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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To say no to school over revision sessions

68 replies

TravellingSpoon · 20/09/2019 18:26

DD is in year 6. Came home tonight with a slip about after school tutor session that she has been given. It's on the night that she does art club and has done for 5+ years. She is distraught because they asked her to pick days that she could do, she put down Monday and Tuesday (couldn't pick Friday) and they have given her Wednesday.

Called the school and they can't change it. Letter says that children are expected to attend and basically guilt trips parents into believing that your child's whole life is going to be ruined if they don't attend.

Dd is doing well. This is coaching that all children receive after school, DD's is for maths where she is doing fine. She hasn't been asked to attend for literacy.

AIBU to tell them that she isn't going to be going? I could understand if it was her GCSE exams but this is primary school.

OP posts:

madnessitellyou · 20/09/2019 21:17

My dc’s school started the SATs crap in September.

I was pissed off with the concept as it was, but dc is now at an independent school where the majority of dc haven’t done SATs. My dc is struggling in maths (did v well in SATs) because all they did was SATs shit.

WhatTiggersDoBest · 20/09/2019 21:36

SATS already?!
I'm a bit worried with the "let her do art club" comments that, if the club is in school, a teacher will just show up at the beginning of art club, take her out of art club and walk her to the room where the maths is happening instead. You might just have to find something else for her to do on a Wednesday afternoon that's outside school.

quitecontrary123 · 20/09/2019 21:46

Keep her in her arts club. SATs are for 1 week in May. It is only September ffs.

stucknoue · 20/09/2019 22:05

For sats? Don't bother. They are internal exams basically for the schools statistics. I have no problem with sats but they should be a true reflection of ability and not coached

BeanBag7 · 21/09/2019 08:10

The most ridiculous thing about this is that SATS don't matter at all to the kids.
They dont affect which secondary school you will go to or which subjects you can do once you get there. (Unlike GCSEs which can affect your college entry). They will never be referenced on a job or uni application and nobody will ever ask you what scores you did or didn't get.

The scores matter to the teachers and that is important, but not to the detriment of the students!

BeanBag7 · 21/09/2019 08:11

Also I feel bad for the teachers in this school who are expected to run after school revision classes. I would be very surprised if they are paid extra for their time.

SnuggyBuggy · 21/09/2019 08:15

Just say no, they can't enforce it

MsTSwift · 21/09/2019 08:16

Utterly ridiculous op.
Makes me appreciate dds school. She’s just in year 6 the two female teachers made it very clear no revision sessions. It’s all about mental health and keeping a balance. Now is not the age to be stress about exams. ( teachers own dd just starting at Oxford so her approach effective! )

SudowoodoVoodoo · 21/09/2019 08:34

SATs are only a stick to beat teachers with.

Saying that at KS1, I did let DS do the extra sessions offered because he was having some difficulties and I felt that there would be some wider benefit from some more targeted support rather than being motivated by SATs themselves. When he reaches y6, I will discuss it with him and see how he feels. I would be very reluctant for it to intrude on his extra curricular life because that is of wider benefit to his development too.

While SATs are used in secondaries for target setting, an inflated SATs score is detrimental to secondary teachers, especially where they do not reflect knowledge in other unrelated subjects. A decent secondary should look at a child's performance through their school, not be fixed on the outcome of an arbitary test that children were coached to pass to varying degrees. The assumption that because a child achieved X in English in y6, that they will achieve Y in half a dozen GCSE subjects 5 years later is heavily flawed.

Original poster

TravellingSpoon · 23/09/2019 09:44

Art club is independent of school, its run in our local community hub. DD loves it and as she wants to be an illustrator or graphic designer when she is older I think it's beneficial, plus she has made friends there and it's fun.

Have sent a note to school this morning to say she won't be attending, but that I would be happy to meet with the teacher if they feel that she is having issues in maths so we can discuss this.

OP posts:

Maldives2006 · 23/09/2019 10:32

@PuffHuffle5 my daughter has just gone into year 4 and has started having times tables tests at least weekly for next summer’s national test. My son only started SATS sessions around March/April this year. As a parent it’s getting completely ridiculous and we wonder why children’s mental health is getting worse.

norfolkskies · 23/09/2019 10:40

I havent read the whole thread OP. I had this exact issue with ds in year 5 and 6! The school expected him to attend breakfast club/ sats session twice a week so 8- 8:45 am before school. AND an after school session 3:15-4pm as well. When the email came through saying this it wasnt even asked nicely, "would you like xxx to attend"?!!!

I replied a big fat no. I was then asked to go in to discuss. Discuss I did. They never asked again. dh is a teacher and we were both disgusted and made the school aware (dh may have used better chosen words). My reply to the email was leave my son alone (I was v angry!). Remind school that school hours are 9- 3 (or whatever). anything else is at your discretion . full stop.

norfolkskies · 23/09/2019 10:46

I was also angry at a TA (ds is autistic) who told him that he needed to do well in sats or he`d fail. that nugget came out randomly at teatime. I went to the headmaster with that one. I said I hope I never find out which TA it was......

DS mentally was a mess with it all. They never sent sats stuff/ homework home after I told the teacher any that did come home would be returned via the shredder.

Littlepic · 23/09/2019 10:48

Totally agree with everyone else saying stick to your guns and send her to the art club, far more important in my opinion. Also as a school governor I would like to add that under the new Ofsted Framework they will be taking a very dim view of schools teaching to the test for the whole of year 6. They want to see a rich, broad and balanced curriculum offered to the pupils not total focus on SATS.

ChicCroissant · 23/09/2019 10:53

I refused extra tuition for my DD for SATs. I think it just increases the pressure for some children.

The school's letter than she brought home didn't give the option to decline it so I wrote a letter myself, handed it to the teacher and said I didn't want it mentioned to DD again. They were taken aback but didn't push it.

OneForMeToo · 23/09/2019 10:55

One of mine has Sats this school year and I’ve made it perfectly clear that although I expect them to try their best just like in all school work they do that they don’t matter what’s so ever and to not worry about them. Treat them as any other test school give because nobody will care what score you get once you are in secondary school.

Parker231 · 23/09/2019 11:32

Schools are obviously failing if they are organising SATS homework and extra classes. What is happening to teaching new topics for the year? The teachers and schools are wasting a years education focusing all their time and effort on one meaningless test.

NWQM · 23/09/2019 11:34

You are being darned sensible rather than in any way unreasonable.

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