To feel these parent are not understanding ( WhatsApp and Sats )

[Bringmecookies25]

I will try not to drip feed.

DC clas have been preparing for the Sats with mocks/ practice and this has included doing it exactly the way it will happen on the day which has lead to other students noticing “ access arrangements “
today a parent queried in the class WhatsApp group about this
for example “ Henry has said that some people are not completing the tests independently and staff are writing/ reading for them and that a few of them do not finish at the same time and can leave the classroom “

it was politely explained by one parent and seemed to be accepted by parent of Henry - this thought triggered another mum who to be fair is often triggered to pipe up and go on a rant about how it’s always the children who get it easier and it will not be a fair judgement for secondary school sets etc
( area means most children will be going up to the same secondary school ) they then started rambling about GCSEs like what happens at GCSE they get an easier ride in them to get in to colleges ?
this then caused a trickle ( not most ) but a few of the other parents to join in agreement.
My DC is one of them who will be receiving the access arrangements and probably more so than the others as they will have extra time / breaks / scribe and reader in maths etc.
from mocks my DC is likely to get
WT nearly WA in spag - last came out at 97
WA in math - last was 102
GD in reading comp - last was 117
will score low in teaching assessment of writing.
one of the complaints was which I did take to it to beinf towards my DC that sole on the children are not even behind and it just means they will be benefit and have less stress than her DC.

I just wanted to shout at them they have no understanding of the situation and that the point of access arrangements is not to give them a better chance than others but to give them an equal chance !

I understand some children need rest breaks smaller rooms etc. However I also see as a teacher that's it's often the children of more affluent /pushy patents that make sure their children get what they can in terms of access arrangements. I don't blame them for this i blame the process for assessing need. Look for example at the difference between private and state schools. It's not that hard to get extra time etc if you know what to say and do in the 'assessment'..

@Bringmecookies25 I received access arrangements (extra time) in my formal exams at secondary school some 30 years ago.

Obviously WhatsApp wasn't around then so no twat parents gieing it laldy on such groups about me. I do recall other students filtering past me as they left the exam hall making comments about the sexual favours (!) I must have been giving teachers for that arrangement to be in place. And then one invigilator tried to force me to finish early with the immortal words "you don't look like you need the extra time anyway."

In those days, people with access arrangements had to sit in the same hall as everyone else. But having spoken to a much younger relatively more recently, her experience of access arrangements was that she was in a separate room to the main body of students entirely.

On the face of it, that seems more sensible to me. It means that disabled s students are supported away from the prying, shit-stirring eyes of the types who are inclined to see injustice everywhere. Also means the disabled students who get extra time won't be disturbed or distracted by everyone else exiting the exam hall before them.

My child has extra time and a poster on another thread referred to them as ‘dumb kids’. My child is desperate to get expected. Left to do it without time pressure they’d be a high expected but even with extra time im
worried they won’t get expected ☹️

@Rabhhhdthis thread is what you were concerned about.

The problem I observe in education is not that some kids have special assessment conditions; it's that so many who need them don't have them. My son has special conditions because I pushed for it on his behalf.

The learning support department staff are great, but they are underfunded and overworked. There are far more children who need help than get it, and kids fall through the cracks. My son benefits from having me in his corner, and I wish that wasn't the case because of the many kids whose parents either don't realise or aren't able to advocate for them.

Ignore. To be honest I slightly had that opinion dispite being dyslexic and my mum trying to get me assessed. I didn't get assessed until uni. Its possibly different because I passed school exams fine, but learnt to get very statigic with exam technique.

@bigvig

In terms of the process of assessing need, it has been bloody hard work. It’s completely draining. Yes I have to push, and yes I bet DD’s school see me as that ‘pushy, affluent’ parent. But the school rejected DD’s placement and I had a massive fight to get her in. My experience of school with an EHCP so far has not been pleasant at all, and I do think - my school in particular - need to stop having such a negative view of children with EHCP’s and their ‘pushy’ parents.

The problem is that access arrangements are pretty bad and so many kids don’t get what they need. Some kids do. Then at high pressure times many people can feel disgruntled over these arrangements

I also have a child who needs adjustments and potentially extra time and I would say something. Who cares? It’s a WhatsApp group with parents you’re probably never going to see again once they hit secondary school. Call out the ignorance.

Our experience was that the state secondary school were very keen to make sure that the formal JCQ assessment was completed to allow the extra time for GCSEs.

If the private schools do it to get the best chances of high grades then so will the state schools.

@PinkCentipede
Good idea, but I doubt that the parents in the WhatsApp group have the mental capacity to understand words of more than one syllable 😉

SATS are to test that the teachers are teaching to a standardised level not to test the ability of the children- am I wrong?

As someone in an extremely overtested
academic year (SATS,CATS, Tripple exam 11+, GCSEs,AS and A-Levels) I can confirm that someone’s exams and even their degrees are not necessarily an indication of a child’s academic ability, just a test of their ability to pass the tests. Not one person has ever asked about what my exams were at school. No one has even asked about my degree.

Have these people never sat exams of any kind themselves? I’m nearly 40 and remember kids getting extra time, having someone write for them, having someone read the question for them etc. I assumed that they needed help but didn’t pry because it was none of my fucking business. Both of my older children are ND and my eldest has a separate room for exams with only a handful of people in it opposed to the big hall. My son will need some kind of assistance when his time comes- assuming he’s even considered able to do any exams.

Honestly, the attitude of these parents in your WhatsApp group makes my toes curl with embarrassment for their stupidity. Hopefully the kids will grow up to be less thick and ignorant than the parents.

But the fact schools sometimes wait forever is not a fault of the kids who managed to get additional support, so the parents are barking up the wrong tree. So it is utterlu unfair to be pissed off Henry gets a scribe, they should be bitching about LA and NHS trust that is lagging behind with diagnosis.

The best thing about having a child in y6 is knowing that the class WhatsApp group only has a few weeks left to run 🙌🏼

Totally not my experience as a teacher not parent of an SEN child.

OP tell them treating everyone the same is sometimes the most unfair thing to do.

My DD16 has always had extra time and to be honest I’m not convinced it helps, they are more exhausted as they spend more time in exams especially on the days (like this week in her GCSEs) she has two in one day.

These people are stupid, feel free to tell them that.

Hopefully the kids will grow up to be less thick and ignorant than the parents

I agree. My children were a lot kinder to those who needed help, they had understanding.

Sounds more like the queen bee has spoken and the others are you jumping to her tune.

It’s like the ‘I don’t mean YOU, but …..

Id ignore it.

The rest of the world gets it.

Perhaps I’d be classed in that way but it’s my experience that because my child is well behaved, stable family life and isn’t on anyone’s radar she’s more likely not to get noticed.

It’s the teachers job to speak up for those children that need the extra time (I say this as a teacher).

The other option is to reply to the ranty mum with something passive aggressive like

This message comes across like you’re wishing something like cerebral palsy onto DC so they’d get more exam support. I’m sure it’s not what you intended, but I promise you life would be a lot harder on you and him if he had it, and the exam arrangements would be the last of your worries.

I’d probably say if Henry has SEN and needs additional support then it can be arranged for him, I spoke to xyz for my Jonny.

Your son clearly needs extra time in his exams and you should ignore these WhatsApp comments.

However, I do think there’s a broader issue that this discussion flags up. In DSs class over a third of kids have extra help / time. That’s a huge number. So what happens to a kid who doesn’t have a specific diagnosis but is slow at exams, or isn’t able to hold information well, or just aren’t that bright. They’re also at a disadvantage, so why shouldn’t they get help?

I don’t know what the solution is. I suspect it’s reform of the whole education system.

Y6 teacher here. Loads of kids have access arrangements for all different reasons and has nothing to do with ability. These parents are ignorant. Don’t waste your time on them. Good luck to your son this week!

You can’t argue with stupid. I’d be tempted to screenshot and send to the school. Ask them to invite the parents in for a chat about why some kids need accommodations.

So Henry is just as whiny “it’s not fair on me” as his parents.
(SATS aren’t that hard IF your child is academically decent which is what you need for top set anything we didn’t do a scrap of revision at home barely noticed they happened at school.
We just get our kids to concentrate on their own exams, to the point I asked our eldest if anyone got extra time in his school because he had never mentioned it, asked how does that work leaving the room, “oh they sit at the front”)

So it would be tempting to message in the Group
”you can’t polish a turd Susan”
but probably not advisable!