To find SATs joke not very funny?

[Kokapetl]

A primary school teacher played a prank on the whole of year 6 just after their SATs had finished by telling them they had another exam the next day. They actually assembled the kids and "explained" why they had not told them about it before! Then the joke was revealed and the kids had a post-SATs treat.

I think this is a bit mean and not very funny in what could have been a stressful week for some children. AIBU?

Ha ha, no I'm not going to do a "no but I'm right because..." The teacher is actually a friend of mine and when they told me about it I thought it was a bit mean. To be fair, they've been a the school a while so probably know the year group fairly well. I was just thinking about some friends' kids who got really upset over something very minor that their teacher said. And yes, they weren't left to stew overnight. As I said the joke was revealed soon after. I think the school's attitude was to downplay the SATs.

I’m sure most children would be fine with this.

But I’d not be happy if one of DS1’s teachers made a joke like this. He has ASD and struggles with unexpected changes in routine, and it’s not the sort of joke he’d understand.
He gets very unsettled if he feels he can’t trust the people in charge (such as the teacher) to tell him what’s actually going to happen.

Into my daughter is the same (awaiting asd assesment but this is yet another thing I thought was "normal" but from the thread looks like an asd quirk) - I just asked her in fact and she looked really uncomfortable that anyone would do it. "Mrs x would tell me first though, wouldn't she? She would...."

Mrs X is incredible and aware that it would really throw her trust and probably wouldnt do it in the first palce - but yes would tell my daughter.

I hope those concerned did tell those who would be anxious in advance.

If it was meant to ge a joke, it wasn't a very funny one. I'm with OP, I think that was mean.

My lot would have found this hilarious. They would then have found some awful way to wreak terrible revenge or extracted a better treat.

Mean?

There are lots of things that are mean. A joke and treat revealed soon after is not mean🙄

I would assume a teacher would know their class and know whether this would be funny or upsetting. If there were any children with autism or who were particularly sensitive or stressed then I don't think they'd have done it. Otherwise, I think it's fine.

Is it a quiet week for you?

It’s a shitty werid thjng to do

I'm sure the majority of kids wouldn't be phased by it, (although its hardly hilarious is it?)

But, for some children such as my dd who has asd and extreme anxiety, it would cause total confusion and distress.

I can't see what was gained by the joke when it risked upsetting a small but vulnerable minority.

If there were any children with autism or who were particularly sensitive or stressed then I don't think they'd have done it.

Teachers frequently underestimate the level of stress and anxiety that children with asd (and other types of additional needs) deal with on a daily basis. Most don't show their distress at school so it is very difficult for school staff to appreciate or experience it.

I think it's OK... as long as the teachers are OK with the odd prank being played on them as well!

I don’t understand why they did it-it’s not funny and they were getting the treat anyway. So to cause even mild discomfort seems a poor call.

YANBU that's a weird thing to do.

Rafferty - that's interesting. In my experience, visible stress and anxiety is one of the main ways of spotting an autistic child in the classroom. Some parents say the child copes well at home but struggles with the unpredictability of school and others just seem to find all situations difficult. But I've rarely come across a child who can present as NT at school when they are not. I do work in a very changeable, unpredictable school with a hugely over packed timetable so that might be why our children with autism don't mask at school as well as they do in calmer environments, idk.

I would definitely expect a primary teacher who has the same children day in day out to know her children very well though - not just the way come across but what they are actually like.

Manic its really really common for children on the spectrum/with anxiety ti try to hold it all in together at school and then to unravel or meltdown afterwards. Especially girls (underdiagnosis of girls etc etc.)

There's veen many times where my daughter has come home, cried for an hour and been inconsolable and only later Ive foubd out what it is - fed it back into school to findnout they had no idea. And they're the ones that realised she was autistic....
Once it was because in assembly they'd said there'd be an activity the next day but it was a surprise.... (so she internalised she couldnt ask about it as it wouild ruin the surprise for others/but was terrified not being able to process not knowing the change to the day.) I mentioned it to the teacher (for information, not as a criticism) who promptly realised what had happened and tried to reassure my child that yes it was okay to ask anytime etc etc...

I suspect if you have autistic children in your school there will be many more times they've become anxious than just the times it's been obvious to you. I haven't even gone in about every time, but started to after school asked me to....

I suspect if you have autistic children in your school there will be many more times they've become anxious than just the times it's been obvious to you. I agree KneelJustKneel

It's not that the child presents as NT, it's more that you won't be aware of the anxiety until it reaches a level they can't handle, and affects their behaviour in some way. The behaviour will be the tip of the iceberg, but the anxiety underlying will have been building way before it's apparent. So, even those children whose behaviour suggests they dont mask, will in fact have been doing so before the behaviour makes the anxiety obvious.

Sometimes, as kneel says, it's not until the child gets home that they release.

I do work in a very changeable, unpredictable school with a hugely over packed timetable so that might be why our children with autism don't mask at school as well as they do in calmer environments, idk.

A very changeable and unpredictable environment is not one suited to most autistic children

Bleeding hell. If the kids can’t cope with a less than five minute running joke then goodness knows how they’ll cope in secondary school, uni etc. If it’s a mainstream school, one of the things they need to learn as they grow is some level of resilience. It was a silly joke.

I’d actually feel sad if my DCs teachers felt they couldn’t mess about with the kids after a long stressful week. They got a treat at the end too.

What rafferty said.

Not funny.

I hated teachers like that. Fucking arseholes. The only one who would find it funny was them.

You do know their predicted grades in high school come from their SATs results. In grammar areas grammar stream places can be based on scores too. Totally not just for the school.

Also it’s this time of year that you have a little smirk to yourself about how the difficult children and parents you have put up with for years through primary get the shock of their lives when they reach secondary and no one gives a shit about their ridiculous demands. OP, people all have a different sense of humour. No one was hurt and some children probably found it quite funny. If you went into a high school and complained about something similar you would be labelled as bat-shit crazy. Use this as a practice for the future. Just leave it.

Are there any autistic children in her class? If there weren’t the joke was fine, a bit corny but not damaging or hurtful. Some of the responses on here are odd.

I’m amazed how some people here cope with real bloody issues. It was a joke.