AIBU to remove DC from SATS

[Locomotion22]

hi I have a DC in year 6 mainstream school, she missed alor of school and a lot of the curriculum so not to drip feed - she has significant health issues ( life threatening ) - Autism/ CP/ language disorder / anxiety.

we had been in discussions about whether to pull her from the sats, the school asked me last year and it was an instant yeh don’t force her to do them. Since then I was convinced that maybe let her do them. The last week she has been learning from home and although she has come so far ( can read well, naturally gifted at maths and tries really hard )
her maths has a lot of gaps not due to ability but due to health. She has not learned the full curriculum of the subjects and has now become very anxious at all the talk in classes about SATS. I have been told I won’t be helping her by pulling her because what am I going to do when she is older BUT she is going to a Sen secondary school with a much lower staff ratio and intervention.
she has the basis of academics but is super slow, the extra time given is 25 percent and although she can eventually get to an answer by working it out it’s taking 4 x the amount of time the exam will be.
The last few weeks I have really struggled to get to stay in school which is not something we have previously struggled with in a mental health way only ever physically.
are SATS really that important to put her through so much stress or should I just say No and relief some of that anxiety sooner rather than later ?

Not a chance in your shoes

She’s had life threatening issues?

Why would you?

The school don’t even think she should!

The school think she should but are leaving it to me.

The SATS primarily are a measure of school performance and really will not impact her at all. Some secondaries use them as a guide but if she is going to a SEN school, I very much doubt they will.
I see little point in her doing them if you have been given the option not to.

so i’m really baffled why you’d want to subject her to it

I cant see why you would make her do them. The “what about when she’s older” argument is just silly. She’s got 5 years til GCSEs!

There's no benefit to her doing them, so no.

She has missed loads of the curriculum
She is very behind due to her absence
she is “very slow” in working
She has serious health conditions including mental health conditions including anxiety
the school think she shouldn’t
she’s going to a special SEN secondary

SATS will be nothing but stressful and the results upsetting

Are her choices stay in school and do SATs or stay home and don't?

If so really I think your choice should be driven by what is the best environment for her. SATs are not a good enough reason to keep taking her to school if she hates it. But if she were going to school anyway, probably better to do the SATs with her peers rather than being the only year 6 doing something different.

Schools vary so much, some are more SATs factories than others and that frankly can make learning a lot less engaging.

If you need to "prove" her academic ability to secure the right flight paths for her in special school, consider whether she could sit CATs instead. They should be more indicative of potential than learning, though it's not absolute.

She can continue to do the SATS work then have the week of SATS off so she is still doing the same as her peers but without the completely pointless and unsuitable for her exams.

Head teacher here. There are very strict rules around exemptions to SATs and it’s not something parents -or teachers - can choose.
Taking SATs week off school wouldn’t help either. There is guidance about resits from the Government.
It would be worth talking to the SENCO, I think.

I’m surprised that school are leaving this as your choice. Either they believe she’s working at a level that means she has a chance of passing, or she’s not. If they’re going to disapply her then they have to have evidence for why this has been done.
I would expect her to be entitled to extra time.
Personally I would be working her towards trying them with the understanding that the results aren’t very important, she’s just going to give it a go.

There is likely to be regular and frequent SATs talk all the way from now until the exams, fairly soon school will become just SATS prep whether the kids all quite recognise that or not. Are you able to pull her out of school and home ed to help her catch up on the content rather than sitting through months of lessons which are largely for a series of tests she won't be sitting? Or does she have a 1:1 that can take her out for large chunks of time?

One of the bonuses of Covid was Sats were cancelled ds year. I would have withdrawn him otherwise as he wouldn’t have coped.

he is year 10 now and with support is accessing his GCSE courses to his ability so not doing sats hasn’t negatively impacted him

If you have the option not to do them, I would definitely not do them if a detriment to your daughter’s physical or mental health. It’s only really used for putting children in sets in Year 7 and setting a target for the end of year 11. In an SEN school I’m sure they would have the resources to learn more about your child than this (often inaccurate) sats data.

I think it’s much more important your child doesn’t become a school refuser and they have five years to work up to GCSE exams. I think the strictness of how SATS are marked and the time constraints they are under is much worse than GCSEs as well.

We know the guidelines and she would qualify, and would have to set them at a diff time if she was to do them as she is having surgery that week.

I would definitely not get her to do them.