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

Thanks for this. That's a very good idea re telling them the school is being tested not them! Will defintiely do that if we do keep them in school for Yr 6.

I think that very much depends on what we do with the home ed year if we do do it. We definitely wouldn't be sitting our bedrooms for a year! We don't do that at the moment while they're in school.

The kids at our school seem to love year 6! All the leavers stuff! Their residential trip is amazing. No don’t do it! :)

Yes, one of my concerns is reintegration. Thanks for raising that. It's definitely something to think through - if we could keep in touch with school friends during that year or if that's completely unrealistic.

I'm not sure why you think home ed would involve unlimited breaks and snacks and no timetable! And they wait in queues for food (and various other things) at my DC's primary school!

If my parents had taken me away from my friends in year 6 I think I would never have forgiven them.

I home ed so am naturally in favour of it but I wouldn’t do it because of the SATS alone.

The message you are sending to your DC that anytime life is tough or boring you don’t have to do it and you can stay home with mummy…. I really think that’s a dangerous message to send at an age when the are transitioning from child to teen

That's really encouraging that there are schools that weave non-SATs focused activities around the SATs prep to break it up a bit. It seems that at DC's school they do fun stuff in September and then again after the SATS, with just solid SATs prep in-between. But I could have got the wrong end of the stick on that - as a PP said I need to talk to the school.

Hope your move goes well.

I'd be worried about them not managing to re-integrate back into school. Being in groups of 30 all day, the sheer busy-ness of the cafeteria and breaktime and corridors... it's a big step up even if you're used to a school of 300. To go from being at home all day to that would be a hell of a journey for an 11 year old.

Also Y6 is an interesting time when they grown up a lot and start to spread their wings. The Y6 residential is a key experience for a lot of them. Taking it back down to being at home seems more like clipping their wings somehow. That's debatable, some will see it as giving them opportunities, but it does take away existing social opportunities too.

I think the reason to do it would be if you have serious doubts about whether they will cope at secondary, and you want to give home ed a try when they have time on their side. If all your eggs are in the basket of them re-integrating back into school from Sept of Y7, I wouldn't risk it myself.

Awh! Bless!

We would definitely ask DC what they wanted and take that into account.

Would you mind explaining a bit more about why you wouldn't do it just because of SATs? Thanks

How do you know they won't be staying home with daddy? Or both parents?

I do take your point though, that I don't want to mistakenly send the message that you can avoid tough things in life. I'd not thought about that until I started this thread. So that's really helpful.

Are you saying, OP, that in Y6 the children only do maths and English and not the other national curriculum subjects?

Got to log of Mumsnet for a bit. Back later to read the replies. Thanks everyone. All your thoughts are much appreciated.

That's basically the impression I'm getting from the Yr 6 in my DC's school.

Personally, I absolutely wouldn't.
Assuming they are going to the feeder secondary, they will miss out on the transition activities that usually take place between the two schools. The biggest issue for me would be friendships. It's hard enough starting secondary without having to start relationships pretty much from scratch.

Exams and tests are a part of school life whether we like it or not. Children learn to take the rough with the smooth. At my son's school they had an amazing summer term with a residential trip, lots of treats and a leavers play which the children wrote and performed. They also had special leavers hoodies printed with all the children names on which they could wear until the end of term. It was a great way to learn that if you work hard there's often a reward at the end.
It was also a huge celebration of their time together at primary school. The play, special
assemblies, a poem written by one of their teachers and a clapping out ceremony on the last afternoon. It would have been such a shame to miss all of that. I know my son has great memories of Y6.

That was very close to the reality for my daughter in Y6! Or if they did other subjects it was without worksheets or writing anything down. They brought home an armful of virtually empty exercise books.

State schools are obliged by law to offer the full national curriculum to all years. I'm a governor at 3 primary schools and the full curriculum is most definitely provided (most schools do English and maths in the mornings and other subjects in the afternoons).

I think you need to check this - I'll be ery surprised of they're breaking the law.

You say all the kids moan but they arnt your kids Your kids may really enjoy year 6 why make a problem before you have even got one ? Year 6 is a lovely year when they get to say goodbye to their friends that go to other schools etc and they have parties and things you would be mad to take them out of school just because they may not like it. Life if full of things we don't particularly like

My DC primary did a lot of preparation for secondary school as the year went on. Secondary school teachers came into school, they spent a few days at secondary with their classmates.
They also all had "jobs", house captains, running clubs, running stalls at school fetes, etc. Nearer to SATs time, they did some classroom shuffling, to get them used to the idea of moving from class to class. Then they had residential (a real highlight), school play, disco, end of year party, etc. In all a good year.
That said, my DS2 was in Y6 during covid, spent most of the year at home and still managed to settle into secondary school without any problems. Of course, everyone else was in a same boat, but he was certainly relieved to be back in with his peers.

@TheWonderhorse also in Wales and so glad our kids don't have these tests they have in England. Its a much more relaxed approach.

Y6 teacher here!!!

Please please don't take them out just because of SATS. If your DC's school is just doing maths and English for Y6 and nothing else, that's a terrible school.

My school continue with a full and rich curriculum - lots of science, PE, history, projects, art, DT, etc. throughout the year.

Ok, we're doing a bit of additional revision as well now but only for the next few weeks. And we're still doing other stuff as well.

Y6 can, and should be, a glorious year for them - trips, residential, sitting on benches for assembly cos you're so grown-up, productions, celebrations...

They would miss so much of the fun stuff too. As well as all the transition & PSHE emotional prep for secondary & friendships, etc.

It's really not as hideous as it's made out to be.
Or it certainly shouldn't be. I adore teaching Y6 as they really do grow up.

My DS was a lockdown kid in Y6. He missed everything. He even missed doing SATS & was pissed off as he'd worked so hard in the run-up.

Y6 is so much more than just bloody SATS!!

Because much as I dislike the SATS and am glad my dc haven’t had to do them, I wouldn’t remove an otherwise happy child from school for a single year simply to avoid them. They are going to be tested going into secondary school, it’s part of school life. You have to consider the other things that go in year 6 like the residential etc and leavers events etc, your dc will miss out of those things which he may well resent especially if you are going to continue his friendships as he’ll see his friends and likely feel left out. It can also be difficult to continue friendships when you remove your dc from school, I’ve seen it countless times even with the best intentions things slide.
If you got to the stage where your dc was unhappy at school and it was impacting them then yes I would consider it. Or if you were planning to go travelling for the year or were planning to home ed longer term then absolutely i would say go for it.

I can’t really imagine how scary it would be to have to start secondary school after a year of being home educated.