To home educate for year six only

[chocolatefiends]

Has anyone else done this? How did it go?

My DC's school has been great for our family so far and our kids are very happy there, but every year all the Year Six kids seem really fed up until their SATS are over. As far as I can tell, all they do, for most of the year, is practice/revise for SATS. Which feels like an awful way to spend a year of your life when you're 10/11.

Should we just take our kids out of school for Year Six and home educate them? Then let them start Year Seven in secondary school as normal.

What might the pros and cons of this be?

Thanks in advance.

YANBU: home educate for Yr 6
YABU: keep them in school for Yr 6

Talk to them. My current Yr6 child hates the SATs stuff... but they've done lots of fun stuff too. Plus the upcoming excitement of the residential trip, school play, leavers disco etc.

Also check you don't have feeder school criteria for Secondary

That's a good point re the feeder school criteria. I'll check that.

Yeah, the schools does top and tail Yr 6 with fun stuff (in September and then after the SATs are over). but it seems like there's a lot of misery to get through in-between!

I think it depends a bit on the message your DC will take away from it. If they subconsciously absorb the idea that preparing for and sitting exams is too much for them in some way, will that resurface at the start of Year 11?

If you don't think they would take it that way, then fine, because Y6 is frankly shit in some schools.

Our primary was a feeder school for secondary entry.

After SATS there were lots of leaver’s activities like the residential.

Overall I agree that year 6 sucks because of SATS and fun learning like art being delayed until after tests.

In Wales here so probably different but Year 6 is brilliant. They do so many things through the year. Plus the school arrange bridging sessions to secondary schools. If I were to home school at any point, Year 6 would be the last year I'd pick.

I may be weird but I loved doing SATs when I was in Year 6 but I am one of those people who has always loved doing exams

Are you going to take them out of school for all exams?

SATs are pants, but it’s good prep for GCSE year, which comes around very fast.

You can’t take your children out of school to limit a bit of stress, any time they don’t want to do something they’ll think well it’s ok mum will sort it out. Not how your raise capable adults!

Depends on your DC. DS1 is thoroughly enjoying Y6 because the SATS mean that his class is actually focused for the first time in years…

Ooh, yes. I hadn't thought about that possibly being the take-away message for my DCs. I guess that could need some careful handling/communicating with them that that's not what we think ( I think one of my DCs could handle exams fine, I just don't think they need to spend most of a school focused on exams at age 10/11).

Thank you.

I think it also helps them with friendships, going into year 7 is a big deal for a lot of kids, in my experience it helps having friend going through it with you

That's true. I really benefitted from visits to my secondary that were organised by my primary.

This. And they should do things to prepare for secondary school which he'll miss out on, including having friends to go with. And loads of fun stuff once SATS are over. I actually remember loving Y6. i think it's the worst year to home school.

I don't know. I think half the fun is the fact they actually appreciate it after a hard year. Yes it's a lot and it's questionable but lots of kids make masses of academic progress in the sats prep. The lesson is delayed gratification and the discipline involved in the academic push, plus the experience of seeing your results after lots of studying is invaluable and I think the cohorts that didn't have this are really struggling in all those areas.

Yes, that's my main concern. I do think we could keep up the main friendships of my eldest even if we pulled them out. Not sure about the youngest yet.

😂

At my daughters secondary they do exams and tests every couple of weeks, it is an exam factory. What will the secondary be like that they will go to?
Year 6 is hard but they do have fun after and they get to be the biggest in the school. I remember that feeling.

I think it depends what you tell them about SATs - I told all of mine that it was to test the school, not them (and they are pretty meaningless in that regard where we live because we are in a grammar area, therefore most Y6s are being tutored, so the schools' performances are skewed IMO). And I agree with a PP - there is lots of testing throughout secondary school - are you going to keep your child home every time they have a test?!

They do loads of stuff in Y6 - play, residential, sports day, work around transition to secondary - my fourth child missed his Y6 because we were in lockdown and it was really sad that he missed out on lots of the fun stuff my older ones had done. I wouldn't want to deprive a child of that experience.

This.
You’re teaching them they don’t have to do anything boring if they don’t want to. You’re going to raise kids who want to sit in their bedrooms and not go to work!

Are you so certain that they'll be able to reintegrate into formal education afterwards? It's not guaranteed, especially not when their last memories of school were of the cosy earlier junior years and then they're parachuted into huge secondaries with no close friends/no sense of progression or transition and what can feel like a bear pit to anyone who has gone through the big residential, end of school shows, the parties, last sports day, etc, etc, never mind one who has been in the quiet environment of 1-2-1 teaching and effectively unlimited breaks, snacks, no uniform, no timetable, no formal consequences, unrestricted movement, days off to go to the park or beach because it's sunny, fun trips that are all about them...

To go from that to being very small and anonymous in a louder environment where you get detentions for not doing homework, have to get in by 8.15am, wait in queues for food, etc, can result in a lot of difficulty beyond what happens when they're going from Y6-transition-Y7 along with everybody else they know.

I would advise against it.
I know DDs year group are doing fun stuff around the sats prep. They did an entire week dedicated to sewing, they have a residential next month, they've had cake sales to fundraise for end of year hoodies etc. They also focus a lot on transitioning to secondary school, including trips to do activities at the catchment secondary school. Out of catchment secondaries also offer transition days for pupils who are going there.

I can't advise on how awful or not awful SATs prep is, as DD has SEN so is exempt from doing them. At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, she is leaving year 6 in 2 weeks though, due to an unavoidable cross country move and will be home educated from then until year 7. Our case is slightly different though as she will be going to a specialist school in year 7 so wouldn't be missing out on taster days etc.

Not at all. I just think a 16 year old sitting exams is hugely different to an 11 year sitting then.

Also, GCSEs are of huge benefit to the people who sit them. I could be wrong (happy to hear other's thoughts), but as far as I can tell SATS don't do much for the kids who sit them - they just provide data for the government which they then use to criticise schools.

As you say, SATS are pants, so why do we ask kids to do them?

Lots of aspects of school (and of life in general) cause stress but are worth doing/going through. I'm not looking to teach my children to avoid stress, I'm looking to avoid them possibly wasting a year of their life on something that is of no benefit to them.

Glad your DS in enjoying it. That's encouraging to hear. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of mine might enjoy it, but the other won't!

I wouldn’t dream of doing this if my children were otherwise happy at school. Some of their fond memories will be about having gone through the hard/boring stuff with friends - the camaraderie of all being in the same boat and moaning about it together! I think it would be really counter-productive for them to miss out on the anticipation that comes with knowing they’re in their last year together and about to launch into a wider world.

That's really interesting about delayed gratification. That is an important life lesson.

I'm not convinced those who missed SATs are struggling because they missed SATS. I think they're struggling cos COIVD was just a bloody awful time and such a huge chunk of their lives to date, and they missed out on a lot of education generally rather than missing out specifically on SATs.

Wow! Maybe we should home school for secondary too. An 'exam factory' sounds like an awful environment!