I don't want my son to sit his yr 6 SATS!

[mamauk]

Has anyone else taken their child out from school specifically to avoid the SATS? Is this 'allowed', I mean I am thinking my child's education is mine alone to decide...... and that I do not need 'permission' to do this?

My son was home educated until last year and decided to try school so as to have more opportunity to socialise on a more frequent basis.

My concerns:

~I feel this year, since Christmas, the emphasis of teaching in his class has been 'teaching to test'. Utterly geared towards these SATS tests. Thus the curriculum as a whole feels narrowed and limited and not a broad spectrum of learning one would hope in a year 6 setting. The teaching has been limited and narrowed down to Maths and English taking up lots of time.

~ I feel a more enjoyable and productive few months might have been had if this emphasis had not been on the SATS.

~ I feel this approach and high levels of anxiety (by teachers) has started to poison my son's feeling towards education. As mentioned previously, as a home educated child he believed he could/would/was good at anything he tried, and has been utterly squashed by the current teaching and constant assessment. he comes home telling me how much has has gotten 'wrong' . His self image is suffering. His self confidence and self esteem too, obviously. he seems sort of hesitant when talking, as if he might be getting something wrong! it is horrifying to see.

~Just reading this I am sort of wondering why the hell I allowed him to go to school! I feel now perhaps I should have taken further steps to simply increase outside social time when at home (we already did lots of groups and activities, my son is just super sociable).

~It all seems like such a wasted year, especially when ongoing teacher assessment happens anyway, as a matter of course.

~Can I contact the school and tell then he will not be coming in that week? What will they do? I don't feel I need 'permission'. But am wondering what might be the consequences.....? Anyone know?

The school already said that the results have no effect on subject streaming in High School, it's just a matter of league tables.

Opinions please!

thanks,

Claire

You know you cannot make a child take them. Tell your son he doesn't have to fill out the test paper if he doesn't want to.
My DD is in a similar situation and I said if you fancy doing them go for it and if you don't you don't have to, nobody will make you or punish you.

Nice attitude - lose the school 4% before any child's pen hits the paper.

Schools which make Y6 all about testing make me cross. But so do silly parents who 'advise' their child to leave the paper blank. Ffs.

If you don't like the state apparatus that comes with schooling, then homeschool.

However if you send your children to school, then you have to go along with expectations about exams, tests, teaching styles and so on, whether you like it or not.

That's the choice you have to make. Imagine how people like me feel, who are educationalists and see the problems of different systems staring us in the face on a daily basis? I could froth all the time, but I don't. The answer is to stop fussing and hope for the best, being generally supportive of the school.

Will you let him opt out of GCSEs, A levels etc etc in later years.....

Forgive me if I am wrong but I was under the impression that SAT results formed part of assessment that secondary schools use to determine the ability of the children coming up from primary schools? Round here some emphasis is placed on ability when children are placed into forms/tutor groups, although the children are not necessarily informed of this.

Could part of the boredom/monotony be down to adjusting from HE to mainstream?

There are many things in life we have to do but would prefer not to. It is a parent's job to teach a child this and that not all in life is fun or fair.
Letting him opt out because he doesn't want to do something is not a good lesson.
As others have said at secondary school testing is regular and frequent in every subject, and pupils are constantly made aware of their grades and progress.

Personally I encouraged my DS to do his best in the SATs. I knew DS was capable of getting a decent score, and I saw it as giving something back to the school who had done so much for him.

If he arrived in my year 7 class, he would be made aware of his end of year and end of key stage target straight away, and will be assessed formally every half term (you would receive the results of that assessment) plus formative assessment with targets for improvement every two weeks. And that would be the same in each of his subjects. I very much doubt it will be different elsewhere.

There was a very similar thread to this a year ago.... wish I could remember its name.

Anyway - crappy thing to do IMO, self-defeating, sulky and pointless. I'm not sure it's the teachers who have 'poisoned his attitude' to school.

Once the SATS are over, most schools seem to turn into fun camps. End of year shows, trips, gardening. It's brilliant. So year 6 is not all about teaching to the test.

If you hate tests, then mainstream education is really not for you.

"also my young dd who (in my eyes at 4 yrs) is waaaayyyy to young for school and all it entails (for one thing, she likes to sleep in until 9am, the idea of waking her before she is ready would not be like kissing sleeping beauty awake, let me tell you...)" let's hope that she (or you) never have to get up early and go to work like the rest of the population . Do you have a partner who goes to work to support you all? Does he/she have to get up before 9am?

I think you need to make your mind up OP, re which side of the fence you're on.

What levels are your son at the moment?

Sounds as if your children make all the decisions op .
What are they going to do in the big wide world when they have to do things they don't like?

I have no idea if my son will wish to take GCSE's or A'levels. I hope he does if they provide him with the qualifications he feels he needs for what he wants to do. He is currently a level 4-5 overall subjects, so hardly lacking in areas the school system deem important. It is the pressure he feels that I object too and the wearing away of his confidence in his ability. Overall. I think there is this battle axe approach here (at mumsnet) - life's tough, get over it and get used to it. I don't prescribe to that way of thinking. I am also thinking mumsnet was the wrong place to come :) I am not a sugar coater so appreciate the honest responses but really most have been unhelpful and just have this blame/rage attitude towards my own!

Viewing life as utterly hard and kids ought to get used to it sooner rather than later? What a load of crap. Our family is, to quote something I read else where, but fits, 'an autonomous collective'. I don't tell my kids what they should do any more than they do me. I tell them why I think it may be a good idea to do something (like wear a coat if it's freezing outside, or take GCSEs if they feel it might help them get into cooking classes later) and because I don't force or trick them then they genuinely seem trust my judgement on some things. However, they have their own opinions and interests. My 9 yr old spends a huge chunk of his days drawing. he is very talented and super enthusiastic and not through any classes I have sent him too, just pure enthusiasm. He chooses not to go to school (at this present time) because he feels he will not have enough time to draw (or energy if it is expended in school). We read and cook and do what ever he is interested in (he currently has his own hens and is raising chicks too, plus has a veggie garden with me) since his brother has adapted into a school environment with little academic difficulty (really) and since he received the same 'follow what you are interested in' advice whilst at home I see no problem in this and hope he will adapt if/when he chooses too. If you home educate you can go to bed at 10pm because the book you are reading is so interesting and then get up at 9am, It is fine. My dh and I choose to live on one income, and yes, some see this as a luxury (others a hardship), we have time and energy to do this with our children. I am not saying this to act all superior (I certainly don't feel it since I am not anywhere near what most consider the norm), maybe for some it wouldn't work at all, they'd feel the need to recreate some sort of 'school at home' approach and get stressed when it didn't happen -which I know from knowing many other home educators this approach often fails miserably.

My oldest son wanted to try out school and it seemed to me like an experiment or something, the way he viewed it. I am happy to see this as part of his broader life experience. If later he finds he truly dislikes spending the main chunk of his days at school (and mostly he seems to find it interesting - although I have to say, not always academically) then I am happy for him to be home educated again. I find it strange that there is such a limited view here on this subject! Or that I am outrageously wrong for allowing this to happen. That my children can choose, seems to be the issue. Like they ought not to be given such responsibility for their own lives :) They make mistakes, as do I, daily and that is fine. I am here to guide them, but not to boss or force them into my way of thinking. Life is not about going to school and then to on to work (nor preparation for such). Why should it be? Earning a living by enjoying what you do is the main thing for me (I do freelance writing) and on the way getting the life skills that enable you to live 'in the big wide world'. Why do most see school as the only way this could possibly happens (and for it to be harsh to boot) ? We can see from our society that most young people leave school little equipped to deal with the practicalities of life; like renting a place to live, or opening bank accounts, ability to save money, being able to understand nutrition and cook for themselves..... yada yada.

Yes, I guess my opinions on the 'education' of a human seem to conflict with the whole point of SATS! I suppose I didn't consider that until writing it all down here now. I suppose I find it a struggle to support such testing when it seems to serve no real need of my child's (only the league tables).

Thanks for the contributions, food for thought.

I can h

I can honestly say in the big wide world I have never had to do something I don't like .... Not since leaving school anyway.

Tests are entirely optional, just because you've been hoodwinked into jumping through hoops which may oral not suit your learning style don't try and impose that on everyone else.
I got a degree because I wanted one, o levels were a nightmare for me, had I believed the school I'd still be working in a cake shop now instead of earning six figures.

NEVER had to do something to do something you don't like - no housework? Office filing? Having a filling?

Actually good on you mamauk - however I do think if you're letting him try school out, you have to encompass ALL of the school experience, for your ds' benefit, otherwise you're not really allowing to experience the whole aspect, only the good bits, which undermines the whole point of the experience!

You are an inspiration, MamaUK. If my children ever decide to try school, I hope I will approach the whole shebang with an attitude like yours.

(and I am a full time breadwinner, and I very rarely get dressed before 930 or 10; and only go to work before 2 when I have a meeting that couldn't happen later in the day. I work into the evening, having had the best of my children all morning - the 9-5 mentality is completely alien to my family, but we can work to external timetables when we have to. I'm a higher rate tax payer so I've even succeeded by society's norms, whatever that is worth)

I don't have to do any of those things. I might chose to because it makes my life easier but that's an entirely different matter nothing bad would happen to me if it didn't. Or maybe it's all in the mind set.

My 9 yr old spends a huge chunk of his days drawing. he is very talented and super enthusiastic and not through any classes I have sent him too, just pure enthusiasm. He chooses not to go to school (at this present time) because he feels he will not have enough time to draw

What planet are you on?

@ iamme43

"I feel for you OP because I am getting cross about the whole 'there is only one answer and it's in the back of the book' school of thought"

With Maths that's usually the case........

oP, before you decide what to do, have q word with the head of year 7 at the secondary school he's going to. At my ds's future school they set at the beginning of year 7 based on SATS results. I would just let him do them- it seems daft to work for something then not do it. And I think it would be awful to tell him it doesn't matter and just to treat it as a bit of fun- don't you want him to do his best at anything he tires?

"anything he tries?"

Agree completely with indigo (and I speak as a mother of a child who is now in school but was HE'd for a year in 2010)