Concerned schools will just reteach material from March 2020

[notevenat20]

I have become worried that schools will decide they need to reteach all the material from March 2020 onwards when they go back in September. For the many families like ours who worked their socks off trying to provide decent home schooling in the lockdown, this would be a kick in the teeth.

Do you think this is going to happen?

Quite a few Secondary teachers would do marking of GCSEs etc in the holidays, obviously not this year.

It's not that simple to withdraw a pupil from KS1 SATs as the window for taking them is the whole of May. The test itself is not the only issue anyway as end of KS1 results are teacher assessed and SATs are used as part of the evidence (it would be hard for me to assess someone as being age-related without them having a certain score though).

The bigger issue is having evidence for the assessment framework. It means that I am going to have to focus on teaching those particular elements and catching up the missed learning that contributes to them, possibly to the detriment of other aspects of the curriculum. I would prefer they sacked off the SATs though, as teaching how to take the test is time consuming in itself and not particularly worthwhile when you have already gathered other evidence (that's an ongoing argument anyway 😁).

Actually exam marking is completed between May and July.

www.google.com/amp/s/michaelt1979.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/are-teachers-paid-for-the-holidays/amp/

If you really want to dive into the teachers pay and conditions see above.

Teachers can do what they like outside directed time regarding other jobs.

Exam marking is often undertaken by teachers/retired teachers. Done May-early July every year. (apart from 2020!!)

I would also add that as a primary teacher I most definitely work during every holiday and don't know any teachers who don't. There is so much to catch up on that there isn't time for during term time.

I don't do much in the holidays to be honest. I'll do a couple of days this year but there's little I can do yet as none of our school plans have been confirmed. I have a strict work life balance and if it won't benefit the students, I won't do it. I will regularly work 50+ hour weeks during term time however.

Just spent the afternoon planning and trying to make a second set of screens for parents just in case we are in lockdown in the first half term. We tend to do a quick revision section then introduce new concepts. E.g first week of maths we will revise order of numbers, number names and tens and ones as well as ordering numbers and introducing < and >. To be honest we always revise the previous year concepts at the beginning of each session as appropriate as a warm up and quick assessment. It also shows the children how they are progressing.

Minnie - one friend has said they are taking holidays in May so will arrange to miss SATS as they don’t want, after the stress of the last few months, to add additional stress to their DC’s. They want them to enjoy schooling again.

In my experience, it's rare that my Year Sixes get particularly stressed about SATs. They start nervous about it because they think it's something very different to what it is. By the time they come around, they're well-prepared, confident and know what to expect.

Most say they actually enjoy the week though I don't know how much of that is down to the breakfast club, heaps of attention they get and the Friday 'Day of Choosing'.

I had one boy a few years ago who got a little upset before a paper but that was more to do with how much pressure his mum was putting on him and he calmed easily enough.

lam - unfortunately some schools put pressure on the children - homework, practice sessions before and after school, attendance during holidays etc.

@Parker231

lam - unfortunately some schools put pressure on the children - homework, practice sessions before and after school, attendance during holidays etc.

Well, homework is normal and to be expected but should also be useful (there's no point giving old papers as homework, for example).

However, additional before and after school sessions and holiday sessions are too much, in my opinion, and we've never done them. Though, I suppose, you could say that that's the same as parents hiring a tutor just at no cost to them. Earlier in this thread, that was said to be a really good thing.

I'm astonished at the thought they won't pick up where they left off? Our school did not provide the curriculum and just put the odd activity on to keep their brains ticking and lots of PE activities. I was wfh and could not teach at the same time with also a toddler and my older children.

They simply have to pick up where they left off.

@Parker231

Unfortunately if a child misses their SATS, this may affect the support they get in secondary school.... not saying this is right at all. So we have a math teacher who does 1-1 with year 11s who are on the 3/4 border, they’ve only got time on their timetable for 2 kids... 2 kids have SATS results 2 kids don’t... they are told to mentor the ones with SATS results as these results will be used for the schools value added... if there’s no SATS they aren’t in the schools value added data so can get left to coast along.

Over - my DC’s were at an international school but friends using the state schools near us in central London, their DC’s were all tested when they moved schools so any help needed was picked up then.

Yes but what Over is saying is that, when resources are limited, as they often are, children with SATs results will be prioritised over children who don't have them. It's not right (at all) but it happens far more frequently than you think because only children with SATs results count towards the secondary school's progress score. Secondaries are judged on that progress score as part of league tables and their Ofsteds.

Does anyone remember that programme about an academy chain where they had that additional money to invest in pupils ahead of their GCSEs? They spent it to give all of their lower performing boys one-to-one tuition from an experienced teacher. Those boys were identified because they were off the target that had been set for them (nationally not internally) by their SATs results.

I concur with @OverTheRainbow88 experience.

Those deemed to be 'behind' based in ks2 SATS got far more intervention than those without a score. Another perversion of the system.

There are benefits to no ks2 sats, no pressure in secondary, no "here's what you should be getting". But can be devastating for the y6 teacher as their PM will depend on results.