Year 6 SATS - is this really going to be a problem?

[christywhisty]

It the district cub camp the weekend before year 6 sats. The boys hardly ever get any sleep and DS always comes home in an awful state and in the "too tired to sleep" state.
Its the 100th anniversary camp so there is so much for them to do so don't really want son to miss it, there are 6 or 7 boys in the class going so son won't be the only one.

Starts Friday night and finishes Sunday afternoon.

Even though sats are important for the school they are not critical for the individual. Some secondary schools use them for setting and target setting but will use the teacher assessment as well as the test scores

If it was my DS I would send him on cub camp as it is such a wonderful experience for him especially as this is the centenary year - who knows may give him inspiration for the english writing paper (think swallows and amazons)

I would certainly send him - he will get so much out of it. Just make sure he gets an early night on the Sunday.

I would send him and I would also speak to head or teacher to say that the boys are going.
Thats gives them chance to plan things taking that into account (if they want to)

My DC has 4 boys away for the first day of their sats but the school re arranged them so that no-one sat tests that day. 1 lad was ill (for 3 days) so he just did them later that week.

I'd send him and not worry about it. Lets face it, when he gets into senior school there will be many more important tests/exams when you will have to prevent him from having fun.

Deffo send him to camp

send him

A year ago I would have said SATs don't matter go to the camp, but now I'm not sure.

At our school the 3 SATs marks are used extensively throughout the school for the whole 3 years of KS3 for target-setting and monitoring progress. They are used alongside CAT marks, and other assessments, but the SATs marks do feature very heavily.

So if, say, your 'Level 5 boy' is shattered after the cubs weekend and only achieves Levels 4s; then at some schools he could coast along and make little progress for 3 years without anyone particularly picking up on it.

Teacher Assessment grades are given now too, which would flag up a lack of performance in the actual test, but even so.

I would definitely go in to school and have a chat with the HT to find out exactly when the tests are going to be. Would it be an option to go and fetch him at lunchtime on the Sunday to at least come home and have a quiet, relaxed afternoon and a very early night?

I would also send him and I agree with everything that's been said especially the bit about SATs being mainly for school statistics. (I'm a teacher)

As most schools do SATs in the same week, I'm very surprised that the district cub camp is scheduled for the weekend before.

Roisin, you have a point actually. I didn't realise that. From a primary teacher's POV, they're used more to determine how well we've done rather than the kids.

Go in and check the days. I've worked in a few schools were they don't do any on the monday as so many kids come to school shattered or don't come at all.

I'm the last person in the world to obsess about SATs btw, and I have always downplayed their importance. But they do have a role to play at secondary, and it's worth being aware of.

The school's Value Added measure partly depends on the progress made between KS2 and KS3, and some schools will allocate resources and booster sessions on this basis.

I phoned dd1's sec school to say we were living abroad, should I fly her back for SATS - school replied that they pay no attention to them whatsoever (it was a grammar so already done 11 plus) and not to do them. Sec schools all have different policies so I'd phone sec school to check, but send him anyway. Just make sure he has a relaxing evening with bath, hot choc etc. I'm a teacher and despise SATS - am only making an effort with dd2 because the school we moved her to 18m ago is fab and I want her to get her level 5s for their status.

Our secondary school have said that they don't take much notice of y6 sats results. They do their own assessments and tests.

I'm a teacher in Y6 and have to say that I wouldn't let my son go. As others have said they are used for setting at secondary. Also they are used to assess the teacher of that class and I would feel badly for the teacher knowing she could get a hard time if 6 or 7 of her children don't meet expectations!
Finally I would say that state schools aren't able to change the tests round in Y6 to suit their timetable - the government decides which test is done on which day and at what time. This is different when they are the 'optional' SATs whcih are done in Y3-5.

Let him go to camp.

DS1 is going to spain with my mum just before his SATs.

Maybe he could go and leave early? I know my dd would be fine (she does Scouts) if she left Sun morning. There is a danger of worrying kids by making too much of SATS. Surely no-one will be doing revision that weekend? Should be all done by then and they should be having some fun.

Thanks for the replies, I will go and talk to teacher tomorrow. Our school are very laid back re SATS as we haven't even been told the dates officially and they don't push the kids hardly at all. Completely different to some schools locally.

Of the 2 secondary schools we looked at asa main choice one did CATS tests in June/july before they start and the other one sorted the children out on SATS then did CATs later on after they started. For the life of me I can't remember which one was the school DS is going to.
He has an SLD so does need an ego boost occassionally. Good results are important his self confidence to him and he should get level 5 in Maths and Science at least.

But the experiences at the camp are also valuable to his self confidence, as they will be doing hgh ropes, quad bikes, shooting, rafting abseiling and much more.

Speaking to all the other mums the other boys are still going. It officially finishes at 2.30 so not too late, but they still have to pack up afterwards which will take some time.

I would encourage him to go, in fact I would insit that the weekend before SATS week was a fun, non revisions time.

None of the secondary schools my dh works in sets using SATS. Thankfully my dd won't sit them as she is in a private school but I know that several children from her school transfer to state at secondary level. They have to deal with that somehow.

At our secondary school SATs don't figure that much in setting children in groups. They are used, but only in conjunction with other tests (CATs, Edinburgh reading tests etc) and teacher assessment. Setting takes place over the whole of Yr7 for different subjects, so it's not like you go in on day 1 and are put into sets based on SATs results.

I would let him go.

Spoke to teacher tonight who already knew about camp. She just said make sure they get to bed early on Sunday.

What I might do is get him a single tent so that on the second night he can sleep by himself, so he doesnt get disturbed so much. He is happy about it.