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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

any dc totally bored in Year 6 with constant SATs revision

30 replies

CocktailQueen · 23/03/2015 21:35

and not learning anything new?

DD is.

She says many lessons have just consisted of revising/copying things down from the board for weeks now. School is pushing extra maths and English lessons and has been for months now - all to do better in SATs. Argh!

What to do? Ignore? Contact school and express my frustration? Anything else?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

sillysausagewithsauce · 23/03/2015 21:53

Before you go in complaining just ask yourself...
How have you chosen a secondary school for your dd? Have you used OFSTED reports or data dashboards? If so then tbh you are part of the problem.

I know it is hard to understand when you are thinking only of your own child, but while schools are being judged by parents on OFSTED and league table positions etc then months of revision programmes will remain the norm in many ( not all) schools.

Original poster

CocktailQueen · 23/03/2015 22:00

DD passed the eleven plus so will be going to grammar. I looked at Ofsted reports but wanted to visit schools to find one that felt right. Obviously I want a school where dd will do well but I think there are other ways to achieve this than by teaching to the test!

I would much rather see a school that can go off piste and create memorable lessons for dc then one that crams its dc for SATs but doesn't give them knowledge that is useful in future.

OP posts:

cariadlet · 23/03/2015 22:39

DD is now year 7, but we went through the same thing last year. She was so fed up until SATs were finally over. Sadly, most schools are like this now and it's creeping down to year 5.

Heifer · 23/03/2015 22:40

We are very lucky here, because whilst they are doing some practice papers, normal lessons have continued - in fact last week they had a science week and netball match on the Friday afternoon, so it seems to be lessons as usual but with a few practice papers thrown in. I know that we will be getting some Sats test paper packs over the Easter holidays so I am sure that they will up their efforts nearer the time.

smee · 24/03/2015 10:11

Our lot are on a school camp all week, so not a SAT paper in sight. To be fair they have done a lot for SATs, but work hard/ play hard and lots of fun and treats scattered through seems to be their way. SillySausage is right, but there are ways of making the SATs madness acceptable as well as getting them through..!

SomewhereIBelong · 24/03/2015 10:16

it is a bit of a right of passage - we always reckoned it was to make that first year of secondary seem soooooooo exciting by comparison...

can't see it changing... it is sad if it is creeping down to previous years though...

AtomicDog · 24/03/2015 10:17

Home ed her for the year. Seriously, she will get so much more out of it, particularly as she already has her grammar place. We know people doing this.

FlamingoSausage · 24/03/2015 20:12

Year 6 teacher here... we are only doing maths and english (not my choice) with a bit of PE. It is very depressing and hard to keep the children interested and motivated. Sadly schools are under huge pressure, if results aren't up to scratch (and it is hard to get all children up to the levels especially in more challenging schools) then ofsted can come in and re-inspect or a school can be taken over by academy chains. Sad reality!
Yes standards are important but sadly I think the tests promote cramming and burn out not long term, consolidated learning. It does keep some kind of standards though.

FlamingoSausage · 24/03/2015 20:15

We've had two mock sats weeks since january and will be running revision camp at easter (luckily I don't have to go in, HT is doing it). Crazy world and intense pressure!
I would be tempted to home educate my own child or (money permitting) move them to a prep school where they don't do SATs (or generally don't seem to put as much emphasis and pressure on SATs) for year 6.

Mrscog · 24/03/2015 20:15

God I find this so depressing. In 1995 when I did the first SATS, I just remember on a Friday afternoon the teacher announcing 'ok kids, there are some tests next week, don't worry about them but bring an extra pencil'. And that was it. I would pay good money to any school who brought in that type of approach!

BetweenTwoLungs · 24/03/2015 20:19

Year 6 teacher here too in a massively creative school but even we have sats pressure. Our OFSTED so depends on data now, and we feel that we have to show that we can keep standards up to justify our creative curriculum.

We are doing maths/english up to lunch time with a fair amount of past papers (although my children did make a massive pirate ship out of cardboard in English last week so not totally sats based).

Afternoons are art/pe/bits of re thrown in. We try and balance it but pressure from above is intense - not just from head but from LA. If school is generally good, forgive them a few weeks of this, it's a necessary evil sadly. Id love to see them scrapped.

spanieleyes · 24/03/2015 21:08

A local school is doing half an hour PE a week, the rest is just maths and english. The trouble is that if even a small minority of schools push up their results by dubious means, then national averages increase and schools who try to maintain a balanced curriculum fall further behind. Which means OFSTED, Special Measures and Academy status!

redskybynight · 25/03/2015 17:19

DS's school doesn't seem to do this (at least he seems to have a fair amount of other stuff in with the standard maths and English and he's definitely learning new stuff).

But local parents(with DC at other schools) tut at their SATs results. Guess you can't have it both ways ...

ragged · 25/03/2015 19:29

Snap @ Redsky. yr6 DS has had 2 topics with a project to turn in and sports tournaments & days out & made a puppet & long distance running events & other stuff I forget (all that in just this term).

18yearstooold · 26/03/2015 18:32

Dd2 has been doing all sorts of stuff

Big change from 2 years ago when dd1 was in yr 6

It really was death by sats!

sunnydayinmay · 26/03/2015 19:12

I'm a governor at my dcs' school, and I'm quietly concerned that we're not doing enough! DS is year 6, and has done a handful of papers, but not loads. We're trying to pull up from a RI Ofsted that was purely on Year 6 results.

Flossiechops · 26/03/2015 19:16

Dd is in year 6 at an Ofsted rated outstanding school. She has been doing a lot of revision & has been sent home this evening with a pack of work to do over Easter. The school are also putting on a free breakfast club for yr 6 pupils during sats week which I think is good. I have to say that even though they are doing a lot of work dd is not complaining at all. She's doing level 6 for literacy and so have extra homework for this. I'm really impressed with her attitude towards her work.

hmc · 26/03/2015 19:21

I don't blame the school, it's the 'system', but yes ds is completely and utterly bored. He is learning nothing new. He too is going to grammar in September like your dc, OP. I suspect the 11+ prep they went through just compounds the issue.....

I know that ds has feigned sickness a couple of times to get out of school (or rather, exaggerated a minor ailment) and tbh I've gone along with it!

rabbitstew · 26/03/2015 22:52

Nothing like that at dss' school. They still seem to be doing the usual creative curriculum and extra activities, and parents actually started to worry, because no SATs papers were being sent home to practise, unlike under the previous headteacher, who worked on a death by SATs papers principle, so they actually had to seek reassurance that the children were being prepared in school! Message that came back was that they were being thoroughly prepared and had done some practise at school even if they weren't reporting this to parents, and the most important thing was to ensure the children didn't get stressed about SATs as they are mainly a test of the school's teaching and only one measure of attainment which the local secondary schools ignore, anyway, because they retest there. So, the big emphasis was on stress reduction and it all being the school's problem, and how the school was going to try and make the actual SATs week as enjoyable as possible.

I think my ds is actually learning a lot this year, is working hard, has enjoyed being given extra responsibilities (eg mentoring younger children) which have made him feel very grown up, seems very happy and is so far very chilled out about SATs, so on stress reduction techniques and maintaining his interest, the school seems to be doing pretty well. It definitely hasn't been a year blighted by SATs so far, although I guess there are still a few weeks of the summer term before the children actually have to take them, so they might start being boring and forgetting the rest of the curriculum next term, I guess!

rabbitstew · 26/03/2015 22:56

No homework for over the holidays, either.

MyCatHasStaff · 26/03/2015 23:03

I'm a TA in Y6. We have an experienced but new-to-Y6 teacher this year, and it's dire. Nothing but worksheets and mock SATs since January, and plans to continue like this until May. I'm bored and stressed and so are the children, but the teacher won't listen and states openly she's only interested in results. I think results come with happy, motivated children, she disagrees, and she's in charge.
It'll be interesting to see if her approach works, or if the children will be totally burnt out by May.

gleegeek · 26/03/2015 23:24

My dd did sats last year. No practice papers/booster sessions/stress and panic. She had a lovely time in year 6 and got level 5s across the subjects which we were pleased with. BUT all of the other local schools are SATs mad and dd is in a lower set at Secondary as there are so many dc from other schools with level 6 maths. I do worry she will struggle to catch up as the top sets are steaming ahead with tricky concepts...

Think things are only going to get worse

Springisontheway · 27/03/2015 17:25

My DD has endless SATs homework, plus is in an extra "push" group with additional homework for level 6. She already has a place at a selective independent school so she already did a lot of prep earlier in the year to bridge the gap between her state primary and the prep schools. She has already "scored" level 6s on her mock Sats, but they won't let up. She is very conscientious and takes it all to heart. Plenty of homework over Easter too. DH wants to yank her out of school altogether and "homeschool" her this last term. Lol

She is doing another mock SAT as I type.

What annoys me is: why the last minute panick? They did sweet FA for the last three years. Rather than working towards all this gradually and consistently, they were lazy, lazy, lazy. And now the DC have to pay for the grownups' lack of planning and organisation. Grrrrrr

tenderbuttons · 27/03/2015 17:32

What AtomicDog said. That's our plan too.

Waitingandhoping2015 · 27/03/2015 18:20

DS came home with a load of work for the holidays, mainly Level 6 stuff in maths but also English. Also some stuff for revision with a recommendation of spending 15 minutes a day revising this years work.

None of it has to be handed in.

Just handed it in to the bin. Better things to do in the holidays than this shite.

And a comment somewhere about continuing with the revision booklets when term starts again.

Wish I'd planned ahead and taken him out of school after the entrance exams in January. Too late now. Suspect there will be a few sickies between now and year end!!

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