Protest against SATS?

[Bluelagoonlover]

My daughter in year 6 is getting really stressed about SATS. She's also stressed about not doing SATS and being the odd one out. Anyone else in a similar situation and thinking about peaceful protest / objecting?

Sometimes children have to do things that are stressful and things they don't want to do. All through secondary they will be tested so let her get used to the system now. You cant pull her out in every year group when they get stressed because they have a stress.... and especially not for GCSEs's.

About the fact that I might not take her to school for the test. It is my decision whether she does it or not.

But what are you giving them a heads up about?! At no point have you actually said what you're planning to do!

Is it also your decision whether or not she does her GCSEs? Because teaching her she can opt out of mandatory tests because mummy says she can is going to royally screw her over in the future.

Unfortunately she may need to sit them when she returns and will be kept away from her friends who by that time might be doing the fun year 6 stuff which she will miss until she has completed all the tests she has missed.

Can you ask about her sitting them in a smaller room if she is very stressed about it.

I'm so glad to see that there are more posters challenging some of the misinformation being posted and sharing the accurate information about SATs and why they matter for the child.

If a child is showing signs of being stressed then, by all means, speak with the teacher and see what can be done to help. I will say that feeling a little stress at this point is actually normal and, in small doses, desireable. It shows that the child understands that the exams matter and are motivated to do their best. If it's beyond that then it does need addressing.

However, a couple of points:

• parents do not have the right to withdraw their child from national exams. The headteacher has that option and may agree but, if they don't, the child will be sitting the exams if they are physically in the building during the two week window,
• sending your child to secondary school with no official data makes them, progress data-wise, irrelevant. There can be significant knock-on implications of this.

The whole point of exams is to see how children stack up and are doing. What next.. protest A levels or GCSEs? We can’t all win everything. Tell them to do their best and it’s hardly the end of the world if they don’t do great on SATs anyway. Good practice for the GCSE process years later.

It's the reaction to the exams that is the issue, rather than the exams themselves. So if you want what is best for her you won't make a fuss about the tests, you'll help her to cope with them and help her to realise they're no big deal.Then, when she gets to secondary school, she will cope with exams much better.

What will you do if she feels stressed about taking year 7 exams?