To thinks SATs don’t really matter?

[whodawhodaeho]

DD is year 6 and her class teacher( and year head) has told them that if they don’t do well in SATs then they’ll be put with the disruptive, badly behaved kids in ‘big’ school. Ie put in lower sets forever

I have told her this is nonsense - that the new school will assess her themselves up til Oct half term then stream sets for certain subjects (which they do - her DB is there ) and the SATs don’t matter.
And they continually assess and move kids around according to ability/ progress through school terms/ years

YABU - yes they matter, and yes secondary school will pay attention to the results

YANBU - they don’t really matter

Things that will influenced GCSE results:

Quality of Teaching
Friends / Peers
Home Life
Mental Health
Morivation
Interest in the Topic

Not Y6 SATS

My take on SATs is to go with what your child wants. If your child is very anxious, getting stressed and worried, then I would tell them the SATs don’t matter at all. If they’re calm and not fussed, then just let them get on with it.

DS1 was massively stressed about SATs. He was very well behaved and he wanted to please the teacher, and he could see the SATs were important to her, so he was worried about them. Sadly his teacher quit teaching after that, because she didn’t want to be part of something that stressed kids out so much.

DS2 was due to do SATs in 2020 so obviously they didn’t happen. He wouldn’t have been bothered at all. I think he’d barely have known they were going on.

@ExtraOnions totally agree

To some extent.

If you get low scores in SATs because you are struggling at school and don’t have the right level of reading, writing and maths to start secondary and access the curriculum properly that will impact on your GCSE results.

If you get 99 instead of 100 however on one paper then this is a rather different situation.

My daughter was put in a lowish set for science and maths, and the lowest set for PE. She’s now at a very good uni doing a science degree and successfully competing for the uni at athletics. I personally think some schools are not very good at measuring or encouraging ability, and in hindsight SATS meant little in my daughter’s case as they certainly didn’t predict her likely future.

@EveryoneIsAnAlienSomewhere the PE sets seem to be based at dd’s school on ability in ball sports. Dd isn’t well known for her eye to ball co ordination but is good at athletics also, she is also a county level swimmer. So is in middle.

@EveryoneIsAnAlienSomewhere the PE sets seem to be based at dd’s school on ability in ball sports. Dd isn’t well known for her eye to ball co ordination but is good at athletics also, she is also a county level swimmer. So is in middle.

Personally, I think SAT’s are completely useless. One of my children didn’t sit them at all as school felt she wasn’t ready for them. When she started secondary they assessed her there and allocated sets accordingly. When my son completed SAT’s he had support to do so due to special needs. He did exceptionally well in them but that led to huge problems when he moved to secondary. They put him in top sets where he struggled as he had no support in class like he did for SAT’s.

honestly, I think they should do away with them. Secondary schools should do their own assessments to allocate students accordingly and reassess regularly. SAT’s are also a poor indicator on how ‘well’ a school is performing as they don’t recognise children with special needs. My daughters school struggled as they had a higher percentage of Sen children compared to other local schools.

I can only go on my own experience as my DD started the same secondary last year. Sorry I assumed they were all the same. I guess SATs matter depending on the school in that case.

If someone isn’t able to read and write well enough to cope with a high school curriculum, I would hope that the primary school they were in would be fully aware, and sharing their knowledge with high school, without the need for a “test” in Y6.

It's bloody crazy how some schools treat SATs. Way too much pressure.

SATs are for the assessment of the school NOT the child. To check they are continuing on the same 'curve'

SATs results are sent to the secondary school but all the ones in my borough said they carry out their own assessments for streaming some classes.

SATs can indicate how a child will perform in GCSEs. But this is usually about the 'curve' they are on

This week I have got nothing from my DS apart from what he has eaten at breakfast, which TBH I am relieved about

I do think SATs are useful for benchmarking and as a parent they gave me an idea as to how my dc were doing. Dd1 matched what school told me so no big surprises but dtds did very differently to expected (much better) which backed my thoughts that they were both more able than school felt. It is just a snapshot though and not the only information parents should use.

i also think it’s good to introduce exams early to give more experience.

they should be done with no pressure though!

Secondary schools do their own testing in the first year so don’t rely heavily on SATs results.

100% this!

put in a complaint

‘If the teacher really said that then I would put in a formal complaint.’

apparently other parents already did, and as i mentioned before DD didn’t take it seriously- she’s got enough confidence to know she won’t be in bottom set of anything.
I think he’s a good teacher and the kids love him, but he deffo has a bit of an edge to him.
we all make mistakes though… so I’ll give him some slack…

Can people please read the thread.
Loads of actual teachers have explained that Yes Sats results are used to set in some secondary schools and that in the vast majority of secondary schools they will be used to generate GCSE targets.
This does not mean that Year 6 students should panic about them but that they should take them seriously and try their best.
The message from HTs should be do your best so you are put in an appropriate set - not the negative message that the teacher in the OP sent out.

Like I said most secondary schools will use their own CAts system to put their pupils in sets and get an idea of their attainment levels. This is done in year 7 and has been in all the schools I’ve worked in. Sats rarely have any bearing on any GCSE targets. Here’s a link:
https://www.theschoolrun.com/year-7-cats-what-every-parent-needs-know

My daughter went to a private prep and the school couldn't care less about SATs. They weren't even preparing for them - only the 11+. So SATs are only important for state schools themselves, not the kids. Private schools don't stress about SATs at all.

Generating a GCSE target for a 16 year old, based on an exam there took at 11 … you may as well chuck darts at a board.

They are not there to help children, they are there to measure the “success” of a school … and take no account of other factors that affect a young persons GCSE results. They do more harm that good when schools “off role” troubled students, as the school is more worried about the impact on thier “score” (and OFSTED), than what’s best for that child.

Trixiefirecracker

well in the 20 years I have been teaching across a variety of secondary schools (all state) they have been used. But feel free to tell parents they don’t matter at all so they can wonder why their child gets stuck in bottom sets….

XelaM

Yes I’m sure that’s true but the vast majority of the country don’t go to prep or private schools.

This thread has made me realise that my DCs are really fortunate in their state secondary. They didn't do SATs (educated abroad then home ed) but the lack of SATs has never been an issue. They were taught in tutor groups for the first part of Year 7 then streamed into sets, and they've been moved between sets when appropriate. I'm staggered at the suggestion that some schools rely so heavily on SATs throughout the kids time at school.

What I am saying is that they clearly only matter to state primary schools and not the actual pupils if prep schools don't care about them.

They do have an impact. My eldest DS did average in his Sats and had no intervention for his GCSEs his flight path was for average grades and it did affect his self esteem. DS2 did well and got into top sets. He was given lots of intervention measures when GCSEs came around as he was dropping from a 7 in triple science and had 8 weeks of tuition after school by a third year degree science student! Not to mention lots of other additional help.

XelaM

But as numerous people have explained they do affect pupils as decisions in state schools are often made based on them.