HS after SATS

[Buffy4Eva]

Homeschooling mum's with children specifically in year 6. Can I deregister my child once he's done his SATS? What is the curriculum like after the SATS? How full on is it? Will he still be able to go to the allocated secondary school place or will that be removed? Any advice you can give would be great. Thanks 💚

In my experience, after SATs in year 6 is when they do all the fun and creative stuff at school. Things like art projects, plays, residential outdoor activity weekends, concerts and so on. I think it is less full on than the run up to SATs. It is also when they do orientation visits to high schools.

If you’re going to homeschool why would you keep them in for the SATs (the stressful bit of Y6) but remove them for the fun end of an era bit? Why not remove them before?

Because he's worked so hard for his SATS. The school isn't a fun place to be for them anymore so I would like them to have a nice break before starting secondary school

If I thought they'd have fun I wouldn't be asking. I think their mental health will be better away from the school

After sars is when most schools do productions, trips, drama, PE, all the stuff that gets squeezed out in the run up to sats.

Also usually the prep for secondary - so days up at their new school, teachers from the local secondary usually come in to teach some lessons and answer questions about what it's like.

Many schools also do a leavers assembly and leavers picnic/disco/etc etc.

Not sure why you'd pull your child out of that:

They have 6 weeks in the holiday before Secondary. What will be different at Secondary for it to be better than Primary?

Most schools do their writing moderation after SATs

Have you spoken to the school about what plans they have in place post sats as a previous poster said it's usually lots of fun stuff.

It seems a really odd thing to leave him in a school you say is currently not good for him mentally but to then remove him once sats are over when post sats there will only be half a term left.

He doesn't need to do SATs and he already has his secondary place so you can take him out whenever you want.

Sure, you can take him out whenever you like. It will not affect his secondary place. That offer cannot be withdrawn just because the child changes setting.

If he’s not enjoying school, I’d urge you to consider taking him out immediately. SATs are not for the benefit of individual children. They may or may not be used to place children in appropriate sets in Y7 - you could ask the secondary about that. Some high schools find them a poor measure of children’s ability since some primaries hothouse the kids for them, so they do their own testing.

If you take him out now, he could have a lot of fin in the coming months. He must be learning, but he doesn’t have to follow a curriculum. You could take him to museums and historic sites, work intensively on a sport he likes, start learning animation or make a start in whichever language he’ll be doing at high school, interview a great uncle about his life, have a go at gardening - all the things he is probably too busy and burnt out to do while at school. Time is a great gift.

Be sure to keep in touch with the secondary to make sure he gets invited to transition days. Invitations are often done through the local state primary schools, so a child coming from elsewhere can get overlooked if you don’t follow up on it. Shouldn’t be a problem though; they’ll want him to come.

HS isn't about ‘having a nice break’. It’s about providing an alternative education. Do you think youd be able to do this? Do you not think your DS might actually enjoy his last half term in primary school? Most kids in Y6 do.

Why?

An alternative education IS 'having a nice break'. It's an alternative. It's different from what he has been doing day in day out for years. That is literally what having a break means. Why would the OP not be able to do that?

I expect she can predict reasonably well whether her particular child will enjoy being at school. After all, she lives with him. She knows him. If she's in any doubt, she could simply ask her son whether he wants to stay or go. Most home educating parents do actually give their children that choice if feasible.

As for whether most kids enjoy being in school at the end of Y6, I'm not convinced. One could test that by asking them whether they want to go. Better yet, try telling the whole class on the last day of term that actually there has been a mix-up and hooray! They get to attend for an extra week! See how that goes down 😂

Or did you mean that by contrast with the drudgery of most school days, the last month or two of primary school feel less unpleasant? I'll grant you that, but it's hardly a reason to keep a child there.