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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed that yr6's taking their SAT's...

70 replies

SOLOisMeredithGrey · 12/05/2009 15:39

are not allowed a drink during the whole of the morning tests?

Yesterday Ds told me that they weren't allowed to take drinks in with them and when he asked for a drink during the tests(and the teacher was about to give him one)they were told that 'according to rules and regulations, no drinks are allowed', so he didn't get one. They then went outside(after an hour of testing according to Ds)and were put on the green, so didn't have access to drinking fountains. I'm really disgusted by this, but it had slipped my mind today as I meant to go up to the school to ask about these so called 'Rules and Regulations'.

I think it is totally unreasonable to expect children doing tests like this to go without a drink throughout them. Kids that are dehydrated are not going to work well.
Will also be asking Ds if the same happened again today.

So! am being unreasonable to be annoyed about this?

OP posts:
BernardsCat · 12/05/2009 16:14

i managed to do a three hour FINAL with

GASP

no hydration.

KingCanuteIAm · 12/05/2009 16:16

Yes, the body works best with constant top ups not a sudden dunking, it can only absorb and use so much in one go, the rest is wasted. Hence the push for healthy children to drink regularly - and adults to drink water in the day, so many litres etc.

Dehydration simply means that the body is not properly hydrated and function is compromised because of it not that they are about to keel over.

Original poster
SOLOisMeredithGrey · 12/05/2009 16:16

I am very annoyed ellingwoman and if I still did the school run, I'm sure it wouldn't have slipped my mind...not to mention that this is not an everyday occurance ~ doing SAT's that is...

Ds has come in and today apparantly, the teacher that stopped them yesterday wasn't in, so they were given an inch of water in a polystyrene cup ...that'll help then!

OP posts:
BernardsCat · 12/05/2009 16:17

an inch. surely 2.5cm

LOL at you.

juuule · 12/05/2009 16:17

OMG BernardsCat
Did they have life support waiting for you when you finished?

BernardsCat · 12/05/2009 16:18

I think i had one of those silver blankets and an IV.

KingCanuteIAm · 12/05/2009 16:20

Exactly primula, looking after themselves. The secondary children I know take drinks into lessons, because they are supposed to, they are simply not allowed to drink them in the labs, it is not that difficult! They are only allowed to use the bathrooms in breaks as that activly takes them away from a lesson. Drinking means they are better able to concentrate and are healthier. It is not that they can't manage an hour it is that they shouldn't for their health.

TBH I am shocked that so many of you are not aware of this, AFAIK this has been standard in schools for a good 5 years now.

Original poster
SOLOisMeredithGrey · 12/05/2009 16:20

No! BC, I did say I was old! I still work in feet and inches! can't change...

OP posts:
Original poster
SOLOisMeredithGrey · 12/05/2009 16:23

I know Ds's school have been allowing bottles of water in the chlassroom for at least 3 years now(I admit to feeling envy at this as I can remember that awful, sticky mouth feeling from a 100 years ago in class ).

OP posts:
PrimulaVeris · 12/05/2009 16:25

So should sips be taken regularly during sleeping hours on a drip as well then?

KingCanuteIAm · 12/05/2009 16:26

Yes, last thing on a June afternoon, shortly before the holidays, mouth like sandpaper and the teacher screaming at us not to sit looking out of the window and listen... well perhaps if we were not all about to collapse from heat exhaustion and dehydration we would do better?

Original poster
SOLOisMeredithGrey · 12/05/2009 16:27

lol@ PV. Don't you just hate waking up with that budgie mouth dryness though? that 'I have to creep downstairs in the feezing cold to get a drink' feeling UGH!!!

OP posts:
KingCanuteIAm · 12/05/2009 16:29

Primula, I have set up an alarm system that sounds every hour, the alarm goes off and a little train runs round depositing the required amount of water into their egearly open mouths, tis great

No, the body slows down over night and is designed to not be refilled whilst sleeping...Just like a baby needs to eat and wee at night but, as they grow, the body refines to be able to rest at night without those needs.

Rhubarb · 12/05/2009 16:36

Our kids are allowed bottles of water in the classroom.

But tbh, the tests are around 45mins long (there is an hour of English tomorrow though), and they are encouraged to go to the toilet and have a drink before they go into the classroom.

I'm an invigilator for the Yr6 SATS and I had to deny 2 boys a toilet break this morning. I had no-one to go with the boys and I had asked them all to go before coming into the classroom.

We do try and make it as relaxed as possible, we're on the kids' side, but we can't be too lax. Some kids do take the piss and I've had issues with my lot over making faces, shouting out questions and generally distracting other children. I know it's a lot of pressure, but you'd think they'd be able to sit quiet for 45mins at their age!

RustyBear · 12/05/2009 16:41

I've been invigilating in the SATs this week & our children are definitely allowed water bottles on the table - and we have a jug of water for those who haven't brought a bottle.
They were told to go to the toilet before they started & warned that they wouldn't be allowed to go while the papers were on the table unless it was a total emergency - the teachers know these children by now & know they can easily last that long. The longest paper is 45 minutes, so it's never more than an hour allowing for giving out & collecting.

I have read the rules for administering the tests and certainly don't remember anything about not allowing drinks - they are fairly comprehensive, including a section on what to do if a child throws up on their paper....

GypsyMoth · 12/05/2009 16:43

lol rustybear......what DO you do if a child throws up on it??

Rhubarb · 12/05/2009 16:43

Rusty - the spelling test today, did you read out the script including the words in the gaps twice?

That's what the instructions implied you had to do, but then another TA said that you were only supposed to read out the entire script once?

Rhubarb · 12/05/2009 16:44

You mop it up and get another answer booklet! We have spares.

mumeeee · 12/05/2009 17:39

Children are allowwed to take a botle of water into GCSE exams but it must be in a clear plastic bottle. I think the rules would be the same for SATs so you school have got it wrong.

RustyBear · 12/05/2009 18:39

It wasn't me that read it but the teacher who did read the whole script through once without pausing while the children followed but didn't write, then read it again with a pause after each word to be spelt.

With the throwing up thing a member of staff copies the answers the child has already completed onto a new paper. If any of it is unreadable, the staff members asks the pupil to give their answers again at the end of the test & has to write it in a different colour on the new paper.
The guidance then goes on to say 'Do not send the original spoiled paper for external marking'
Imagine opening up the sealed pack of papers to find one that some poor child had puked on amongst them...

clam · 12/05/2009 18:56

It's often counter-productive to repeat the words too much anyway, as the kids then tend to over-think it and change correct answers to incorrect ones!

sayithowitis · 12/05/2009 18:57

Rhubarb, I administered the spelling test today and read it twice. Once without pausing at the blank spaces and once with pauses.

katiestar · 12/05/2009 18:58

Rhubarb wrote 'We do try and make it as relaxed as possible, we're on the kids' side'

Had to laugh at the strange notion of teachers being on the kids side re SATS when teachers are the only ones who stand to gain , or lose anything !DS (yr 6) commented that it is actually the only time kids have any power over the teachers.I wonder if any kids actually leave their paper blank to get their own back on a teacher!

What are the rules re exam scripts?I came across the head and the Y6 teacher huddled together in the office reading through all the childrens writing task scripts.The head couldn't see them properly so the class teacher was reading them aloud .It must be so tempting to just correct a few punctuation or spelling mistakes with the standardised school pen.I bet it happens in some schools !

clam · 12/05/2009 19:12

I noticed a child had not crossed the t in availability today, making it availabilily - and therefore wrong. It would have been the easiest thing to stick a cross on that T when no-one was looking. But I didn't.

RustyBear · 12/05/2009 19:16

The scripts have to be checked against the marksheet & packed up & kept locked up until they are picked up (usually with us it's the next day, but not always)

There are special forms to fill in to say whether a child has had an amanuensis or a transcript (an amanuensis writes the paper to the child's dictation, with a transcript the child writes it during the normal test & then tells an adult what they have written & the adult rewrites it)

I was in the office yesterday when the head & the secretary were going through the process & it took about an hour, but they certainly didn't have time to read all the papers, let alone alter them.

We have had a moderator come in within an hour or so to check the papers were locked up, so it'd be a bit of a risk to take the time to read them all, but the staff at your school may have been checking to see if a transcript was needed, especially if they have pupils with significant motor difficulties.