AIBU to at least consider pulling DS out of STATS

[JemimaPyjamas]

Firstly, I am posting here for traffic.

Secondly, of course I am going to discuss this with his teacher but I can’t at the moment as it’s the holidays!

DS is 11 in June and doing well at school (excellent in English, ok in Maths although he doesn’t find it easy or enjoy it like other subjects.) He’s become wound up and stressed and, long story short, it’s the prospect of STATS week.

The homework has ramped up as it’s now basically ‘revision’ and, briefly touching on it on parents evening his (excellent) teacher did say that ‘it’s for the school rather than the kids’ and they try and keep it ‘low key’ although I think that’s more on the actual week than to the build up.

A teacher friend in the secondary he’s going to in Sept said the children are assessed again there, I get the impression more informally, to determine what sets they go in and I am now wondering what the point of STATS, from the children’s perspective, actually is.

In the night I couldn’t sleep and found that some have taken their kids out and done other (constructive) things and I would be interested in hearing other views as I’m currently worried and also a bit clueless - I may be totally missing the point over why they are essential!

I don’t want to add loads more as typing on my phone (will be on my laptop in a bit) but we’ve tried some things to relax him about it but not loads so suggestions there are very welcome too. I’ve never taken him out before either. He’s not normally a stressy kid but I think he feels really pressured to the point where logic doesn’t work as well.

SATS are compulsory in state schools. They are used as progress markers to measure progress from EYFS and KS1. Some secondary schools use them to inform groupings. Usually, year 6's kind of see it as a right of passage. They tend to have a nervous excitement about it all. It's also quite a nice week as teachers try to keep them calm and confident and tend to do art and sports in afternoon then have a relaxing day on the Friday. He may actually end up resenting missing out.

@Hardtopickaname I am now inclined to agree with this more.

I said in previous recent posts that I think the issue is the constant homework (that is basically revision) that is stressing him out, rather than the prospect of a test. It's every evening inc weekends and now the holidays.

I'm getting my DS to focus on his SATs as

1. Life season before high school
2. High school set targets and initial sets based on them
3. High school have termly tests to check setting so he needs to understand that and revise
4. High school is 30 min home work a night.

I'll let him do nothing homework wise post SATs until high. Ours is a big comp & behaviour is better in too sets and higher expectations

I know it's hard but assessments are a part of school life. Every qualification will involve assessment. These ones don't matter so its much better he starts getting used to them now than his first exams being ones that matter.

Try what you can to take the pressure off and keep it chilled and supportive. Reaffirm you love him and you're proud of him no matter how he performs. Work with him on coping mechanisms to deal with the stress and anxiety exams bring.

Hopefully he'll see these were nothing to worry about in hindsight and he'll feel more comfortable going forward.

In order for him to not sit them, he would need to be off school for the week of the SATs and the week after. If he returned after his peers have sat the tests, he will be isolated from them in order to sit them himself.

I'm a teacher and I don't agree with SATs, neither do any of the teachers that I personally know. They're a measurement tool. Often the actual week is quite calm and they sit a test/s in the morning then have a chilled afternoon, with a treat at the end of the week. We also provide breakfast for each child too 😊

No, you were looking for an echo chamber who'd agree that you should pull your child out of nasty SATS. As opposed to parents with far more experience than you who say 'don't do it'. Don't mark your child out as the 'one who won't cope' 🤔

As for the secondary being 'fantastic'- using what metric? How do you know? Might they be examined every term?

OI: 'It’s between 20-40 mins a day at the moment depending on how he’s finding it, but the issue is it’s 7 days a week, inc in the holidays. For what the end result is to DS it didn’t seem appropriate. Obviously it’s a totally different thing if it was GCSE’s or such like, which is clearly non negotiable! '

😂😂😂

Sorry, but if you think GCSE revision is 'non-negotiable', you haven't parented a 15 year old. You're setting your child up to believe that they can pick and choose how much work to do at 10/11, abetted by yourself. Try turning that around to 'non-negotiable' at 15!

@JemimaPyjamas

'Again, thank you for the constructive help and posts' (I.e 'those who agree with me') 😂

You'd do better to ponder those who disagree with you.

@Fordian I shouldn’t bite, but fuck it!

There have been very few who immediately agreed with me, and many of offered constructive advice as opposed to using the thread to write nasty posts. You would also notice my own viewpoint change throughout the thread, but instead it looked like you were too busy finding things to quote so you could then laugh and sneer at.

@TheNoodlesIncident @redtoothbrush @Iamnotthe1

@electriclight being a small handful - it’s too early to trawl back further!

@MWT Interesting what you say about most teachers not agreeing with them. Obviously I’ve only spoken to his teacher but I got the distinct impression she didn’t agree at all. Clearly this looks a common theme! As previously said, I think it’s the stream of work rather than the test angle, as it’s even the holidays and weekends. I can see his point really, particularly as it appears to inadvertently given him the impression it’ll be like this from now on in (we have, of course, told him otherwise multiple times!)

OP, I don't know a single teacher who agrees with them. We would rather use teacher judgment across the year to assess whether a child is at the expected level.

However, they are statutory and results are published. We are judged by parents and by Ofsted against the national benchmark, our own previous results and each pupil's prior attainment. So we have to take them seriously, practise and push the children as hard as we think is fair and reasonable.

It is common for parents and pupils to have worries in the run up but they get through it and are usually proud that they did. They will be regularly tested at KS3 so it is certainly worth modelling a good attitude, working together on strategies for resilience and just generally establishing some early good exam techniques - practice papers for an agreed amount of time, good sleep and nutrition in the run up, taking them with a pinch of salt, trying your best, little rewards for the successes.

I don't think you should take him out of the tests. Avoiding something that is difficult, unpleasant or that you simply don't agree with is not a good lesson for life or resilience, and if your DS opts out or is opted out, what happens when it comes to GCSEs or A levels?

Try to think of something that will be a reward for your DS or seen as one for sitting and completing the tests.

You are wrong. Read up on SATs and how they work. There are many threads on mn. You need to teach your son some basic life skills, that you already should have taught him. He needs to calm down and get perspective. He can only do his best, and his best is good enough. Calm study, and how to cope if something goes wrong, you pull your socks up and carry on.

Yes, they will do other testing when he gets to secondary, but the SATs are national level and it will set a president and it will follow him all the way through secondary, and it will be the basis for which they predict his end GCSEs and how his naturally progressed, the natural climb they expect him to make .

When you read up on SATs - it all makes sense.

@Oblomov23 I’ve started to realised now it’s more about the build up as opposed to the actual test week. I’m going with previous posters advice about homework timers and emphasising that it’s good practice but not something to worry about (and by that I also include not completing every bit of homework.)

@electriclight good to hear a thorough teacher’s perspective, thank you

I understand why you're tempted to have DS miss the SATs. I really do.

My DD's school kept things fairly low-key last year and she still felt stressed and anxious during the build-up to them. I don't think the well-meant "You're going to have to get used to doing lots of homework in Yr 7" comments from teachers helped either.

She's glad she did them though, and the week itself turned out to be fine in the end. She also tells us that the Yr 7 homework comments were greatly exaggerated in the case of her school!

Good luck to you and your DS. Thankfully not too much longer left now until the SATs are all over and done with.

@Kic thank you. I agree re pulling out is the wrong thing, and it’s great to read posts like yours from parents who are now on the other side.

This. Very evident with my older DC. Targets for GCSE based on SATs

You still haven't parented a 15 year old! 😂