Sad that SATs drill has started already...

[pointythings]

DD2 is in Yr 6 and had her first lot of homework back today. 2 out of 4 pieces were SATs drill: spelling/grammar and a reading comprehension sheet. Nothing creative, nothing involving research, nothing that involves the child taking any initiatives.

The school got 'requires improvement' during a visit from Gove's Poodles this summer, largely due to disappointing SATs results from a cohort known to be on the weak side. Now it looks as if my DD will be paying the price in a wasted year of endless drill to get the stats right. I'm sad.

Oh, and just to say that parents' evening is in mid-October - and if this continues, I will be raising it as an issue.

All this ranting after 1 week of homework? Really?

I have no time for SATS dominating Yr6 or Yr2 but I think you are overreacting and looking like you just want to rant about teachers and Gove

Nosey so because I used the phrase 'Gove's Poodles' my OP is a rant?

And FWIW I support teachers wholeheartedly. I just feel they are being pushed into a corner because of league tables and OFSTED and being prevented from actually teaching. And if you are saying Michael Gove has done nothing to discredit the teaching profession in the UK, I am just going to laugh at you.

All I wanted to say was that if this week's homework is going to be typical, that makes me very sad. I'd like my DD2 to learn something in Yr6, just as my DD1 did in her school. So I'm keeping an eye on it. I trust my DD's teachers, but I don't trust this government with education. I am not alone in that.

"Goves Poodles' wasn't the rant. I'm not his biggest fan either.

It was the rest that you've said based on ONE week of homework.

Nosey it's just that it is such an enormous change from what she's had in Yrs 1,2,3,4 and 5. That, coupled with the bad OFSTED, just makes me very very suspicious. It's part of my mistrust of Gove and his plans for education. I very much see the school as the victim here. They are a good school, they just haven't ticked the boxes. Now they've been scared into ticking boxes and it makes me sad. I want my DD to continue having the rounded, thorough education she has been having so far - which should most definitely include grammar, spelling and maths. I just have a feeling she is going to miss out.

Yes, I probably did overreact a bit - but I am still going to keep tabs on the homework she gets, and I won't be at all surprised if this is the pattern. The introductory patter in the homework folder (which was all about preparing for tests) just worries me.

(I apologise for this last bit of drip feed, I've only just read it properly...)

Sneering at Gove is a red herring. Both my children were at primary school under Labour governments. I can assure you that SATs preparation was precisely as toxic, and obsession in year 6 precisely as all-encompassing and the fear that teachers had of league tables was precisely as widespread.

Had Labour wanted to make SATs less onerous, less prescriptive and less obsessive, then they were in office for thirteen years and could have done so: the vast majority of sittings of the KS2 SATs, since their introduction in 1995, was under Labour education secretaries. Gove is, what, about the tenth education secretary since then? The whole system stinks to high heaven, but making SATs-obsessed primaries some sort of symbol of Gove is reaching a little.

If it is any consolation, DD is in Yr2 and at the start of term talk the teachers talk about the SATS and reassured us that it wouldn't be a problem because they'd get loads of practice. That didn't reassure me at all because that's not what I want her to be doing... so I'm keeping a watching brief.

largely due to disappointing SATs results from a cohort known to be on the weak side

Or a cohort that had been let down by weak teaching and poor interventions. How do you tell the difference?

Very easily when the cohort Ofsted down grade the school to satisfactory on are DD1's and the cohort that restored them to good are DD2's

Small school, just on the reporting limit, same teacher.

DD1s class were lovely, hard working and quiet, but a bit low on confidence. Several just missed their L5s.

DD2's cohort had several secondary teachers DCs, the top table were confident, smart and competitive. DD2 and her partner in crime were going to get their L5 from the day they were born regardless of what school they went to, a couple of the boys likewise.

They did huge amounts of SATs drill, looking at the figures it got them one extra L5 (I don't know for sure who, but I can guess).

True, friday - but the rhetoric from Gove towards teachers who object to his ideologies as 'enemies of promise' is something the previous government didn't do. I see him as more toxic than the previous lot - which is pretty shocking as I didn't think that was possible.

Starball I suspect DD2's cohort are the group the school have pinned their hopes on. At least DH and I are able to make sure she gets lots of enriching activities at home - not everyone can, with the price of petrol and wages eroded by inflation even days out to free places are difficult for many.