Is Y6, post SATS a bit of a waste of time at your school?

[LittenTree]

I know, I know, done to death every year, so sorry!...but- I really felt DS1 was marking time for that last term (he's Y8 now, but DS2 is in Y6 now). The school are a bit SATS obsessed (and League Table conscious, but that's only because they reflect local MC expectations, so I can't blame them!). I think the school may be 'outstanding' or close (I seriously don't know, right now!) and I am happy with it BUT I must say the other primary which serves the south end of our frightfully naice , MC estate does waaay more with their Y6s, post SATS. They go on a week's 'enrichment' trip to London, they have performers in, they do lots of fun and educational stuff- they seem to develop the DCs beyond the academe of SATS, iyswim; whereas DS1 appeared to watch videos for a term! No, not 'appeared', did. I sent him off every morning and questioned him every afternoon, like any mum does.

I recognise the 'but not all parents can afford it' but a) really the vast majority on this estate can, and b) not everything has to 'cost', does it? I mean, they could ask parents in who can teach or demonstrate something new to the DCs; they could have a 'try a new sport' week, they could get the (interested) kids to write and perform a play in that term (we have the heavily subsidised use of a professional theatre at the linked secondary), they could do an intensive language course, they could camp for a couple of nights in the school grounds, they could teach them to touch type, to orienteer; they could have a savings scheme running all year to pay for the extras.

FWIW I discovered that the SATS are in mid-May this year which won't serve DS2 well as he is a plodder and won't 'learn' anything unless pressurised to do so- he'll be functionally illiterate by September and secondary school! We are thinking about taking the boys out of school for a week for a summer holiday, anyway, but I personally would like the opportunity to even HS him, if I didn't work (0.75 fte) PT, to 'enrich' his experience if it didn't mean singling him out and removing him from the social aspects of school- but I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling this!

Post SATS my school does

• Week residential trip or week of activity days at school
• School production
• Transition to secondary day
• Transition to secondary work
• Sports Day

That's all I know about so far. :) I suspect they'll do loads more.

I expect him to learn absolutely heaps - if this first term is anything to go by. (His teacher is amazing :) )

Absolutely no excuse for your school to do nothing post SATS.

I don't know what my kids' primary does now (youngest is 18) but back then it was pre SATs that was a waste of time - they just did endless SATs type work

However once they were out of the way there was a lot of activity - just like IndigoBell's list in fact - so I'd be disappointed in a school that didn't offer any of that (but I can remember DC4 being bored witless beforehand!).

My children's school is a Middle school so is for years 5-8 therefore after the yr6 SATs they have a few days off from normal lessons and then go straight back to into them.

Yes, we have an Intake Day at the secondary, and the week residential used to be then til they moved it to January ! But that's about it!

No. They get to do some wonderful creative, child directed work. A rare chance to do stuff outside the national curriculum and to follow some of their own interests.

They also do: reisdential, trip to outdoor swimming pool, 2 leavers services, hike and camp, sports day, work with younger pupils as well as inductions etc.

My dd really loved the time in Y6 after SATs last year.
They went on several trips including a Lifeskills (Safety) course, a Careers Day in association with local university PGCE students, they planned a Leavers service and end of year Prom, along with organising some of their own fund-raising. They also had a trip to the local adventure playground which is free entry and a trip to the local amusement park. Many of these trips were subsidised by the school and some were free!
Also most secondary schools have induction days and it is very important not to miss these.

So it's just my school that's a bit rubbish, then?!

They did "stuff" but really it was all a bit pants especially after the change of head between DC 2 and 3.

Oh, and I forgot - I think they also do Sex Ed.

Which DS hates - every year they do it and every year he walks out

Our primary is pretty much like 'indigoBell's. They have a whale of a time. IIRC they do still do some learning as there is a trip to a Buddhist temple at some point in that timeframe.

No Sex Ed, they do that in Y5 and that's it.

We get
a week long residential,
a week of "bikeability" in the afternoons,
sports day and regional sports (only selected children), but there is lots of general sports practise,
school production (everyone who wants to be in it gets a part, but it's not compulsory)
themed day usually Victorian Day, (which has project work around it not just a dressing up day)
making stuff for the school fair (while the others are rehearsing)
plus quite a bit of "work" in that they make fabulous scrapbooks about the trip, with serious lessons built in, not just photos and captions.
The few that choose not to do the trip get loads of special stuff during that week, but now I come to think of it, they must feel left out during the post-trip lessons.

And I sincerely hope they carry on with normal literacy and numeracy, as from May to September is long enough for youngsters to forget quite a lot, expecially if it has been crammed in purely for the SATS

I have no idea what my DD1 will get - her school is Middle school too, but it is closing at the end of the school year because we are going from 3 tier to 2 tier. I know there is going to be at least one big trip (the children will have a democratic vote on what options are available) but I strongly suspect the school is not going to give up on academic work completely as they are quite ambitious.

Yes is a total waste of time

parents have complained

I feel I will have to send ds to a tutor so he doesnt forget ALL his maths and English before secondary

pointy I hope your school keeps up the learning! Ours, too is 'ambitious' but the Performance Indicator is, after all, SATS results and the League Tables scurrilously published as a consequence. Once they are done and dusted (and, dare I say, once the Primary, ending at Y6 as opposed to the Middle, ending at Y8 has demonstrated its mettle to the secondary, ie doesn't have to wear the consequences of no routine education after SATS), things may change.

I have fairly high hopes, Litten as the school buildings and a lot of the staff are being taken over by the local high school - whose head is now also acting head for our middle school. She has dragged her school from borderline special measures to Good verging on Outstanding in the space of four years and she wants that OFSTED 'Outstanding' in a big way... It has some unintended side effects (such as introducing a poncy blazers and ties uniform which I have very little faith in) but she seems to walk the walk on actually providing the learning.

My last charge they really looked forward to the end of sats
Sports day was always the wednesday afterwards
bad taste wednesday
watersports for pe
learning trips
cinema
leavers production
world war two project
moving on to secondary school
invention day
art maths literacy days

They had a stall at the christmas fair ,held a bake sale, year six games plus a table top sale the pta donated funds and the children brought money in

Middle school here Years 5-7, then Secondary in Year 8. Didn't really notice what happened after the Sats.

Good, pointy! I have always thought the 3 tier system was way superior to 2 tier as the tiers correspond so much better to 'life-stages'. I sort of feel there is a real possibility that primaries can have carte blanche to effectively 'walk away' once the DCs have walked their walk, as it were, on one week in mid-May this year, with no ongoing consequences for the school!

3 tier seemed a bit alien to me, as it wasn't what I had. But it definitely has it's merits.

It's why the Public School system had DCs (OK, boys!) in 'dame schools' or privately tutored from 5-8; Prep School from 8-12 (or 13?), Public School 13+. They sort of knew what worked.

I went to a girls GS at 10, a year early. I found myself out and about in the grounds (so not exactly 'rough-housing' with, but still!..) with 18 year old women. Ridiculous, really!

LittenTree funny you should say that - I am actually really opposed to the 3-tier system as I can't see how two changes of school can be better for them than just 1. I'm from Holland, which is all 2-tier. I went from a medium-sized primary to a very large (1000+ pupils) secondary and it was fine - there was separate management for the lower (yrs 7-9) and upper school and very good pastoral care, settling in and mentoring. I really think that 2-tier if managed well is the way to go, you really get time to settle into a school long term before the rush of testing and exams start.

When I joined this school at age 11, no way would the 18-year-olds have interacted with us, except those who had volunteered to act as mentors - and they were all really nice.

There was also no way back than that primaries were abrogating responsibility for learning after testing, as having pupils accepted into good secondaries reflected well on them - so slacking was not the way to go.

Possibly- maybe it's very child dependent!

I know my DS1 benefitted enormously when going into Secondary by having already experienced a 'change of pace' by moving from Infants school to Junior School at 7. Suddenly, the rules were different, the expectations different, the uniform a little more rigidly applied, more responsibility, age-appropriate assemblies, age-appropriate IT provision and library content, rules, school-yard games.

For secondary school catchment purposes we moved DS1 from the juniors to the local primary at the end of Y5, so DS2 went into Y4 at this new school. He, though a bit immature himself, and his mates are constantly complaining about how all the rules are set up towards the little kids. The assembly is all aimed at 4 year olds (they sing 'Glad that I live am I/ Away in a Manger' type stuff whereas the Y6's in their Juniors were actually tackling 3 part harmony and singing in other languages!), the Y6 boys are not allowed to run in the playground in case a little kid 'gets in the way', whenever there's a disagreement between kids, the school's published default position is that the older kid must be at fault unless that older kid can prove overwhelmingly he wasn't. Apart from a YR-Y1 'wing', the rest of the school is completely mixed so you'll have, in order, a Y6, a Y2, a Y4 another Y2 another Y6 classroom along a corridor. Sports Day is non-competitive; most of the library in Biff and Chip; the IT suite is largely Leap pads; the cookery are big, chunky brightly coloured ELC type kit. Yet in September year he'll be in Science labs and playing rugby, and following rules aimed at keeping unruly 15 year olds in order!

I'd agree that the 18 year olds don't usually interact with 11 year olds- but I know for a fact that 11 year old boys at the primary do 'interact' (and I don't mean sexually) with 6 year old girls. Well, surely 6 year old girls shouldn't be in the same playground as 11 year old boys?

And I have been told that Middle schools tend to have 'proper equipment' and different teachers for different subjects; they can teach MFL properly, and begin to differentiate Physics from Biology, the sport becomes 'real' instead of the no-touch, all shall be winners of First schools (or primary!), and so on.

I really do believe that 4-8 covers a distinct biological period in a DC's development (bearing in mind the YR and Y1 do seem to be 'separated' in most schools with a 60 DC intake, being Foundation), 8-12 covers another identifiable period, late childhood; 13-16 is adolescence. I would love it if my DSs were able to take advantage of such a system so that my DS2 won't go, at just 11, from a 60 DC year to a 280 DC year! The school do as good a job as possible in preparing the DCs but experiencing 2 First schools feeding one Middle (or 2 Infants feeding one Junior!) would have meant they weren't quite so shell-shocked!

Well, surely 6 year old girls shouldn't be in the same playground as 11 year old boys?

Why?

When I went to school in the dark ages 4-11 year olds were in the same primary playground and 11-18 year olds in grammar school I'm not sure what you believe is wrong

Because the 11 year old boys are not allowed to run or kick a ball in case they hit the 6 year old girl as she skips across the pitch.

What were you thinking?