To expect my year 6 child to be taught until the end of term

[fartfacenotfatface]

DC3 is in year 6. With the exception of a couple of days a few weeks ago when Ofsted were in, they have done precisely no academic work since half term (and actually probably a bit before that, once SATs had finished).
Literally every day has revolved around practicing for the end of year production and / or going outside to play (unstructured) sport (although they had a residential trip a couple of weeks ago).
DC is not really into drama so has a very minor part in the school play (I'm fine with this but I am not fine with them having to sit quietly in the hall for the vast majority of each day watching the key performers practice their parts all day everyday with nothing else to do).
They are completely and utterly bored. Is this normal for year 6 children once the SATs are out the way? My elder DC didn't do SATs (DC1 was not at state school in England and DC2 was in a covid year) and so were taught until almost the last week of term.
I am tempted to take DC out to be honest. Their behaviour is getting bad as they're so frustrated at doing nothing all day everyday.

This is exactly it. By the time they start secondary in September it will be 4 months since they did academic work in the classroom!

1/2 day at their new secondary (the whole class are going to the same secondary school).

This was my daughter last year, she even had a small ish role in the end of year play and was absolutely bored out her mind. They did no work at all after Sats. One day they spent the whole day making a thankyou card for the teacher. 😳

I complained about this too. It wasn’t fair. The teacher just shrugged. I should have taken it further.

Yeah, this was like Y6 in the school my DS went to. He didn't want to be in the play but was made to take a part. He is ND and I knew he wasn't going to cope with this. Added to which the play was then confirmed to be taking place on his birthday, two performances, day and evening and we had already arrange a family event for his birthday evening anyway.

I told the school he did not want to be in the play and he wouldn't be taking part in the evening production. What they made him do during school time was up to them, but I wasn't cancelling the birthday arrangements he was looking forward to, and dragging him back to school.

If your child is just bored but dealing with it and enjoying seeing their friends, then I wouldn't worry. But if your child is ND and struggling with the lack of structure and floundering around a bit, which is how my boy was, then I couldn't see any harm in not sending your DC for the odd day over the next couple of weeks. They are leaving the school anyway, the reports are probably written, the attendance cut-off has been passed, just do what is best for your own situation.

They used to (probably still do, I've been out of schools for some time) talk a lot about "learning loss" caused by the 6 week summer holiday - this was often cited as a reason for shortening the summer break.

Abandoning the curriculum for more than half a term is really not acceptable.

Year 6 teacher here- this is totally normal. The children will have been worked very very hard up until the SATs, with the promise of fun activities (like a school play and a residential) afterwards. There are plenty of arguments for whether this is a good or bad thing, but I don't know any school which doesn't do it.

It's a busy time for staff towards the end of term. Perfectly normal for last couple of weeks to focus on fun stuff. Quite common to put on a school production now also as there is no time during the rest of the Year. Staff will be working flat out to ensure everything sorted for next term otherwise it has to be done ( unpaid) during school holidays. I'd just go with the flow, there's only a week left and they're all exhausted now anyway.

My dc did the end of school performances and sports etc. Most importantly though, they did an entrepreneurship project, where they were all put into groups and given £10 to start a fundraiser to raise money for toys for the incoming Reception kids. They also helped the lower year's TAs with guided reading etc. It doesn't sound like some schools have much imagination.

People here are talking about all the time since SATs, however - not the last 2 weeks of term.

Mine is Y5 and I would say that yes, right now the bulk of each day is devoted to practicing the music for the leaver's assembly and the KS2 play. But this is learning! Mine only has about 10 lines, but there are other things to do - songs, helping to create the set, costumes, etc. And it's not the only thing they're doing. They've gone on their residential. They are doing PHSE sessions (mine came home horrified the other day to have been reminded how babies are made! 😂). There have been a few special visitors to give a talk about something to the school. They have forest school here and there. That's fine.

The thing is, if the Y6 teacher is doing the show (which loads of people really enjoy, it’s an excellent confidence builder and good experience for teamwork/ giving presentations etc) and they don’t have 2 teachers, who do you think should be teaching your child? You’re not necessarily being U but putting on a performance is a MASSIVE task and it’s not realistic to expect the teacher to be doing huge amounts of class teaching too. Also can’t your child take in a book or some drawing stuff? Might be a good lesson for them that if you don’t volunteer for the main activity you might just have a few weeks of being a bit bored?

But they're not. They are in the drama hall from 9:30 until 3:00 everyday for the past 3 weeks, minus an extended 1.5 hour lunchtime where they get to play outside.For the kids who don't have a key role in the play, they are spending the vast majority of this time sitting doing nothing while the main actors practise their lines / songs (my DC has a single line in the whole play). It's boring and pointless for most of the children.

Yes, that's crap and unacceptable imo. Ds used to be infuriated and bored senseless by the endless rehearsing.

People are talking about residential trips, drama, art, entrepreneur projects, sport and more. This all gets done after sats in year 6 as there is no time before hand. Perfectly normal.

This is the same for most schools. Even at selective private schools after the entrance exams are done with it does become more of a sports and social for the kids who went through the primary.

Really they should be getting taught.

Personally, I think it’s fine to not do much in the final few days of the term, but not the final weeks. That’s not good.

I’m in Northern Ireland and schools finish on the 30th June every year - why do English schools stay in until mid July? It might make more sense if they all finished at the end of June as they probably have covered everything and can’t find anything to teach for the last few weeks.

that said, schools here don’t get the half term week in May/June but it’s so worth sacrificing that for a longer summer

There are lots of ways to learn, some children will be thriving on the things your DC isn't enjoying and this might be the first time in their entire primary school experience!

YABU - year 6 is often very English and Maths heavy before SATs, so it’s an appropriate rebalance to focus on drama, art, dance etc in June/July. Absolutely normal in every school I’ve ever worked in.

Same experience for Y6

YABU. If the school is anything like my kids school, they'll have been working them really hard for the first part of the year. Now it's just time to let them unwind. I don't see a problem with it.

It's been like this for years. My eldest is 16 and did nothing after SATS (she got fab results and the school is great) and DS is currently in year 6 at the same school and is doing exactly the same as your year 6 child is. Just chilling with friends and having fun.

They're not 'letting them unwind' though. They're making them sit in the school hall in near silence for no good reason.

There's no reason the children who aren't involved at that time can't be outside playing parachute games or running around or whatever.

I’m shocked at how many people think this is acceptable. I’d be livid especially with the focus on attendance in schools. What’s the point if they’re then going to sit about? Might as well have pulled them out for a holiday - without a fine!

School plays should not need all day/every day rehearsal. Perhaps a few afternoons when those children not majorly involved could be given structured tasks.

If schools don’t want to do traditional lessons there are lots of enrichment activities that can be delivered around project work. As a teacher I always found the ‘fun’ lessons made discipline much worse!

I’d be speaking to the teacher/team leader/head asap.

Spending entire days sat around when you don't have a main role in the production must be awful. To be honest I would pull mine out in your circumstances, it's a waste of time sending them in.

It's normal tbh. We were moderated for writing after SATs, and my Y6 class were amazing in that I squeezed an extra couple of weeks' work out of them. And we have done work, but it's mostly bits that interest me, and interest them, and a lot of fun stuff plus residential in between.
And yes, the performance. It's always a tough one. If we don't do one, some of the parents kick off. If we do one, the other parents kick off. Unless you have a performance made up of different scenes with entirely different roles, you will always have the problem of bored kids in the hall. Because if you don't rehearse the dances and the small parts, it will look shit. And yes, you guessed it, parents will complain.
As ever Bob Marley got it right- you can't please.....