Is the school taking the p!ss?

[nat73]

Long story but the primary school our kids go to is very nice and relaxed but their SATs results this year were dire. For some time we have been thinking that the 'extra curricular' activities outweigh the actual curricular activities. I know kids should be kids etc and we spend lots of time on weekends playing with playdough and in the garden, on bikes etc. So I do expect time at school to be used for 'learning' and better still learning to read and write.

Warm up to Xmas at our primary school included (for the whole school): Xmas concert, Xmas fair, Xmas party, Xmas lunch, trip to the pantomime and all day trip out.

In 2 weeks time there is another whole school trip. Year 6 go on an all week outward bound course (4 nights) during the week and I notice other schools do it over a weekend.

I went into the school before Xmas to express my concerns about the SATs results and that they are nothing learning stuff in enough depth. I was told there is so much to cover that in the time available there is not time to do everything in alot of detail.

Year 6 have 2 after school sessions per week to try to improve the SATs scores. Then I find out this week that for 12 weeks they are having someone from the local community to come in to talk about an aspect of popular culture for 30 mins per week.

Is this a wind up? If there is not enough time to cover the curriculum in detail why are they a) doing so many trips and Xmas stuff and b) spending 6 hours on popular culture. I dont mind this being an after school club or something but why have pupils stay after school to study for SATs and then spend time in the day pratting about?

My husband says I should complain to the governors but I feel like I have come to the end of the road on this. Is this normal? Are all primary schools pratting around this much?

Whilst what you posted it true for schools and how they are evaluated tiggy they have no bearing really on the op or her DC

After I done my SATS in year six in London, they were done away with, as in no more SATS as they were proved uses less. Did they bring them back? I'm only 23 now so not that long ago.

I can safely say that a child's SATS result has never once affected how much I stretch them. And in my 10 years in a private school we seemed to manage to stretch them perfectly well without SATS results. Children change a lot between age 11 and 16. They all progress at different rates in different subjects. GCSE targets should be based on what you have learnt about the child and their ability in your subject through actually teaching them. Not some flipping SPAG test they did 5 years ago which tested them on things they'd crammed for a term and that they don't even study at secondary school (the SPAG anyway).

I've just sat in a staff meeting, where 2 teachers wanted to take their year group on a trip that would be beneficial to the topic they are learning about...But because they went on a trip last term, they feel reluctant to ask the parents to pay for another as it caused enough aggro trying to get the money to cover that one! So they are going to try fundraising to get as much as they can to cover it.
I think it is really sad that trips are considered an inconvenience, or optional, especially as so many of our children wouldn't get taken to such places by their own families. Why is enrichment considered inferior to sitting in a classroom all day? I know some people think trips are a "jolly" for the staff...

After I done my SATS in year six in London, they were done away with, as in no more SATS as they were proved uses less.

Eh? No they weren't. You must be confused.

I haven't rtft, but I have read this book (Dumbing us Down - the hidden curriculum of compulsory schooling). Maybe your head teacher is a fan, it certainly increased my scepticism about testing, and who testing actually helps (the education industry) and advocates learning through community figures (such as your school is doing). I'd say your school is being sensibly radical and looking after the kids best interests.

www.amazon.co.uk/Dumbing-Down-Curriculum-Compulsory-Schooling/dp/0865714487/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485799703&sr=8-1&keywords=Dumbing+us+down&tag=mumsnetforum-21

I'm near sure they were, no need to be rude considering I did ask if they were done away with or not. I remember a lot of talk at the time about them not being useful, then when my brother would have been due his they didn't do them anymore.

Sats were absolutely NOT "done away with." And you didn't "ask," you stated that they had been.
There was one year recently when some schools boycotted them, but probably not in the time span you're talking of.

Yr 9 ones were scrapped in around 2008.

But borrowedheart said Y6.

tiggytape - yes, with my teacher head on, I know that data is used in this way to inform individual targets when it really ought to be just a blunt instrument. With my parent head on, I am pleased that my daughter's SATS results were great, because she was pleased and because it helped her school, but don't see how they are relevant to her future studies really. Just because secondary schools ARE forced to use the SATS data to set targets, that doesn't make it a relevant or useful use of data for the individual student. I teach MFL. There are things about the skills involved in learning a foreign language which would it hard to predict GCSE results based on maths and literacy tests.

That thread you linked is a depressing summary. Dh is always saying that SLT don't understand statistics, and that schools are using data the wrong way. Data which can only really be used to analyse the big picture is actually being used to create spurious and unrealistic individual targets which teachers are penalised (sometimes financially) for failing to meet. No wonder we are leaving the profession in our droves.

The school sounds great to me, and even though it may seem your children aren't learning all the time they are, just different skills that can't always be measured in tests. The Christmas activities include religion, British Values (something they have to learn now), the importance of tradition, art, storytelling, performance, public speaking, music, how to behave at the theatre and represent the school well, social skills and finally how to bloody well enjoy themselves. I know you want the best for your kids and that's why you're worried but please don't be - the school will be trying really hard to strike the right balance between academia and life skills and they'll have put a lot of thought into getting it right.

That sounds like a lovely school to me. SAT results don't benefit the children.

Our school sounds the exact opposite of yours. Very limited time for creativity/educational visits/fun/sport but seriously hard pressure on teachers and pupils. I think I'd rather my kids were at your school.
P.S. Sometimes you do get a bad cohort & a bad year of results, the SATs results don't change anything at all for the children as the teachers already know what level they're working at.

Schools usually push all the relaxed play development because that is what the parents want. You surly cant be surprised when you get to Y6 and find ... they do lots of play development, its a bit late to be kicking up a fuss.

I pulled my DC out of that environment after KS1 and moved to a school that prioritised academic learning and had a culture of studying among the parents. Best thing I ever did, you can't expect a secondary school to overcome a bad foundation, bad results at SATs and then blame the school when they don't achieve well at GCSE.

I'd prefer a school which has lots of fun play development AND academic learning AND a culture of studying among the parents. I don't see any reason why those things would be considered mutually exclusive.

BroomstickOfLove, in an ideal world they wouldn't be but limited time and money usually means choosing.

sats results were dire as the children had to learn four years of new curriculum in just a year or two. they spent a good part of their ks two time on the old curriculum. spag has introduced a lot of technical language which is not necessarily useful.

Sounds perfect for kids of primary age. SATS may have been dire last year as it was the first year of doing it differently. Chill out.

SATs tests do not test academic learning, they are a time limited (and in a great many other ways limited) test of reading, SPAG and maths skills, based on a curriculum made up by politicians and civil servants. They are an appalling indictment of the problems created by politicians interfering excessively in areas that should not be governed by politics.

Jeez, worrying that your school isn't doing enough for SATs?! My daughter's primary school did nothing but SATs testing, pushing and preparing them for the tests from January right up to May. They learned pretty much nothing in that time except how to pass a test. As a result the kids were bored and extremely stressed, which then passed to the parents. All for school results.
She couldn't wait to get into year 7 and once she did she never looked back. And the Secondary school don't give a flying fig about the results because they do their own tests anyway.
Stop stressing and let your kids just be kids.