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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be irritated at my child's school sending me info. on private companies who coach children through SATS?

26 replies

moondog · 03/02/2009 11:18

The accompanying letter stresses that HM doesn't endorse it (so why is he sending it out then?)
It is all written entirely in English (when this is a Welsh medium school with a very clear language policy)
The company (and HM) request that you send back the slip with details of your child's nam and age, even if you are not interested.

Feck off I say.

OP posts:
rubyslippers · 03/02/2009 11:20

it sounds like they are trying to build their database so they can harrass send you lots of information about their services

grrrr ...

GrapefruitMoon · 03/02/2009 11:23

Just ignore it.

My pet hate are the expensive theatre schools who some to the school and do an activity with the kids and tell them they can come to a free trial session the next weekend....neglecting to mention anywhere on the letter home that they are at least £20 per week....

Original poster
moondog · 03/02/2009 11:24

Yes, bloody cheek.
It is making me nearly (poss. more?) angry than hearing about Carol bloody Vordermann heading enquiry into state of Maths.

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 03/02/2009 11:28

It wouldn't irritate me but I would forget to return the form. My memory is terribly poor when it comes to things like that. Or, in your case, I might translate the form into Welsh and return it with a false name.

Gorionine · 03/02/2009 11:28

Ignore the letter I say, I did not ignore mine and got called by the "school coach thing" every six month ( it was not just for sats but general out of school tuition) to ask me if I was really sure that my DD did not need tuition!

GrapefruitMoon · 03/02/2009 11:29

I would write back to the head (and copy to the governors if I was really mad) asking him if the school is not up to the job of teaching the kids seeing as he has sent this letter home?

SATs are bad enough without putting that sort of pressure on children. Any school worth its salt will ensure that KS1 children don't even know they are doing SATs and will keep KS2 as stress-free as possible. My school gets excellent results and Yr6 hardly get any homework, let alone extra coaching.

Original poster
moondog · 03/02/2009 11:29

What a chhek (calling you)
Oh, I have sent it back with terse note making the ponits have raised here, and under my own name.Why would I use a false one?

OP posts:
christywhisty · 03/02/2009 11:31

If they are anything like the studentsupport centre, they are hard sell and very expensive but they pay the school for every slip they receive back.

SoupDragon · 03/02/2009 11:31

re false name - just to avoid them badgering you when the names are on their database.

Original poster
moondog · 03/02/2009 11:33

Their names will never be on the database!
Yes, StudentSupport Centre it was!
Bloody hell. I am astounded.This is a terrific school with fab HM.

OP posts:
Leo9 · 03/02/2009 11:42

That is dreadful - have you also made your point to the Head? I would be writing and saying that you are shocked that the school would send this sort of thing out, which even if officially not endorsed by the school, is being given tacit endorsement by being sent out by them? I would say that a proportion of parents would be encouraged into putting pressure on to their children re; sats. This sort of thing adds to an atmosphere of stress about sats and elevates them into something they just shouldn't be.

Hopefully they will be scrapped soon anyway. It can't be long.

Original poster
moondog · 03/02/2009 11:46

I will be writing to him, yes.

OP posts:
amess · 03/02/2009 11:51

We have had this too and they do phone up and take ages to get rid of. I tell the children sats are for the school to benefit not you so don't worry about it.

christywhisty · 03/02/2009 12:02

We get the letters regularly but not in connection with the SATS. I put a note on it that I don't feel the school should have anything to do with companies like this. HM said we could talk about it, but have never got round to it.
from what I can gather you can end up being stuck in a credit agreement costing thousands for years

BitOfFun · 03/02/2009 12:10

So the school is sending you a letter advertising somebody doing the job they should be doing and they want you to pay? I'd tell them where to get off too.

morningpaper · 03/02/2009 12:11

I would complain and cc the governors too

But the teachers are at the stage of running away when I enter the playground

Original poster
moondog · 03/02/2009 12:13

I know what bloody works.
My MSc is in evidence based education so it really is a red rag.
They should know better than to get me going.

OP posts:
LightShinesInTheDarkness · 03/02/2009 12:14

lol morning paper!

I worried a lot about the Yr6 SATs, but have been reassured by the postings on here.

mamas12 · 03/02/2009 12:21

moodog the SATS no longer happen here in Wales (in welsh or enlish) Welsh Assembly scrapped them 3 yrs ago, so I take it your dcs are at the welsh medium in London But as it's a welsh medium school does it come under the LEA or the Welsh Assembly? Just grasping at straws for you.

southeastastra · 03/02/2009 12:22

we had something like that, i think the school get a percentage even if they just send the form back marked not interested

VictorianSqualor · 03/02/2009 12:30

We got one of those two with a letter from the Head saying she doesn't want us to think it's something she is backing but she feels she should pass them on incase anyone wants to use them

Original poster
moondog · 03/02/2009 12:38

Yes VS,I had exactly the same message.
Very slippery slope.What else will he be passing on 'just so as to make us awre'?
Mama,I konw that and i am in Wales so it's even odder.

OP posts:
RobynLou · 03/02/2009 12:39

sats are not intended to asses the child, they are to asses the school - how can they do that if children are having priate tutoring for them? makes the whole thing even more pointless.
I did sats in secondary school (was the first year after all the teachers refused to mark them the year before) and never knew my results, makes me so sad that this is whats ahead for my little girl

Khara · 03/02/2009 13:00

I'm sick of the implication that the onus is on us as parents to coach our children through the SATs. My ds1 is in Y6 and we've not had the same as you but we did get letters about what work we should be doing at home with the children and helpfully suggesting workbooks that could be bought at WHS etc.

Silly me. I thought that the KS2 SATs were designed to test how well the school has taught the children through the last four years at school, not how much the parents had crammed them in the last few months!

The SATs are not going to have any bearing on what secondary school my son will go to, nor will they appear on his CV later in life. Yes the secondary school may use them initially as an indicator of his ability, although most are now not putting much store by the SAT results as they know that they are flawed by primaries teaching to the test.

The pressure put on children and parents by the schools is appalling. They imply that the SATs are important for the childrens' future but this is just not true. If it was an 11+ I could understand it but it's not. I can see that from the schools' point of view that they are locked into the league tables game and the pressure is on them to produce results, so I can understand it to a certain extent, but it's just got ridiculous now.

So I refuse to spend the next few months forcing my son to do loads of extra work at home. It's all I can do to get him to do the work school sends home anyway and if I tried to make him do more it would just be a huge battle.

christywhisty · 03/02/2009 13:14

These letters are not normally about SATS and they are sent to every child in the school not just those doing SATS.
FWIW my DD is Yr 6 and loving school as did my DS when he was in Yr6. They can go in early if they want to for sats practice but no pressure if they don't want to. My DD is actually getting up early to go to school