Does this sound right - SATS/G&T/Pupil Premium related?

[TwistedMelon]

DS is 10 and in Y6 of a very small primary (only about 10 children in each year group). He is G&T and is also in reciept of free school meals due to family circumstances. Therefore the school gets pupil premium funding for him.

A new head started in September and in the newletter sent out at the start of this term she announced that the PP funding was being spent on 1-2-1 sessions to challenge and extend eligible children to make sure they reach their full potential. DS would be taken out of normal lessons for 1 hour once a week for this. All fine, I thought.

Anyway DS has been complaining that all he does is SATS revision in these sessions - seems that the school want to sit him for L6 papers and so he is having to go through past papers with a TA every week instead of doing whatever his class are doing (usually something fairly 'fun' on the new tablets the school has bought). DS comes home moaning about a) the injustice of missing 'fun' time and b) the boredom of SATs revision every week after the 1-2-1 session. This is on top of 1 English and 1 Maths past SATs paper being set as homework every single week since Christmas!

Is this acceptable use of PP funding? DS is very good at both English and Maths (hence the school wanting him to sit the L6 papers) with a reading age of 14 and getting high L5s for all written work, but for example he is weaker in science and IT skills - yet they are not being worked on. I feel like the school is using the PP funding to pile pressure on DS and boost their position in league tables etc but then again maybe this is just what happens and I need to be less pfb. Any opinions before I decide whether to speak to the school about it?

It says this (some words changed so its not searchable)

"The school had budgeted to allocate this money to support pupils through TA targeted intervention in small groups, as well as looking at individual circumsances, for example assistance with trips and visits etc.
Now that we have qualified for extra funding, each eligible child will receive individual one-to-one support for a ten week period from January."

The letter I got about it said basically that your child will recieve these 1-2-1 sessions to help them reach their full potential and it will focus on areas where they need extra support.

Oh he reads widely at home, don;t worry! The school did try to tell me he had to do home reading on the app but I refused. In fact I lied and said we didn't have a device that could get the app on it

This is the choice of books he now has at school!!

and that is another thing that pisses me off the assumption that all parents will have "apps" or whatever.

Well as it happens we do have a family tablet/ereader but I wasn't about to tell them that. DS has a one ebook a week allowance on it (plus an endless supply from second hand shops and the library) and it has really broadened his horizons.

It seems like your small school has limited ideas/resources of how to spend the PP money.
Ask if your school is part of a consortium that might offer enrichment (fun?) classes in something that might extend and challenge him...
I know local schools that offer science courses (rockets out of coke bottles etc), animation, cookery... Ask if there is an alternative.

This does sound a bit lazy on the school's behalf. I agree with BeerTrick's suggestion that they could offer extension/enrichment work in a much more appealing way, even if it does just focus on English & maths. My dd is in Y6, and at her school the head teaches a small group of children that they plan to enter for the L6 maths paper for two hours a week. But she doesn't just go over old papers with them (they get plenty of that the rest of the time...), instead she teaches them algebra and other more advanced stuff. It's things they'll need for the L6 paper, so it functions for the school as SATs prep, but because the head is a very good maths teacher the kids are also getting a lot out of it, and really enjoying it. Any chance you could suggest something similar?

I feel sad and frustrated for you. I would talk to the school, but the same time I would not really expect them to make changes. Unfortunately the two primary schools my DD has attended have not changed anything for my DD, making me feel powerless and have to take what they offer.
Maybe on those days when he has the 1-2-1 sessions, he could be ill???? (sorry)

The book thing alone demonstrates their attitude tbh. The new head is very rigid and not at all open to parental discussion or suggestion. Very much 'I've got 30 years experience and I know best'

I just feel for DS. I don't usually think it right to go against what school are saying to him but this is silly. Why does he need to be pushed to get L6 SATs anyway? I genuinely don't see how that shows that he is reaching his full potential especially seeing as they have no KS1 data/levels to compare him against anyway!

he needs to be pushed to make the school look better, as others have said, the sats are nothing to do with the children but everything to do with the school.

Why don't you withdraw him from school for SATS week? :o

Haha RueDe I can't imagine that being very well received!

Has anyone got any ideas then how it can approach the head and make my point? Presumably I can't actually remove DS from the sessions (not that I think this is the answer, just musing) and also cannot dictate the contents of school lesson time. So what can I do or ask for?

Unfortunately, the only real gage a school is held to with PP is the progress the children make from Year 2. If your child was a level 3 at the end of Year 2, then getting a level 5 is only considered average progress and not good progress. Only a Level 6 will show good/outstanding progress. The only progress that is considered is in reading, writing and maths. The government is putting a lot of pressure on schools to get them to these levels or be considered inadequate. I know of a school that gets 90+% in all tests and got requires improvement because the progress was only considered average from end of Year 2.

I am not making excuses. However, a big part to achieving Level 6 is around test taking skills. A child may know the information. But, if they do not understand the questions or how to deal with the tests, they are not able to show their real levels. Last year, only 1% of children got a level 6 on reading tests. That test is vey hard!

Also, are parents aware that the new primary tests takes two years of secondary objectives and pushes it down into primary. Effectively, a level 6 will soon only be considered average. Technically, year 4 children will be doing year 6 maths shortly and that, as well, will only be considered average.

In the end, you can explain to the HT how your child is feeling. You may not be getting the whole story from your child. It is a small school. Thus, they have a small amount of money compared to larger schools with high FSM.

Also, the school is supporting other areas by covering residential and swimming. That is good. Not every school is doing that.

Also, on withdrawing from SATs. That is a real slap in the face of the school and all they have done. Schools would prefer not to give the tests. They see the stress. Yet, the government is demanding ever higher expectations. It upsets me when I see parents suggest this as teachers work very hard for you children and their jobs are on the line. Try having that over your head?

DS wasn't there (he wasn't in formal UK education at all in fact)in Y3 so they have no data or levels to be comparing. So the 'progress' suggestion doesn't hold water . At least I don't think it does. Happy to be told if wrong there.

Well MM5 tbh the school haven done much to extend or help DS beyond these ridiculous cramming sessions. I mean look at the book list he has to read from! He is being effectively held back when it suits the school.

That said of course I will not withdraw him from SATs. Apart from anything else I don't want a fine for absence!

That's really bad of the school. This isn't enrichment, this is drill. I know because my DD2 is getting enrichment in her school - she's in a reading group who are going to sit L6, but they only do 1 L6 paper per month and that during normal school hours. The rest of the time they read and discuss interesting books - so far they've done The Giver, The Book Thief and they are now doing To Kill A Mockingbird. The group is planning to continue post SATs as they are all enjoying it, including the teacher, and it is about real enrichment.

Those books being suggested for your DS are just a joke, my DD like yours has a reading age of 14+ and at that age they should be reading the full version of Black Beauty, not the dumbed down abridged version.

MM5 you make valid points, but none of them are the OP's problem. It isn't her fault that our idiot government is making like a bunch of badgers and moving the goalposts.

They may have their own data on what level he was when he moved to the school and be trying to show progress against that.

Is it possible that they are giving him other support as well? Children who qualify for PP at my dcs' school get extra support in normal lessons but it's done quite subtly so I don't think any of them know.

It doesn't sound good, but I doubt you'll be able to do much about it now, especially as it is so close to SATs now.

By the way, I think the reading list is ridiculous. My DD1 is reading those and she is in Y4 and nowhere near a L6. Bonkers.