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Original poster

To think we need to get a grip about SATs and stop the drama

280 replies

PeaceLoveGonk · 10/05/2016 10:14

DD(11) has to work very hard just to be average academically. None of this SPAG bollocks comes naturally but she just bloody well gets on with it.

She came out of school yesterday, said test was hard, she didn't finish it but did her best. We then went for ice cream and when we got home she went on the iPad.

No one in her class had hysterics, went into meltdown, cried or did anything other than try their best.

I've read a thread on TES forum describing the test as 'brutal' and there is much talk about ruining our children's lives. I think it's just 4 tense days before they start the wind down to summer.

We're not doing our kids any favours with all this anger, breast beating and angst. They're not working in clothing factories in India, trying to make a living from a rubbish dump or facing death on a dinghy trying to cross the sea to escape persecution. It's 4 days of tests!

OP posts:
fusionconfusion · 10/05/2016 15:33

"I have a HUGE problem with what they are testing our children on, the shit they are teaching our children, the time they are wasting."

This.

Screw the hyperbole about stress and resilience. These are precious years for learning and this curriculum is non-functional, joyless and absurd.

I have spent my entire life studying language. I have a first class honours degree in English literature, an MA in Applied Linguistics, a teaching qualification, a dyslexia qualification and a language and communication development and impairment qualification.

None of this stuff makes sense. None of this stuff has utility. What is its function? Why is it so, who has decided it? How is this ethical? How does it prepare children for their futures?

This is a much, much bigger issue than how 11 year olds feel about testing.

exLtEveDallas · 10/05/2016 15:40

Thank you all the posters whose children have coped well with yesterday's paper but have been able to show some understanding and empathy to those whose children didn't. It is very much appreciated Thanks

DD came out today still very subdued, as did a couple of her friends. She volunteered that today was 'better' but is questioning why she learned 160 words for spelling when the test was only 20 (and I've just checked - two of the words she thinks she got wrong weren't on the 160 word list). She hasn't said anything else, other than to tell me about the child that was withdrawn.

She's just plugged herself into her iPad and doesn't want to chat.

Hopefully she's just winding down and she'll be better tonight.

CauliflowerBalti · 10/05/2016 15:44

BillSykesDog - the desire to pursue foreign languages doesn't come from understanding the building blocks of grammar to degree level at age 9. The desire to pursue a career in STEM subjects isn't sparked by having molecular structures drilled into you so you can list them by rote.

And giving every single child in the UK the vocabulary they need to go on to do a degree in Spanish is as big a waste of time as focusing the curriculum entirely on creativity so they can all go on to become bestselling authors. Our children need a broad education that balances the things they need to know with space for them to want to find out more. We shouldn't be filling vessels. We should be lighting fires.

Interrogate your own thinking. So you want to see a generation of kids more inclined to pursue languages? Is your first port of call, I'll give them a thorough basis in grammar - that will light that flame...? You want more scientists? Let's get them learning the periodic table by rote - that's the way to do it...

BillSykesDog · 10/05/2016 15:55

If that's the case cauliflower, the previous generation who went through school during a time when educational methods were all about 'being creative' and 'lighting fires' would all be foreign linguists, scientists and engineers wouldn't they?

But they're not. They're working in call centres and shops while we import skills from countries like India, Pakistan and China where rote learning methods are more common. But that's alright. Because they can be creative and love language on their breaks from minimum wage drudgery. As long as they do it in a way which doesn't require any disposable income.

Original poster
PeaceLoveGonk · 10/05/2016 16:13

DD said that most of the spellings in today's test weren't on the list that she's been practising all year Hmm Not sure if she's right. I asked her if she felt like a failure. She replied 'no, I'm just frustrated with the stupid government'. Join the club, DD Grin

OP posts:
jellyfrizz · 10/05/2016 16:24

They're working in call centres and shops while we import skills from countries like India, Pakistan and China where rote learning methods are more common.

"where rote learning methods are more common...." and the salary expectation is very low.

You missed a bit off the end of that sentence.

I see what you're saying Bill but do you really think that learning newly made up grammar terms is useful? It's not even transferable outside England.

Pancakeflipper · 10/05/2016 16:33

Thankfully our school has handled the SATS in a way I appreciate - very low key. No extra classes after school and weekends, only links to sites to test papers. Though some parents got private tutors.

DS 1 is making use of his laid back manner this week. I haven't a clue what his results will be like but he's focused on them and not stressing. Thankfully a new Tom Gates book has been published so he's got comfort reading to switch off to and minecraft .

I am fucking furious with the Education ministers for totally stuffing the changes in curriculum and causing this stress on schools and children. I almost wish everyone fails so they realise how ridiculous the content for the tests are and give the children the tests the children deserve (if they have to measured for stats).

Wry smile from me when my son said "why are they testing us on stuff we don't know, when they could test us on things we are good at?" He's looking forward to getting back to normal learning when it's done creatively and engages them.

Letter to my MP will be sent this week.

I really feel for those children whose confidence has been shaken badly. All for what exactly????

Mistigri · 10/05/2016 16:39

The type of grammar being taught in UK grammar lessons is very different from the functional grammar knowledge that is helpful in learning a foreign language. In fact most of what is being taught is completely irrelevant to language learning.

As for comparisons with the Chinese. I work in a team of analysts with three very intelligent, well-educated Chinese colleagues, and we have an incredibly tough time getting them to think critically.

Mistigri · 10/05/2016 16:46

And giving every single child in the UK the vocabulary they need to go on to do a degree in Spanish

There might be very slightly more justification if it actually did this. In fact, very little of what is being taught is useful in foreign language learning even at an advanced level.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 10/05/2016 17:00

I don't think the words on the test are supposed to be only ones from the list of yr 5/6 words. Some of them will be but it will be made up of all the spelling patterns taught in the ks2 spelling appendix.
Someone has got the wrong end of the stick but it's difficult to say whether it's the school or your DD.

exLtEveDallas · 10/05/2016 17:28

Amongst the 160 words we had some highlighted words that had appeared on more than 2 previous tests and a note to pay special attention to them. So that has certainly confused things I think.

OrangesandLemonsNow · 10/05/2016 17:49

Thankfully a new Tom Gates book has been published so he's got comfort reading to switch off to

Oddly enough that is what DSS is reading too.

DSD is off to Guides.

Happy faces when DSD and DSS came out today.

They have said it was better than they thought.

Two days to go.....

Original poster
PeaceLoveGonk · 10/05/2016 18:32

That's interesting, Eve. DD has got a friend round whose just said the same thing as DD about the spellings. Friend goes to a different school but within the same academy trust (or whatever it is). Wonder if all those pupils have been given wrong info. Never mind - SPaG is over !!!!Grin

OP posts:
Mushypeasandchipstogo · 10/05/2016 21:38

Not much to add but totally agree with you OP. These new tests are nothing compared to the stupid 11+ which we still have in this area, which really does leave many children feeling like total failures at the age of 10.

Blossom591 · 10/05/2016 23:24

I asked her if she felt like a failure
Hmm

Original poster
PeaceLoveGonk · 11/05/2016 00:06

Sod off with your Hmm face, Blossom. She knew I wasn't asking the question seriously. So many MNetters are claiming their children are labelling themselves as failures, I thought I'd ask DD if she felt that way. And she didn't.

OP posts:
CoolforKittyCats · 11/05/2016 00:26

Not much to add but totally agree with you OP. These new tests are nothing compared to the stupid 11+ which we still have in this area, which really does leave many children feeling like total failures at the age of 10.

Actually if you read what posters who have had DC that have done both they are very differentwith SATS being more stressful and higher pressure.

Original poster
PeaceLoveGonk · 11/05/2016 06:32

I think mushypeas was talking about the children who failed the 11+ exam. Not the ones on this thread who breezed through it.

OP posts:
Oliversmumsarmy · 11/05/2016 09:07

Whilst this years SATS from what has been said on here are nothing like anything that has gone before, what I was trying to say in my previous post was that whatever form they took it had no bearing on a childs secondary school or future.

I have spoken to several parents who had children in year 6 who thought the results of the SATS test dictated the class they were put in when they arrived at secondary school and would swear blind that it did matter what results their dc got only to find when they arrived at secondary school that after a couple of weeks of tests the whole year group was rejigged and their dc was put into groups based on the secondary schools test not on what the SATS results were.

Having one dc who did not do SATS and one who couldn't even read the test papers, I can say SATS has had no bearing on my dc whatsoever. Dd who didn't even take SATS is at 16 going up against 20+ year olds for college places and getting offers from colleges and getting scholarship funding based on her abilities, no one has ever asked about her SATS results at year 6 and ds who could not read until he was 12 and is going into year 10 and taking 9 GCSE subjects and is doing very well despite his dysgraphia.

In 6 months time SATS will be a distant memory replaced by the realisation that they actually meant nothing.

Bambambini · 11/05/2016 09:29

My child has been fine but they did say that 2 in his class were upset on Monday. I don't remember this kind of pressure my last year of primary at all.

Unicow · 11/05/2016 09:30

DDs school have been brilliant. Her teacher is amazing. No pressure from home. We emphasised just do your best and gave her some ways to cope. Mostly she is doing really well but we are still getting tears. We get them randomly though. She finds something else stupid and minor to fixate on and stress about and the tears come over stupid things.

The main issue I have with the tests is that they are trying to make one test fit all. One test that tries to measure from the lowest to the highest means that the vast majority of kids will go into it only able to answer half of the paper. As this is the first experience of exams they have sitting an exam where half of it is incomprehensible is a ridiculous scenario. It knocks confidence, causes stress and makes them all feel stupid.

There are other issues as well but this is the main one for me. I want them to bring back the tiered system where they have 2 or even 3 levels of paper which enable kids to be tested on their strengths but ensure the average child can come out of the exam having understood the paper and been able to answer 70-80% correctly and make a good guess at the rest.

When I did GCSE the paper I did for maths tested from D-B. The higher tier paper tested grades C-A*. As a B student I was given the choice. I took some mock exams in the higher paper and they filled me with utter panic. I firmly believe that the lower paper would have been hard enough to knock my confidence and bring me down from the B I got to a C. I have never been an A student and won't ever be so taking the lower paper gave me the confidence to strive and get my B.

Unicow · 11/05/2016 09:31

Higher paper would have knocked my confidence. Which sucks now because I can't even get my thoughts straight Blush

TheoriginalLEM · 11/05/2016 09:40

No drama here , just sadness that yr 6 is wasted preparing for a test that means fuck all to my dd rather than preparing her academically and pastorally for secondary school. My dd is dyslexic and the only concession in this madness is an extra 15 minutes. Because that will help the marker who doesn't know my child to interpret her "best handwriting " and "different " spelling. Her teachers could do this and see her brilliant ideas and creativity. .oh but hang on, they don't count for anything anymore.