Year 6

[UnlikelyChoice]

Need help from KS2 teachers/TAs please. Y6 is boring! Esp for high achievers. In DS school, Y5&6 pooled and setted for maths. Any Y5 who gets in to top set, repeats exactly the same material when in Y6. It's crazy. They do nothing after the SATs! Coast, get bored. How do I convey this to Headteacher? (formidable). Thanks

Have you witnessed this with your own eyes? Most schools have a more relaxed approach to Y6 after the SATs, the poor children have crammed a lot of learning into the months leading up to the SATs - in my experience they are exhausted.
Does the school do a production at the end of the year, an independent research project or secondary school transition work? You could suggest something on these lines very subtly.
Otherwise hope and pray that the school will have an OfSTED in the final few weeks of the year and then they won't be able to let things go off the boil.

I presume you're posting as a parent of a year 5 child about to go into year 6? If so, I would give your child a couple of weeks to settle and discover exactly what they do in year 6. Just because they are covering the same material doesn't mean they are doing the same work in maths. We have a mixed year 5/6 class and when doing whole class teaching the material may be addition but year six will be using more advanced methods than year 5 so the actual work is different.

As for after SATs, I agree with letthembe - they've worked extremely hard and need to wind down. This doesn't mean they're sitting around doing nothing, it just means they're doing things that don't necessarily fit neatly into the curriculum. Topic work, projects, productions, preparing for transition, creating something to leave behind for the school (a memento of their time there) etc.

With regard to talking to the head, why don't you approach the class teacher first rather than going straight over her head? You may find you get a better response that way and then if you really don't have any joy, talk to other parents, see if they all feel the same way, and then approach the head. If he or she is that unapproachable, send an email. That way you can be sure you won't forget any points or be sidetracked.

Thank you for your thoughts. Back in May, I wrote to the head about the issue, and was hectored by the year 6 teacher. This wasmy only reply. Hence my need to see the head rather than go to the year 6 teacher. I had a a meeting with the head at the end of term and was told that I had it all wrong. This is what I expected to hear although I have two sets of identical worksheets, one from year 5 and one from year 6, that my eldest completed. So, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. OfSTED is due in 3 years I think. Thank you again.

It depends on the school and how they do things. Most Year 6 classes do more relaxed things after SATs that doesn't mean they are not learning. It just might be a more relaxed style of learning e.g. doing peer support, working as part of a show, learning team work skills, doing a transition project etc. It isn't a case of 'they do nothing'.

As for the worksheet issue, to be honest I'd query that but it could just be one oversight by the teacher.

I'm shocked that anyone would find Y6 boring or that any school is cramming lots of learning into the months before SATs
OP if you are certain beyond any doubt of your information you can speak to governors and the LEA and as a last resort OFSTED (you don't need to wait for an inspection) however it just isn't in a school's interest to do as you say.

If your efforts to change things at the school don't bear fruit, and you decide to shift your focus from how to improve the school in general towards preventing your younger child(ren) from being as bored as the eldest was, then you might ask your children whether they'd enjoy being home educated for that one year. It would give them opportunity to branch out, do some project work, and visit interesting places without having to repeat the material they've done the year before. The last year of primary could be an ideal time for a break from school because you won't have to worry about losing the school place, since they'd be moving on to secondary the following year anyway.

Some people feel that preparation for SATs is valuable and helps kids acquire essential skills, but others say that it is "teaching to the test" and doesn't provide a very good education. I've known several parents who held the latter view, who gave their children the opportunity to come out of school for that year.

The preparation for SATs is the previous 6 years education

2 identical worksheets doesn't tell you anything - the 2 kids who got those 2 worksheets could have been working at the same level.

So unless all the kids in Y5 and all the kids in Y6 were given the same worksheet it tells you nothing.

And if all the kids in the class are getting the same work, ie it is not differentiated at all, you have a much bigger problem.......

So if you want to talk to the head, ask about how work is being differentiated - not about Y5 and Y6 being identical.....

In the few weeks after SATs they will probably have a week long residential and a production to prepare and do and transition work for secondary school and sports day for a start - so hardly sitting round doing nothing.

"The preparation for SATs is the previous 6 years education"

That's the theory. But some schools do a great many mock tests in Y6 to help the children improve their SATs results. Two headteachers in my area have publicly said that they regard the main aim in Y6 as getting ready for SATs. I hope they are in the minority in doing that, but I can't imagine they are unique.

If DSs school spends all of Y6 concentrating on the basics of reading, writing and maths I certainly won't be complaining.

In fact if they taught him spelling, grammar, punctuation and just how to write I'd be absolutely thrilled.

I very much want my DC to leave primary school with all the basics well and truly covered.

I know they aren't unique saracen but neither are they representative of all Y6 classes

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