Year 6 SATS - pointless apart from league tables?

[SalaciousCrumb]

That's it really - I am looking through the information sent by ds's soon to be secondary school and they say CATs are a better indication of the child's ability and SATS are just an indication at a given point in time. He sits CATs when he goes to visit his secondary school in July.

He did practice papers over easter; he felt very unmotivated and I bit my tongue - just told him the school need to show how everybody is doing.

He is also going in at 8pm for 'booster' maths sessions until May. He doesn't seem to mind that as it means he can have a break from his younger sister! I would like to think it would help him generally with maths but it is teaching to pass a test.

I am hoping these pointless tests will be scrapped by the time dd starts year 6 as the stress and tension in school and also at home caused is a complete pain. I am hoping all this useless cracking the whip will not put him off education as he's questioning why they have to go through 5 years of test papers "why can't we just do the test?"

I am sure some children would sail through them without feeling stressed but not my ds.

Right, rant over. Can anybody see any value in SATS?

DD1's school certainly didn't go on SATs when setting - she got L5 in reading, L4 in writing in her SATs, but passed the L6 reading paper. She also got L6 in maths. She was one of those whose writing papers were externally marked, there was a HUGE difference there, and based on what I'd seen of her written work, I'd say the external marker got it very badly wrong.

She's in all the top sets at her school, predicted 6a in English by the end of Yr7 and the same in maths and science - apparently her CATs were very revealing, the feedback from her primary teachers also set the tone and she is now doing very very well, G&T in 4 subjects. SATs really aren't everything, and most schools know this.

Thank you for your messages. That makes me feel a bit better. I never really worried about my older two SATS. Some how there appears to be more pressure now.
Children develop at such different times. I will be pleased if my DD get the national average.