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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To diliberately go on holiday when my son is supposed to sit his key stage 1 SATS

70 replies

Reallytired · 04/03/2009 17:52

We have just had a letter asking us not to go on holiday the week starting 11 May as key stage 1 children will be doing SAT assessment tasks (or tests!)

I am tempted to take my son out of school on purpose. I don't care if I get fined, its worth it! I would love my son to get no result so that its impossible for my SIL or in laws to ask what he got in his key stage 1 SATS.

I am due to have a baby 25th April and I don't think my son will be able to justice to his ablities in these tests. It is going to be hard for him having his life turned upside down.

I was thinking that a holiday to the Isle of Wight might be nice, assuming that I am discharged from the mid wife at that point.

OP posts:

cupofteaplease · 04/03/2009 17:56

So you want to take him out of school because you are afraid he will not do well and you don't want to be embarrassed by this if your inlaws ask you how he did?

Why would they care? Wouldn't they be more proud of their grandson/nephew for actually trying is best like all the other children?

I'm not a big fan of SATS at KS1, but not for the reasons you have given.

Buda · 04/03/2009 17:57

Well DS did KS1 SATS last year and had no real idea he had done them tbh. The school keeps it very low-key for that age group. They did do some practising of papers beforehand so they were used to the format etc.

If anyone asks what he got say you don't know as it is to check the teaching in the school not your DS's ability.

BecauseImWorthIt · 04/03/2009 17:58

SATS aren't about your child, though, they are about the school. You're messing up their results if you take him out.

I think YABU - sorry!

Littlefish · 04/03/2009 17:59

"I don't think my son will be able to justice to his ablities in these tests"

YABU

Spidermama · 04/03/2009 17:59

I hate SATS and at our school quite a few parents took their kids out as a kind of protest.

lostinfrance · 04/03/2009 18:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

2shoes · 04/03/2009 18:07

yabu
just tell them he did well

jack99 · 04/03/2009 18:11

School would probably not give permission either.

compo · 04/03/2009 18:15

blimey, are you going to do this for all his exams?
you have to get over it, it doesn't matter what your SIL or inlaws think

Kayteee · 04/03/2009 18:15

I'd go for the holiday

OnlyWantsOne · 04/03/2009 18:15

It may be important for your son to do these tests - it may not seem like it now, but when his friends all have their results, he will be excluded from it.

I am not saying that I agree with the schooling system etc, but it's what we have and we have to allow our children to get the optimum from it.

I do agree however with your point about having a new born around distracting him from his potential. I think this should be discussed with the teachers IMO.

What example is it setting to your DD if he thinks now, that he's getting away with some thing at school that all the other children are enforcable being made to sit?

OnlyWantsOne · 04/03/2009 18:16

DS* even

doh... I obviously haven't got the optimum from the schooling system...

Northernlurker · 04/03/2009 18:19

If you aren't happy to tell your sil his results then just lie! There is no way she can ever know and it's a lot cheaper than a holiday! Plus a holiday two weeks post natal is a waste of money imo and you will piss his school off. Personally I would just tell any enquiriers that I have no idea as I don't believe in formal testing and asked the school not to tell me....

Northernlurker · 04/03/2009 18:20

Littlefish · 04/03/2009 18:21

But it's not just about the tests. If the teachers think that he hasn't done as well as he should have done, then they are able to use their discretion and use teacher assessment instead.

However, it can cause extra work as the teacher assessments need to be justified and often moderated.

I would be really pi**ed off if a parent deliberately took her child out because she didn't want to have to tell relatives the results, thereby causing extra work for the teacher.

Original poster

Reallytired · 04/03/2009 18:22

I am not asking the school for permission. Frankly I don't scare how much it pisses off his teacher. I told her last parents' evening that I was thinking about taking him out of school on purpose to avoid the tests. I disagree with tests on small children.

a) I cannot see how formal testing of seven year olds is of any educational benefit. A half decent teacher will know exactly where a child is at from continous assessment.

b) I think my son would have more fun learn more from going the Isle of Wight than sitting tests.

c) The results of SAT tests are fairly meaningless at seven, so why have them?

I have never done SATS as thank Gawd there was no national curriuclum when I was at school. I spent most of year two doing art, music, sewing on binka with a bit of maths and English thrown in. Yet I still managed to get a degree inspite of no national curriulumn.

OP posts:

Lulumama · 04/03/2009 18:23

YABU

you will be in no fit state to go on hols anyway, and you might go 10 days over, and you won;t want to go anywhere with a days old baby

lie to your SIL if your son's results are poor

you are also giving him the message that the tests etc are only worth doing if you are going to do v v v well, so why should he bother trying?

the results won;t affect him per se, or his ability to go to oxford/cambridge , so let him take them and lie to SIL if necessary

allwoing him to miss SATS due to slightly adverse circs is not on

lots of people have babies and don;t remove their children from school to miss important tests

poopscoop · 04/03/2009 18:23

Go for the holiday. As someone says, it is for the school not for your DC. They do not need this pressure at their age. We did the same.

The children do not discuss their results, they mean nothing to them, just the parents in the playground. DS got all 3's etc. The school goes in the league tables as a result and they are a crock of shite too.

compo · 04/03/2009 18:23

maybe you should home educate if you hate the system so much?

Lulumama · 04/03/2009 18:24

the teachers must really love you and your supportive attitude

why should they do their best to teach him to the best of their abilities, support and nurture him, if you think it is all meaningless?

poopscoop · 04/03/2009 18:24

islandofsodor · 04/03/2009 18:27

YANBU. Dd should do hers this year and I am so glad that she goes to an independent school that opts out so that I won't have to tell ultra competitive sil with a dd the same age what her results are.

However KS1 SATS don;t have to be done on a certain date so they will just give a teacher assemment level anyway.

If for any reason I could no longer afford indy education I would plan on removing my dc from school during both KS1 and KS2 SATS.

Incidentally dd would probably do very well as she won the prize for highest results in her normal end of year emans last year.

Exams I don't object to per se, just pointless ones where half the year is spent revising, not learning.

noonki · 04/03/2009 18:27

I completely and utterly agree with you reallytired.

A week before my DSS did his I heard him and his very bright friend talking.

She said that she hadn't been able to sleep because she was so worried and her tummy had been hurting. My DSS replied 'Me too, it fees like my tummy has been squashed'

Basically they were stressed. At seven ffs.

All because the government wants to test our kids for their own monitoring purposes that have done little or no good for the education of children as I can see.

lljkk · 04/03/2009 18:29

Since the KS1 SATs are supposed to be continuous, does missing the formal sit-down tests make any difference? I'd ask the teacher, I bet you still receive a SAT result on paper, whether he sits the exam part or not.

So you can't duck the SIL's nosy questions so easily, methinks.

And what will you do if you or the baby is poorly -- or baby comes very late, and you have to stay at home after all (losing deposit on the holiday lodgings, etc.)?

Sounds like a foolish strategy to me.

Lulumama · 04/03/2009 18:30

i suppose it does depend on how school talk about SATS, DS had no idea he was doing his KS1 SATS< they were told they had some extra work that the headmaster could not do as it was too hard, so could they help him. he has not been stressed at all, and has done SATS ever year. last year he did them with a scribe due to his dyslexia, and i only found out a week later he had had his SATS as i was away for a week due to a bereavement. definitely no stress or sleeplessness for DS

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