention them. They did them like mini quizzes or assessments, which the kids were used to as the school works to individual levels in the infant classes. We weren't even told when they did their phonics test until afterwards in case we pressurised the kids. The teachers were adamant that the test was to help them sort out what the kids needed for the next stage of schooling - not a competition about who was 'best'. They did have little quizzes to do but that was to get them used to the format and it was a case of 'do them if you want to' rather than set homework.

DS's school does Mathletics (a computer based maths programme) and there is a Mathletics club which you can elect to join after school. They also do a class before school each week which is for the children who struggle a bit - but the teacher makes it so much fun that DS was disappointed that his friend was invited to go and he couldn't! In this case the teacher had a word with each parent, explaining why the school felt the child should attend and if they agreed to the child going, printed out brightly coloured invitations. If the parents said no, that was that. As I say, it became a really cool thing to be invited to so much so they've had to put on an after school club so the kids who weren't struggling or those who wanted extra maths don't feel left out!

So YNBU at all. There are ways of encouraging kids and this isn't one of them. As someone else said I'd be a bit concerned that a school had to do group revision for SATs!

*Turns out this has happened to the whole class, and that her 'problem' is her 'inability to decode nonsense words as she seems to need context to decode a word rather than using the approved diagraphs as clues'.
*
Sadly, the year 1 phonics test involves decoding nonsense words - nothing to do with reading really.

Thanks so much for the support. He came out of school happy today at least! I did not let him stay for the extra Maths session.

The assistant head who was running it came out to speak to me as she assumed I hadn't got the letter! She was definitely surprised that I wasn't sending him and said something about the pressure they are under. Which I utterly sympathised with of course, then repeated my reasons with a couple of 'he's 6 years old' s thrown in for good measure. Then we ran away.

It felt kinda good.