SATS school meeting -YIKES!!

[AuntieMeemz]

Just been to school meeting about SATS. Everyone is doing all kinds of papers etc. DS lives and breathes for Pokémon and has no interest at all in preparing. He will do as asked, but I have no idea where to start.

Are you talking Y2 or Y6 SATS?

Have school asked you to do something?

There's no need for you to do anything for SATS. School will do it all.

For Y2 SATs you can't don anything, as they're based on teacher assessment.

For Y6 you can, but school will do so much you really don't need to bother.

Just because other people are doing stuff doesn't mean you should.

Is there some reason you're concerned about his SATs grades? Do you know what he's likely to get? Is there any problem with him getting that grade?

Well I have a DS in Y6 and he will be doing his standard homework (though granted his maths homework has been working through a SATS revisions book since January) and nothing else. It's for school to prepare them surely?

What was the purpose of the meeting? To inform you about the tests or ask you to do extra at home?

Our school had a sats meeting. DidN't go.

My DS is in yr 6 and is doing nowt extra at home - they're doing lots of practice papers in school. I have been through the 11+ entrance tests with him doing loads of extra work at home and I'm buggered if I'm going To make him do more again for SATs. He's not even getting much homework. (I'm hoping that's NOT because they're assuming parents will have bought their own SATs materials to use at home!)

Am happy to use any SATs materials they send home with him but I'm only seeing completed ones that they've already done in school time.

No SATs meetings here - as they've done done practice SATs this week I'm guessing they'll talk about them in next weeks parents evening. Will see what happens.

No need to start at all. SATS are for school, not you or him or even secondary, which will set their own tests.

Secondary schools ignore SATs and retest the kids in September.

Sounds like year 2 if he is into Pokemon?

Crazy that people feel the need to prepare their dc outside of school. Leave it to his teachers! :)

Secondary schools have to retest because the whole of year 6 is spent drilling for sats (schools and parents) so the levels are ridiculously over-inflated.

Unfortunately we can't completely ignore them as we are judged on the progress made between end of ks2 and end of ks4.

I fucking hate sats.

Y6 is not all about SATS far from it, but they are important for children's confidence and preparation for secondary school. They are the start of endless testing and assessment that is what secondary is all about (poor children) they are used to predict GCSE results so it's very important to do as well as possible so your child isn't allowed to slip through the net at secondary as a L4 (average) only predicts a C (average) which isn't good for uni applications. Seems a long way off when only 10/11 but it comes round very quickly. It's a game but a game that played well buys you choice.

Lizzie

How well a child does in SATs has no bearing on university applications. I am sure that even the most competitive medical schools or Oxbridge do not care about predicted GCSE results or SAT results. What matters is what children achieve at GCSE and a-level.

In many secondary schools children are setted by how they achieve in the present than the past. If little Freddie with his key stage 2 level 6s produces level 4 work he will be moved down a set. If Tabbitha who achieves level 3s in her key stage 2 SATs is a late developer and produces outstanding work she will be given a chance with harder work in a higher set. I am sure that if Tabbitha gets 10 GCSEs A* then a top university would at least give her an interview.

I feel that telling children lies that key stage 2 SATs matter is unjust. SATs only matter to the primary school teachers' careers. I fear that children will not believe their teachers or parents when they are told that GCSEs matter.

Incidently my son's secondary is not all about testing. He is getting a balanced education and a preparation for life.

The sats are for the benefit of the school and their table position, not your kids. Encourage them to try their hardest as you would with anything and then ignore the whole bloody thing.

It does have an impact on the kids in that the secondary school they go to is judged on the progress your child makes from KS2. A Level 4 at SATs means they should get a C at GCSE so it is in the interests of the secondary school to make sure they don't get a D! A good secondary school will only care about your cold reaching their potential. I have heard of secondary schools though who just play this numbers game to keep their ratings up.

Actually Really I think Lizzie is right.

My DD1 received English intervention in y9 because she wasn't making required progress for KS3. Targets / Measures for the Secondary school are set based on KS2 results.
It has also been noticed/reported that my DD1 is 'over achieving' in maths compared with her KS2 SATs, so they absolutely do take notice.

So if your child under achieves at KS2 the school may not notice so quickly if they are under achieving in KS3/KS4, so may not do appropriate interventions.

I agree no one cares later what KS2 results someone gets, but for good or ill, it does partly set up expectations for secondary which may impact things later.

For my DD2 (currently y5) I will want her to try her best, to show what she can do, but I will not be putting silly pressure on her. I will tell her the main reason is to check her school has taught her well and to inform her new school how she has got on at primary.

Child not cold!

My pokemon crazy dd is sitting SAT's this year too, I'm trying not to put too much pressure on her but I'm finding it hard, she sitting level 6 papers and we have been told she should get her level 6 english without trying too hard but she needs to slow down and concentrate on her maths instead of rushing through and not reading the questions properly. I know it's not the end of the world if she doesn't achieve the level 6 but a part of me wants her to understand that she needs to put the effort in to get results. I know that the tests are mainly for the schools and not the childs benefit but once they get to high school there will be important tests and exams so this is good practice.

Teenandtween,
I assume that the school are pleased that your daughter is doing well in maths. i am sure they will enter her for the higher paper if they see evidence that she will cope. They are not going to stop teaching her because she has "over achieved".

It is important that primary school children do their best, but schools and parents need to get key stage 2 SATs into proportion. Maybe key stage 2 SATs are used for setting targets, but if a child meets their year 9 target at the end of year 8 a new target is set.

Absolutely Really there is no problem with the maths. She has whizzed up the sets.

My point was rather towards the extra help she got in English in y9, which I don't think she would have got had she not been 'under achieving' against KS2.

As a year 6 teacher - if they were my kids:
I'd encourage them to do homework if given it and help if they needed it. I wouldn't make them.
I would discuss tests and how they feel about them. I would not do test prep.
I would read and do mental maths games regularly. By regularly I mean 3 times a week maybe.

This is assuming no sen but if they had a high enough level of need to mean I was doing extra stuff then they probably wouldn't be taking the sats. I do not consider level 3 to be sen.

Please please don't worry about them. I hate the fact that because the government pressures LAs, LAs pressure headteachers, headteachers pressure staff and staff seem to feel it appropriate to pressure parents. Just because SOME parents ask about extra prep doesn't mean you need to do it.