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

I've never heard of CATS. Surely if they've just done STATs they don't then need to do something else as soon as they start secondary to know what level they're at!

This is what I'm hearing though - that the secondaries in our area aren't interested in the SATs results so they end up doing their own exams or tests or whatever that are more relevant to setting them. Which makes you wonder why we bother with SATs!

I'm thinking something in-between worksheets at home and sailing around the world 😂Can't afford to sail around the world but could do plenty of fun, educational day trips tailored around their interests while still making sure we keep on top of English and maths so they're ready (academically at least) for secondary.

I think what people's replies are making me wonder is if it's possible to also be socially ready if you've missed yr 6. Lots to think about!

Re friends... its easier these days to keep on contact with friends that go to different schools. Teens do a lot of socialising virtually. DD regularly talks on the phone to friends that have moved around the country for example. Whereas those of us late 30s+... it was a lit harder to maintain friendships from Primary school.

I'm not sure if this helps with Yr6 friendships though, as most parents limit the phone use.

Do double check what Yr6 actually does do though... to listen to mine grumble sometimes, its just maths and English. But I know they do "army school", forest school, music lessons, pe, art projects school trips etc. Its the maths and English in the morning, then the other stuff in the afternoon.

Thanks. I doubt they're technically breaking the law, but I do think some schools skate close to the edge of the law in Yr 6. They do the bare minimum they can get away with outside of English and Maths so that they can cram as much English and Maths into the kids as possible. Or maybe it counts that they do a lot on other subjects from May onwards? Sort of covering subjects in blocks rather than a bit every week. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing for some subjects that are good to immerse yourselves in for a while. But I think it maybe makes Sept-May potentially miserable.

If you tell them that SATS are not important in the grand scheme of things, that you aren’t going to be cross or disappointed in them based on their grades, that it isn’t going to have an impact on their future and is just “one of these things” they have to go through, they won’t be stressed.
At worst, it will be a boring year where they develop a shedload of revision and exam skills.
Make sure you do fun stuff with them evenings and weekends.

I was going to take a sabbatical and travel the world with kids in year 6.

Then Covid hit

Interesting. I wonder if I'm just hearing Yr 6s grumble about the English and Maths bit of the day and they're not bothering to talk about the other stuff they're doing!

I definitely need to talk to the school.

The use both SATs and CATs, CATs are Cognitive Ability Tests and I'll copy paste for you from another website so you know what they are and why they use them.

"Some secondary schools don’t like to assess pupils solely by their maths, English and science SATs results in year 6. They feel some primary schools ‘over-coach’ for the tests, so some children may have artificially high results.

Most secondary schools use Cognitive Abilities Tests, CATs, to test general intelligence and to stream overall or set for certain subjects. They are designed to assess a pupil’s ability in three different areas: verbal (thinking with words); quantitative (thinking with numbers); and non-verbal (thinking with shapes and space)".

I will be honest, Ds2 thrived in lockdown, secondary school set work and he finished it before lunch because he wasn't waiting for the rest of the class, he could pace himself. There is a lot of time to fill in a school day if you are homeschooling and your child is used to the structured environment of the primary school day. Lots of social interactions take place between the children, don't underestimate how positive that is, a little chat walking over to their trays etc. As you will be putting him back into school for year 7 I cannot see why you think this is a positive to remove him purely based on SATs.

You are coming at this from his feedback of school, have you spoken to his teacher? Anyone from the school? He isn't being bullied, he might be a bit bored. He needs to understand that he is being educated, not entertained. He needs to learn things he may have no interest in because all this leads to everyone sitting the same exams at the end.

I think they will miss out on a lot for the sake of some exams. Their friendships will suffer and year 7 will be harder. Year 6 was boring at times but it was also a really significant year.

As for SATs don’t matter, neither do GCSEs really.

Cross posted with you. I volunteered in a primary school for over a decade, they honestly just do the maths/English in the morning as usual. Sometimes there are smaller intervention groups removed from the main classroom in the morning to work with TAs/LSAs to help some students with certain areas they are weak in. This is why I don't believe music lessons should ever take place in a morning time slot in primary.

The focus is of course on SATs and that is all the children retain in their heads. Maybe ask another parent what their child is saying about work load. Maths and English does continue after SATs, they have a whole 6-7 weeks post May half term.

@LittleBearPad have you had children sit their GCSEs? Because they do matter.

@Joyettan why do they matter? Exams at 16 when children can no longer leave school or training then aren’t particularly meaningful. There’s a big debate about scrapping GCSEs.

Year 6 SATs prepare them for what secondary school is like. Secondary school begins with CAT tests, nearly every subject will have tests after each topic or at appointed times through the term.

Year 6 is the usually the year they have a residential and perform in a play. It’s a pivotal right of passage year and the study, testing and homework are part of that.

@LittleBearPad you didn't answer the question, have your children sat GCSEs? Because the whole you must be in education, training etc until they are 18 means those GCSEs determine if you can get into certain colleges or sixth forms on their entry requirements. It can determine what courses they can do too. Those GCSE grades help determine success in A levels if that is where they are headed and most students go onto to A levels.

There are lots of stats on 16-19 education/training/employment. Also lots of parents on the Further Education board who felt misled by school saying don't worry too much about GCSEs when they realise it is hindering their child now.

Are all SEN children exempt from doing them?

Not as yet but you are working on the basis that the current system is appropriate and GCSEs are useful. There’s lots of evidence to say they aren’t.

I would never say to my children that GCSEs in the current framework don’t matter but from a bigger academic perspective they are pretty pointless.

Sats are stupid, no doubt about that (former teacher). But there's also a lot of fun stuff that happens in y6 and the kids form some really good bonds. They really enjoy being the "top dogs" of the school and it does seem to help them mature.
In secondary we have seen a huge rise in school refusal. There is a wider issue there about adolescent mental health, but for some the fact that they were home schooled in lockdown made them realise that school isn't actually compulsory and definitely contributed to non attendance later.
I've home educated, I'm a big fan, but I wouldn't set out to only do it for y6.

How do you manage it with going to work? Won't they miss their friends? I don't understand how parents can replace skilled and qualified teachers!

I'm probably not the right person to comment....

It may be boring but it has to be done- GCSEs are far more stressful and come quicker than you think (content being covered starts in Y9). Just reiterate that SATS are not a test of them but of the school. Also, lots of schools use SATS as a way to set kids in y7 so you may find that your DC shall be in the wrong set if they don't sit SATS

You'd have to ask as I think it depends on the SEN. She's working at a pre keystage level and has an EHCP due to this. She can't access the key stage 2 curriculum so ultimately can't access the SATS test. She has however done a pre key stage assessment to assess her progress in general

Real life is about peaks and troughs, I worked in YR 6 and post SATS is fun and relaxed, lots of prep for assemblies, sports afternoons and transition work.

Lol my son didn't actually do GCSEs due to covid.Or A levels through choice. He is now at uni. Once he has finished his degree do you think anyone will give a shit about GCSEs?

I honestly think it’s a bonkers idea. Exams are part of life ( like it or not) my kids get assessed very half term at secondary school, it would have been very crap of me to pull them out of their SATS so this was another new environment for them, I don’t really see the issue. Unless you plan to not bother with their GCSE either? They start that from year 10 so almost 2 years of prepping? ! Not to mention the residential and the friendships etc. I really don’t understand why you think you can do a better job than the school at prepping your kid for the transition into secondary school!

Children who working at KS1 level or below due to their needs will be deregistered for KS2 SATs. However, in my experience many of those children don’t want to miss out what the rest of their peers are doing so will sit at a desk doing similar style work at the same time SATs are sat.

I have found that the actual week of SATs is usually the best week of the SATS prep. Usually get special treats at breakfast club and then fun in the afternoon after the tests in the morning and something special is usually arranged for the Friday. I always wonder why parents take their children out of school for the 2 week window of SATS if they have been in school doing the prep for them.

Depending on what your DC are like they might not want to hear what all their friends are doing in Y6 post SATs eg play, residential, taster days in Secondary, as you have taken them away from something they could have been doing with them.

As others have said school should be following a full curriculum in Y6. It should not just be Maths and English

@Samlewis96 Maybe wait until he is actually applying for jobs to see what they ask for. DC did a summer internship end of uni year 2 and the first part of the form was education, GCSEs and A level grades. Ir depends what field your son wants to go into as to what competition is like for jobs. For the summer internship alone DC went through 5 stages of assessment because they use this along with their performance on the internship to decide who to offer graduate jobs to.

Recruiters on here whose companies blind recruit ie no uni stated just grades look at A levels/Level 3 Attainment because they are the same across the country whereas a 1st from some uni ranking lower than say 120th is less academically rigorous than a !st from Oxford.

OP, SATs are used from KS2 into secondary for GCSE "predictions". Academic success isn't linear, but they need a platform assessment to put children into sets and work out if they are falling behind their predictions and therefore need intervention and support. I never suggested that the system is perfect, it is what it is, and until it changes, this is the game. Learn that the grade curve will apply and some children will be forced to fail, to not achieve a grade 4.

Plus you have the whole 6 weeks of summer to celebrate the end of primary and the start of the secondary school experience.

I have 2 adult daughters in late 20s/30s. Neither of them have needed GCSE results for jobs either.