Education professionals: what happens if I take my child out of KS2 SATs?

[Wordsmith]

I am at the end of my tether with DS2's school. Long story which I won't go into in detail, but he's in Y6, is on target to get his Level 4 (which I am completely happy about) but is being pushed to do more and more to get up to a L5. He has problems with concentration and confidence and is getting very stressed about the whole thing. Now he's just told me he's been told he'll be doing his SATs in a room on his own with a teaching assistant. God knows why? I'm obviously going to try and get to the bottom of it - I have already complained about the pressure he is being put under. It seems they are telling me one thing and DS another.

If I can't sort this out we're seriously thinking of taking him out of the SATs altogether. I know someone who did this a few years ago and got a lot of grief from the HT for it but it was perfectly legal to do. What I want to know is, is that still the case? I know his secondary school re-test the kids within a couple of weeks of starting Y7 so the SATs aren't that vital, but what sanctions, if any, could I expect from the authorities?

morethan - it's been non stop since September. They've had revision books and everything.

MY DS did his GCSEs in a small room because he has special access arrangements. These have continued with A levels and he much prefers it.

Thanks Tiggytape. I'm aware the SATs are used to set the Y9 Targets but that doesn't affect the child's progress thru secondary school - it's an admin/school system thing rather than something the kids have to live up to.

My point is that my DS2 should achieve level 4 which is great - but they are pushing him to achieve a higher grade because it will be better for the league tables. They are OSFTED 'outstanding' and are due for a visit any day soon - and I believe the grades 4 yrs ago (DS1's year) were slightly inflated, so they're having to pull everything out of the bag to do one better and retain the Outstanding grade. there are several kids going for Level 6 - a couple are naturally brilliant but the rest are really struggling - that was unheard of 4 years ago! ((I was a governor then).

Can I just say as a naive parent of a year 2 child how horrified I am by this thread. If I'm reading it right, we've gone right back to the bad old days of the 11 plus - get a 4 in your SATS at age 11 and you're marked down as an umderachiever before you even get to secondary, already told you will never get more than a B at GCSE.

Please, someone, tell me I've misunderstood.

Sorry Lurcio it is getting like that.

Lurcio

Unfortunately you are right I'm afraid, but in defense we do need a system of some sort.
We have 2 much older dc and when they took SATS there was no build up, pressure or anything. A week before they answered a few questions in the style of and we were told about it, parents not the dc.
We had no idea when the school would decide to do the tests and the kids weren't told.
It isn't the test thats at fault its the schools and some parents who pressurise their dc.
As for targets from SATS to GCSE this is ridiculous and secondary should do their own levels from what the children are achieving from y7.

I disagree that all secondary schools take levels from y6 SATS, to determine targets my dd school doesn't, nor do they set targets.

Have you thought that you child will be excluded from the shared experience? I think this is quite important- it is a big thing in their lives.

Really? DD and her friends didn't do SATs at all - their school didn't require them too. DD's friend has moved to a state school for secondary where most children will have done SATs at KS2 - yet it hasn't affected her whatsoever. It hasn't affected her being given target grades for GCSE and it is simply not something the children have spoken to her about at all in the slightest.

I would hope that for the average y6 child SATs are not a big deal in their life and once they are over with they are forgotten and moved on. Thats how it should be.

No, Lurcio. Sadly you're right. It's been a nightmare trying to get my DD the opportunity to develop to her potential. Even actual A* results don't count against the theoretical targets.

morethanpotatoprints, even if the secondary school aren't openly setting targets based on KS2 results the performance tables and OFSTED will be using those KS2 results as a baseline from which to judge the school so you can bet they are used in some way in the planning and intervention the school undertake.

Best of luck in whatever you decide Word, I struggle with how much we push them now. My daughter is nearly 9 and suffers terrible anxiety and other issues, I take comfort from the fact she's in a small village school who support them without pressure!

I don't understand why not doing SATS is a nightmare at secindary

Dd is 13 & didn't do sats. She went off to a different secondary than her friends with no info passed on from her junior school. Almost everyone at her new school did sats.

They were tested with cats & she now has levels & targets with no reference to sats. Her friend who got a level 4 in a non hothousing school has turned out to be a maths genius & so her targets are much higher than you'd expect.

oddboots

Yes, I can see they are useful for the school and ofstead, unfortunately of no importance to me as a parent.
My dd isn't doing SATS anyway, but if she went to a school where they pressurised the kids and spent months revising and not learning anything she would be out of there.
Surely there comes a time when you have to put your childs education first, not the reputation of the school they used to attend.

The hot housing and pushing causes even more problems than the missing
SATs and getting an automatic level 4.

The hothoused and pushed levels mean GCSE targets are set too high for some children - this also then affects the secondary schools.

Wonder how we all coped pre SATs - am amazed any of us managed to get beyond infants tbh

I've got a friend who is a state secondary school science teacher.

She's thinking of pulling her own son out of sats.

I thought that if you simply didn't bring your child in, whether you warned the school or not, they would include the zero score for that child when calculating the average.

Could be wrong about that.

I was told the only way to avoid was to deregister from school as even if you keep them off they have to do them when they return.
Now you'd face a fine for absence too.

I kept my dc1 off as a protest at the insane amount of prep that went on since about feb half term. I didn't object to the sats particularly but I wanted the school to continue just to teach normal lessons with perhaps one or two practice papers the week before. School said there was no pressure but when I visited to talk to the office about something unrelated towards the end of March I walked right past his group sat in the communal area in front of a huge flip chart with L5 targets for the week's sessions. DS confirmed that his group was spending mornings with the DHT to ensure they reached their potential and got a L5. So I kept him off during sats week. School were furious but I hate the idea that most mornings for 2mths of the year is to be given up to test practice and I want nothing to do with it.
Schools can test by all means but excessive prep is ridiculous and I refuse to support such a system.

Morethan, DS didn't sit them on return. I'm not sure if that's usual. I think ks1 sats can be done at any time but ks2 have a specific date? Either way, he didn't sit them. They all went on a residential the following week anyway.

You have my sympathy wordsmith.. It's the same at my DD's school. In her case she got straight 6s in her mock SATs and now they are super keen, and she feels under pressure to achieve them. I think it's all a bit too much, and having just turned 11, she isn't very sophisticated and takes it all to heart.

To add to my frustration, they seem to be doing endless practice tests rather than cover the material they don't know. So they keep making the same mistakes! We were told to buy CPG revision books which are too superficial and don't cover the material deeply enough for the children to look up the answers they missed themselves.

So I'd like fewer pep talks to "Gee" the kids up and more covering the material that's on the test!

All that said, warnings from posters who've had problems down the line due to not taking the SATs would make me feel cautious.

My partner and I are a head of department and senior leader in secondary schools, and our child will not be sitting sats. For all the reasons you're worried about, and how that one test result will be used by secondary to dictate sets/targets/options. We'd far rather teachers were forced to think intelligently as professionals about her, her options, her targets etc.

Baby, I can't hel wondering if the fact that you are a teacher and really understand the state education, means that you are more likely to get other teachers to think intelligently about your child. I worry that those of us without your insider knowledge and clout might just hit a wall of Bs.

Thanks, tiggytape, that's interesting. Dd would be due to take them next year and I don't want her to take them either. She is apparently academically gifted so the last thing i want is for her to do more academic work. I will need to look into how to avoid the 2wk thing. I guess I'll be fined this time too.