To be worried and disappointed DS has failed his mock year 6 SATs?

[RocketQueenP]

So they have had mock SATs all week

The results came home with him today and I am mortified (obvs I have not conveyed this to him)

He is about 20% below the bare min pass mark for everything but reading where he got 70% pass mark 55%

I will be having a chat with his teacher on Monday to find out what I can do and to find out if she is concerned / if I should be

I am pretty sure the SATs markds determine what "stream" or whatever they call it these days he will be when he goes to secondary after the summer :(

He is very bright, honestly, he just cant be arsed. He would rather have a laugh and can never be bothered with homework. He tricked me and his dad for months (we are not together) by saying to his dad he had done his home work at mine and vice versa

He is also very good at football and excels in his school team and local team and he is absolutely convinced football will be his career. I do encourage him and am very proud of his achievements but also try and make him see that only the very very lucky few make lots of money from it

Anyway anyone else had similar or can re assure me please :(

[Bensyster]

I'd also say, some kids are not academic, they can still have perfectly happy lives, apprenticeships are well supported now. Not everything in life is down to your achievements at school

[citybushisland]

Yes the SATs will be his predictions for GCSEs, however, some children develop later than others, some peak early. My eldest (like me) peaked early and didn't do as well in her GCSEs as 'predicted' however still got them all and with perfectly fine grades - 1A, 2As, 5Bs, 2 Cs. middle child was a late developer, was predicted all Cs, got 10 As and her secondary school thought she would, she just suddenly 'got it' in year 8. I'd have a chat with the teacher, see what support she recommends, but I wouldn't put too much pressure on, it will have the opposite effect to what you want.

I'd also say, some kids are not academic, they can still have perfectly happy lives, apprenticeships are well supported now. Not everything in life is down to your achievements at school

[RocketQueenP]

In my experience a 'Can't be arsed' attitude is a very accurate way of predicting poor GCSE grades

Very true. My younger brother was the same.

Thanks again for all the comments x

[JoffreyBaratheon]

BTW, my football crazy, bright but lazy 14 year old has finally got his head down and worked this year. How did I finally do it? I promised him a trip to Anfield if he hits all his attainment targets this year - can't quite believed it's worked but it's worked...

I think any form of overt exam is an educational disaster for kids of primary age. It means teachers stop teaching and kids stop learning - apart from how to jump through hoops like show ponies. Plenty of time for that at GCSE.

[JoffreyBaratheon]

Should add, the school knew me well and also knew I was a teacher - they didn't resist at all. I just went in, said I was withdrawing him, they said they'd see to it - and they saw to it. That was a school that wasn't obsessively teaching to test for months on end, but if they'd tried to get lary about it, I'd have taken no prisoners.

[JoffreyBaratheon]

Meffy I went to the school and told them I was withdrawing him from the SATs. My other kids, weren't so affected by it and it didn't bother them. But a few years on, I kind of wish I'd opted them all out (even the one with the massively high IQ) because so long as kids do SATs, governments have a stick to beat schools with. But also, I saw a lot of teaching to test, which is appalling, educationally. At one of my sons' primary schools, the whole of Y6 seemed dominated by it.

I should add the son in question is now at uni, getting high 2.1s and I suspect might not even be there if he'd done Y6 SATs and had his confidence wrecked.

[Bensyster]

The cats tests aren't that great at predicting scores either

[GnomeDePlume]

Sorry, a very long Xpost with Kelvingrove!

[GnomeDePlume]

Something you and his father need to really address is this 'bright but lazy' mindset. Not just your DS's own attitude but yours. Unfortunately this 'bright but lazy' attitude can too quickly evolve into just plain lazy. This is something you and his DF can address. Homework gets done. Twice if necessary. Use whatever sanctions are available to you.

Very, very few of even the good footballers actually get to make a living out of playing. It is possible to make a living in sport but for that he will need qualifications and skills.

[Kelvingrove]

In my experience a 'Can't be arsed' attitude is a very accurate way of predicting poor GCSE grades.

The attitude is the issue you need to focus on.

[Bensyster]

Btw I'm sure your ds is genuinely bright but testing and failing will make him feel stupid and affect his self esteem. And not caring is a coping mechanism. Be very careful that you don't make this worse by over emphasising the importance of the Sats. Learning is important for my dcs but the Sats were a school performance measure I never discussed them in any other terms with my kids - they were irrelevant.

[GreenGinger2]

Meffy we had the same. Dd got her diagnosis( thanks to us) just in time. Dyspraxia,hyper mobility and sensory. Go to your GP,explain the urgency. Ours diagnosed the hypermobility on the spot. She/he might get a referral through quickly if possible.Dd got extra time to shake hands out etc and was tested in a group away from the majority.

[Bensyster]

The Sats have got to be the worst approach to engaging a disinterested child in education - test them, make them do more practice papers over and over again, this approach might get a pass in Sats but it also may make him hate education more thn ever and in the long run do more harm than good. It's possible that he's scared of failing, so he doesn't try and therefore in his head he fails because he doesn't try rather than he's not clever enough. It's like one big massive joke.
I think lots of boys don't get on board with education until they can see the point and at the minute your ds is wanting to fous on his football career - that's good because he is interested in something and that interest is healthy but he needs a back up plan to his dream.
All schools are not the same - kids move up and down streams in our secondary. The HT boasts of kids who failed their Sats and end up with straight A's at GCSE and I have heard parents saying the same. The challenge is how to flick that switch and get your ds to believe education is important.
Encourage him to work hard for results, do not mention cleverness - it's a judgement that is seen as an unchangable quality that we have no control over - if he doesn't feel clever he won't believe you, but working harder is something we are all capable of doing and he may be more open to.

[Meffy]

Jeez this is all new to me. DS1 is 9 and in year 5 but is 21st August so youngest in his year. Then add to that the fact he is being assessed for ADHD and ASD. He's also hypermobile so hates writing because it's painful, so anything to do with literacy is a no no. Maths, Science, reading and History all above where he should be and his teacher has confirmed he is the brightest pupil in her class. He just doesn't test very well at all! We've asked can he be tested separately too as he will put off the other kids with his stress and frustrations!
JOFFREY How did you go about your DS not doing the tests?
Until we get an official diagnosis we are stuck. I have been asking school since year 2 if they thought DS had issues and they just said DS is just DS !!! Now year 6 they have finally admitted he's not just quirky !!!

[BusyBeez99]

Is CAT like rank order academy tests? (All
New to us)

[BreconBeBuggered]

They can do it with CATs at school, Busy. DS1 had the same experience and two years later was dumbfounded to hear he was 'predicted' to get a high grade in a subject he'd never encountered before Y10.

[BusyBeez99]

My son's school doesn't do SATS so how they going to assess his GCSE level when he starts secondary in september.....?

[MyWineTime]

Predicted GCSE grades are still irrelevant - they're a measure for the school. My children's school had predicted grades (set by SATS) and expected grades, which were based on the teacher's assessment and child's actual performance.

SATS are irrelevant to the child. Talk to your child, find out what he wants. If he doesn't care, you can't make him work harder. Talk to him about what inspires him and what he would need to pursue that.

[edwinbear]

Just to echo what a PP said re football and you could perhaps pass on to him. If he was going to have a pro career he would have been scouted by now, particularly if he is playing for a local club.

DS was scouted age 6, whilst I didn't take it forward as I couldn't commit to the training schedule required, a friend of his (also 6) did trial and is now training at the mini Arsenal academy (whatever it's called), along with the other kids scouted at around 6 or 7. The likelihood of ds friend ultimately playing pro are slim to none, despite such an early start.

[PurpleTygrrr]

Hi
I'm a year 6 teacher and at this point there will be lots of children 20% below the pass mark. I presume this was for the grammar/spelling test and the maths test. My advice is to get yourself on the CGP website and get some work books to do at home. The 10 minute test ones are good as are the year 6 grammar books and specific maths books on different areas such as number, geometry etc. Try and spot any gaps in his knowledge and take it from there. Also ask the teacher for a list of objectives you can work on with him.

The grammar test is notoriously hard under the new curriculum and the spelling too! Have a look at the sounds and letter patterns they need to know for year 3/4 as well as year 5/6 as well as the word banks for these years. More of the spellings in the test are from the year 3/4 than the year 5/6 bank so don't worry to much if he is finding the harder ones tricky... They are! The national curriculum also has a glossary of all the grammar terms they need to practice!

SATs are a pain, to do well it's all about practice and finding the gaps in their knowledge and going from there.

The fact that he got 70% in the reading test at this stage is amazing! There is still a great deal of the year 6 curriculum to cover before May and I always see my pupils make the post process in this time.

Good luck and don't worry... They're only 11! I always say to my class... No one will ask you when you're older what you got in your y6 SATs!

[minionsrule]

Sorry but I just had another thought, and I don't mean this to sound awful but when you say your ds is bright, were is this perception from? Have previous teachers told you this?
I only ask as you need to be sure that it really is that he can't be arsed or could be be struggling? The reason for asking is reading back seeing that the teacher told you he had done well in the mocks? Could she have meant he did well based on what she expected? A good teacher can tell a bright but lazy child from a child who needs additional support.
The not doing homework could be for the same reason maybe.

I find it hard to believe that a teacher said a genuinely bright child had done well when they were so far below the expected minimum.
But then again, if he was genuinely pitching at below expected then I would have expected you to have been informed of this at previous parents evening, not just because of a mock SAT exam

[NotMeNoNo]

Sorry, the talk app mashed my paragraphs!

[NotMeNoNo]

The new SATS are very hard- DS did them last year and it's a credit to school they scraped him through literacy. We had a lot of tears over it. There is still masses of material to cover.

It sounds like your DS is just being a bit immature about it - not unusual for a 10yo boy who prefers football. You could impose sanctions re football if you think they will work, but you, dad and teacher need a united approach to try and motivate him. But he might just need to grow up a bit in his own time.

I would not worry on results. The secondary will do own assessments. The schools are forced to fudge an average predicted GCSE grade from the KS 2 results so they can measure "expected progress" but I take all this with a huge pinch of salt. There are so many things that can change and our reports have space for teachers to show an adjusted prediction if they think it's relevant .

[minionsrule]

OP my DS is now in Y7 so went through the worst year for SATS so I know the bar was set very high.
The results alone would not faze me so much but more your other comments that 'he is bright but can't be arsed', he lied to you and his dad about homework, and he seems to be convinced that he will be a prof football (don't lots of boys at that age
Rather than a tutor I think you and his dad need to get a bit tough with him for his own good, no privilages till he has done his homework (and maybe threaten his football). If he is bright he shouldn't need you to help that much with his homework, he should be remembering what to do from class and if he isn't sure of bits he can leave them and pick it up with the teacher - that should not be an excuse.
If it was a case of he isn't keeping up but is trying that would be a different story with a different approach. Tough love is my suggestion.
This isn't about SATS results at the end of the day, it is about his whole attitude to education and his future