To think that SATS are more important than people let on?

[Inthehottub]

On mumsnet I always find that the general consensus is that SATS aren’t important.

Once upon a time I would have agreed.

However, now I’ve experienced having a child go through secondary school and GCSEs, I would say that SATS results are very important.

Our experience was that the SATS results determine which sets the child goes into in secondary school and also the GCSE predicted grades. I know that there are other assessments too, but SATS are a large part of it.

Our experience of secondary school was also that the ‘top set’ kids get absolutely everything thrown at getting them those top grades. I was also told by teachers and pupils alike that the lower sets tend to have more disruptive children so it’s harder for the quieter less able kids to work their way up out of the bottom sets.

Obviously that’s only my experience having had two go through secondary school and one now approaching sats.

Interested to know what others think.

Yabu - SATS are not important
Yanbu - they are very important

But it can matter very much in terms of where resources are channeled and the resources expectations placed on the child by the school.

The results could make a difference to the child’s secondary school experience.

I'm not sure it made any difference to my DD not doing sats

Yes I would agree with this.

I know that there will be movement between sets and there will always be exceptions, but it is much more difficult to move up from a low starting point.

There’s no point arguing with people. Some parents love to die on this hill that sats don’t matter, probably because it’s easier to think that.

Ok so tell me how it actually did matter to my DD then

Private schools don't care about SATS at all 🤷‍♀️

SATS results have been part of the evidence base for DDs exam access arrangements.

You can’t say that most schools do better because you can’t possibly have evidence of that.

I have no doubt that teachers do their best for all children but rightly or wrongly schools have government based targets to meet and not enough money and resources to offer every single child the best.

I don’t know anything about your dd. For kids who have done SATs and go to normal secondary schools they matter.

So my child wasn't in a " normal" school now lol. Her primary weren't too happy she didn't take the sats as they wanted to use her to boost their scores.
However I considered her health and need more the operation more important than boosting their scores tbh

I do wonder how many of the parents who claim "they don't matter" looked at the SATs results, OFSTED rating etc when they were looking at schools when their child was 3/4years old.

My son is in Year 5 and when he's in Year 6, I will be happily telling him that SATs don't matter at all.

That's if he even does them as I suspect he won't come close to passing them so not sure yet what the schools plan will be.

None in Scotland id assume. I think ( well used to be) you went to the catchment school end of

And I didn't for my DDs primary either. It was a case of moving into the area and the only school that had a place

I was referring to the poster who mentioned private school.
If my daughter had not sat her SATs exams, I would be concerned that the high school would use their own data and come up with conservative target grade estimates to make their results look better, rather than invest in my child to get the best grades possible.It’s idealistic to think otherwise.

You replied to me though.

Not me.

He went to the nearest school because I wanted him to have friends in the local area and to be able to walk to school. I didn't consider Ofsted ratings because I don't find them to be particularly important either.

Our experience of secondary school was also that the ‘top set’ kids get absolutely everything thrown at getting them those top grades. I was also told by teachers and pupils alike that the lower sets tend to have more disruptive children so it’s harder for the quieter less able kids to work their way up out of the bottom sets.

Not sure which way to vote as I agree with half of this (secondary school teacher). Behaviour is definitely better in the higher sets, for all kinds of reasons.

But in my experience it's the borderline students in the middle sets who have everything thrown at them because they're going to make the biggest difference to results. Top sets are often absolutely massive.

That’s actually quite reassuring if true.

We're in Wales so it's different but the pressure I've heard from friends that some English schools put on y6 SATS is craaaaaaazy and weird and awful.

Yes it's useful to see where the child's at with their learning but it's not the be all end all. Mine were set when they were in high school after year 7, not from any primary information. People move sets too. Ability aged 11 shouldn't be dictating your progress in your teens.

Having had children go through high school, GCSEs and A Levels, and being a school governor I am very confident that any marks from tests at year 6 are absolutely not taken into account when giving GCSE predicted grades.

As data, it's just useful to tell a story and to track trends. In our primary, the majority of children begin well below expected levels, by the time they leave, the majority are above and at expected levels. The data reflects that the school supports excellent progress despite challenging demographics. Same in high school. It's not about saying little Jonny messed up a year 6 test so he can't get above a C in GCSE Geography.

Agree with this but in most bog standard secondary schools the middle to bottom sets have huge issues with behaviour so however much investment schools put in them you’re still fighting against apathy and behaviour issues. I’d rather dd was in a top set because even with large numbers they’re usually better behaved there’s less barriers to teaching and learning. Children struggle to make progress when there’s lots of dead time dealing with behaviour

We don't have SATS in Wales but there are national reading and numeracy tests taken in Y6. My DS secondary school have clearly put him into the top set for maths in Y7 based on how well he did in those tests as he didn't do very well in the school assessment. Testing in Wales is more low-key but it's still creating a benchmark that schools pay attention to.

Usually those who probably didn't do well. It plays a small part but GCSEs are more important

Well I don't think they are important. My DD got mostly As and a couple of Bs plus a C at maths at GSCE. Didn't do the SATS

And my DCs got 9s around the board. At most 2 8s and maybe a singular 7.

They didn't have 9s then lol. But it shoots your theory of it's those that didn't do well that don't think the SATS are important