So here we are- KS2 SATS Week...

[ampere]

Feeling more nervous than DS2!

He's 'borderline', particularly in Literacy. He'll be so happy if he gets a 4 (as will I!) so off he went just now with me offering my last minute bon mots ('Read carefully! Most of the answers are in the text! If it doesn't make sense, you've not read it properly' etc).

No science but just 6 maths on Tuesday

DS did that too - said he started with 10 for the first child which wasnt enough, so moved to 15 and that was too much.

Hullo Kingscote staff! I've been dying to know for months whether any foresters get my User name..,?

Can anyone talk me through the bird seed question - DS cant really remember the whole thing.

I think this is the first year that they have been allowed to sit level 6 , it will be really interesting to see the results both for school and nationally.

Wow, that's exactly what the child I read for did. Then he tried 13 and that was too little and got to 14, 9 and 7 eventually.

Its what I would have done too

It was a pie chart, giving the recipe for a bird feeder. You had to estimate the quantity of bird seed as a %, of a segment that was clearly less than a quarter. They did have protractors but had no idea how to use them!

The other question was comparing 2 segments, giving the weight of the ingredient of the smaller segment, then you had to estimate the weight of the ingredient in the larger segment, which was approx 3 times larger. Again, use of a protractor would have nailed it, but it did say estimate.

DS put 20% for the first bit.

He cant remember what he put for the second.

Honour:-"So Ampere, what should parents say to children who are in a state about SATS, unable to sleep and crying about wrong questions? The average ability 10 year olds feeling upset because they can't do the questions your very able older child struggled with?"

No, as I stated, DS was upset because another boy of equal ability to himself told DS he's 'failed'- what? I don't know and nor does he- which is why I said I wished there were SATS in Resilience, and private tutoring in 'apt retorts'. I was, of course, joking. I do have a young and immature DS but I am more than aware that life owes him no favours. The 'Don't worry, darling' litany doesn't necessarily do them any favours, and it is surprising how many DC will rise to the occasion if required. As blametheparents tells us, try the modern 11+ if you want stress!

I have never suggested DS cannot sleep- in fact, he sleeps the sleep of the just! He knows SATS are important but they do not define him or our relationship to him. He won't be suffering any mental or physical health issues as a result. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that if my DC were falling apart to this extent (mental/physical health issues) at this level, I'd be looking at alternatives to main-stream schooling for them, like HS, maybe. Such DC will absolutely not cope with the secondary school environment and GCSEs.

Yes, there is usually 'a way through', but experience tells us, if a person is at all able to do so, it's a bloody sight easier to get it right first time around!

Both my DCs have been through the 11 plus for a superselective. One passed and one failed. For both, the SATs have been more stressful.

I'm not sure why that is. Perhaps is because the 11 plus is just about them, and the SATs is about the school as well. That makes the whole atmosphere around the SATs stressful, because it involves everyone else around them in school.

Perhaps it is because the 11 plus is pass or fail, and most people fail so it becomes almost like a job interview. When you apply, you know there is a very good chance the person who gets the job will not be you. You can accept this just wasn't your time to win, but there will be other chances. The SATs says something about every single person and where they stand in relation to everyone else.

11 plus answers are also rather straightforward - you either know what the words mean in VR or you don't (although you can of course make an educated guess). The same is not true in SATs - you have to work out what the questioner is getting at. It is very easy to think you have written a correct answer when you haven't. That ambiguity is stressful.

I don't think the stress of the SATs is just about the fact it is an exam.

OK I may get peoples backs up with my next comment ..and really dont't mean to rub salt etc but.. I have seen a little bit more of maturity in my ds this week than before......

Silly things of bed time, getting a bit being a bit quicker in the mornings so we are not late,....just the understanding that somethings are important ....oh I dont't know !Getting too tired now to explain myself !1

Are anyone's DCs off on their Yr6 residential next week? Ours was already planned before the details for the level 6 SATs were finalised so the handful of kids in DDs class sitting them have to do the reading one before they leave on Mon and then sit the maths ones sometime on Tue while they are away! DD is v concerned she might have to miss some fun and I don't blame her. I think KS2 SATs, if nothing else, marks a right of passage from primary to secondary, but this new Level 6 bolt on does not seem to have a clear purpose in my view.

Toomanyjobs-under those circumstances,I would say that my child wasn't doing the level 6 unless she wanted to. And I don't say that sort of thing lightly.

Well that is what I told her to say but she was told she had to do it. I spoke with the HT and was assured they wouldn't miss anything exciting but it's impossible to monitor this when they are away and can't take their phones.

Loads of pressure with my dd school. She is yr 6! Annoying when they dont hardly teach them anything leading towards 11+!!

Well, having stressed out over the practice papers, DD1 is actually coping well with the real deal, and has been quite chilled all week.

Today was apparently "fine."

And onto Day Four......

My DS has been stressed for weeks before.

Now he's sitting them and finding them fine - and his confidence and self belief and reselience have grown immensely.

He now knows he can do exams.

I think this week's been good for him and he is now ready for high school.

My views aren't as extreme or clear cut as amperes - but I certainly don't think 11 is too young to sit an exam. Nor do I think children need to do well all the time at everything. Nor do I really think 11 is young.

Anyway, I'm thrilled. I now know DS is ready for secondary school.

This wasn't a foregone conclusion at all. At the start of the year I was concerned about him. For example he'd never sat a mental maths test in his life. He used to get stressed by them and walk out of class every time they happened!

So for him to stay in class for the whole exam, have no support at all like a scribe or a quiet area to do the test in are major achievements.

I didn't think he'd get there. And I'm thrilled he has.

It is amazing how much they grow up in year 6!

I also have a friend whose daughter sat entrance exams for a selective private school in January and passed, she has still been stressed this week over the SATs although they have no meaning for her in the future. She was far less stressed over the private exams.

Great news Indigo :)

I must say that without the practice and sitting of past papers over the last term my DS would be a nervous wreck this week - he is more than capable but tends to get a bit anxious. He has been really happy this week and is also going to sit a Level 6 Maths next week and doesn't seem to be too fazed by it .

The preparation has certainly suited my child.

And, as I keep saying, that the SATs practice is just doing maths and english- not some alien subject called "SATs"!

Seeker. . Amazing how many people don't seem to get that, actually.

That's great Indigo

mummytime, yes they do grow up in Y6, but wait until Y7, especially with girls IMHE!

I posted on MN a couple of weeks ago saying I was heartily pissed of with the pressure the school were putting on ds, but actually these SATs have been rather good for ds.

Clearly I reserve judgement until we get the results, but bar "em-bur-lum" and maybe the mental maths, he seems to have done OK. He got the ratios question right; was most when I mentioned that I'd struggled with that one!