Parent petition supporting Primary SATs boycott

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/link{https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/parents-support-sats-boycott-kids-strike-3rd-may?source=facebook-share-button&time=1459365428/Y2 parent petition
Would you keep your child/children home from school for a day to protest about over-testing in the UK Primary system?

A lot of secondary schools disregard them because of the hot housing. My school didn't retest them (no setting in year 7 though) but I didn't pay much attention to them. There were many pupils who had got level 5 but couldn't do much near that independently.

Ds1 has undiagnosed ASD and some mild learning difficulties.
He was coached through SATs to get a score higher than he would normally be capable of.
This has set him higher GCSE targets, which secondary would not amend, even when it was clear ds would never achieve them.
He has been treated as a lazy boy who isn't trying hard enough. The constant pressure has affected his mental health until the point where we took him out, as they were never going to support him.
If this happens with ds2 (ASD/PDA) the consequences will be much more dramatic!

I've just read your past about the science testing mrz, how depressing! Science, esp at primary, should be about exciting things that happen around us, that they can experiment our in the yard as much as in the classroom. If its anything like the English and maths, there's a real risk it'll be taught just to a dry paper based test. That's not what science is about.

Feel sorry for the guinea pig schools and children involved in getting it established too.

Phil your DS's secondary school clearly have no idea how to use data. Those targets set from KS2 data should never have been shared with your son, let alone used as a stick to beat him with. They are not targets for individuals, but average targets for a whole cohort (and are usually pretty challenging). The school should be aware that some students will not meet their targets, not because they are lazy, but because statistically they are not expected to.

If this does happen with your DS2, then you can challenge the school on their misuse of data.

We battled with them for 3 years, they gave us one set of information whilst ds came home with a very different story - some teachers would subtly tease him and call him stupid, but he wasn't able to take information in well enough without additional support. And this is an outstanding rated school. We've taken him out now to be homeschooled - everyone is happier for it!

For loads of children, whilst SATs and the one-size-fits-all system is ok (despite the pressure), for some it's disastrous.

Phil it doesn't sound like the targets were the problem but the school and the teachers. How awful that they called your DS stupid, I'm appalled. Good for you that you took him out, he's lucky that you were able to do that.

Noble, I think it was a combination - every time I went in (and it was a lot!), they printed off his target sheets which all showed his SATs scores in yr 6 directly leading to expected Bs in his GCSEs.
He had a CAT (?) tests when he started at the school, but they ignored it as he did much worse than his SATs.

We're very pleased to have him out of there!

Phil, why is your son undiagnosed? It seems the problems you describe are not rooted in the SATs themselves, but are problems that need attention.

Until we went through the ASD diagnosis process with ds2, we didn't recognise that ds1 was also on the spectrum with some other issues as well.
We live in an area where the diagnostic team is dreadful, they only diagnose very obvious, stereotypical cases, and we were very unwilling to put him through that as a teenager, when he is someone who is very careful about hiding it and uses very subtle rituals that are difficult to spot.

You're right, the the SATs weren't the root of the problem, but they contributed to the problems he had in secondary. If his SATs were a true representation of his abilities, they wouldn't have kept expecting him to be able to achieve Bs across the board.

So what is a dc in Y6 supposed to get to pass and what exactly will happen to them if they don't? I'm confused, I thought these tests had no impact on a dc and it was just for the benefit of the school.

schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-could-be-forced-to-report-parents-who-boycott-sats/?utm_content=bufferc869e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

My son is sitting his SATS this year and I hate it. He is fairly academic and doesn't struggle with the tests, he know's he is sitting tests and is happy and content to do so but he is SIX.

Children should not be taught how to pass tests, (in my opinion) they should be taught be how to be human. Obviously at home children should have a good foundation of how to function and mix with people but school should (at this age) be supporting that. Learning through play, not sitting down to do exams. This is the first SAT exam he is to take part in but there are assessments throughout the school year to ensure children are on track, he is six and has done quite a few 'ASSESMENT WEEKS' at school starting in reception.
I know of many parents whose children worry about assessment week, bed wetting, tummy ache's out right refusal to come to school are a few of the situations they deal with, that isn't because these children hate school because they don't. Most of the children at their school are content 75% of the school year but these children are being taught a lesson about being the 'best you can' in a very brutal, age inappropriate fashion.

I should be explaining to my six year old why he shouldn't eat mud rather than him explaining to me why it is important to use conjunctions when writing or how daddy uses some funny malapropism's when he speaks.
I wish there was somebody in a place of power when it comes to education that had an actual clue. Currently our education system is about being the best box tickers around There is absolutely no genuine interest in each child and the 'Every Child Matters' ethos is nothing but an excuse to explain why not every child is a perfect circle.
People have strengths and weaknesses and this twisted system refuses to recognise and embrace that.
I absolutely support this boycott, what troubles me is if we take part, how will that knock on effect impact my children in a school with a head teacher that 'seems' to 'support' box ticking!

My dd is Y6 and All they've done this year is SATS and its blighted her last year at school. She's lucky, she's quick to learn, mature for her age and is fairly confident. However she's counting down the days until they're over. Her young teacher looks stressed to high heaven. I have a first class hons degree and even I struggled with some of the reading comprehensions she was sent for homework. The SPAG papers are crazy. I sear to god they've made up a whole load of new grammar terms/rules as I've never even heard of most of them.

Personally, I wouldn't boycott because I'd like to support the school by turning up and hopefully my dd doing well. I'm pretty relaxed. Told dd to just try her best. I have no idea what 'mark' means they've done well. I actually don't think the dept of education knows either until all the results are in!

I don't agree with this testing at such a young age but I wouldn't keep my son off as a protest. How would you do it anyway?The tests aren't held over a fixed time period on a specified day. DS's school will be conducting the tests over the last two weeks in May. Would you keep them off for the whole time? They'll miss out on a lot more than some tests.

It is up to schools how they go about this. I went to the KS1 SATs info session this week and I'm satisfied the teachers are not putting undue pressure on the children. DS's teacher said they are completely underplaying it to the children. Despite this, they have heard some of them mentioning 'SATs', a word the teachers never use in class. Clearly some parents are making more of a deal out of them, which is unnecessary and unhelpful.

They certainly feel the pressure themselves. There were three governors observing the info session, including chair and vice chair, none of whom are parent governors. It is clearly a big deal for the school.

The teacher also stressed that they are not just teaching to the test. For example, she feels that creativity has been removed from the curriculum but she includes lots of creative tasks in the school week. To paraphrase her, the children have to be prepared for year 3, if they've only been taught to sit SATs in year 2, they won't be, and she won't have been doing her job.

"School leaders may be forced to report parents who purposely keep their children at home during this summer’s SATs, leaving boycotters open to prosecution, jail time and fines of up to £2,500." this is a quote from the article I linked to earlier

I maybe not entitled to comment on this because my ds is not in the year taking sats, but can all of parents just relax and forget about the stress? Since it's all new this year, so school/teachers/parents/children are all in the dark. I just find it very dangerous that parents getting over stressed and too worried about it. My ds had sats last year, but children weren't concerned. Only parents were over stressed about it. If you strongly disagree, take your kids out. It's up to you. I know it's annoying, but it's happening, and it's just some tests. It doesn't determine who you are.

Washediris, I do understand what you mean. And I'm not saying just take your kids out in a nonchalant manner. All the people saying they will take kids out must thought about it and decided that's best for their children. So I think they should do what ever they believe best for their child. And I know the level of difficulty of the test has changed, but it's still just a test for individual child. Take it or not take it, what difference does it make? If you take it, you may get bad score = bad GCSE targets? Don't take it = No targets? I don't know...Only parents can decide what's best for their child.

3rd May was chosen so that it doesn't interfere with Sats testing. This is a protest at the changes to the tests, not to disrupt the tests. I have a child who is currently in yr 6 and taking the new tests this May. At the end of last year she was at level 5 for Literacy and Level 4 for Numeracy, however we have just been told that she will not achieve the expected level set for this year!! She has had mountains of revision, revision at school and has gone from being a happy, eager to learn child to one that is in tears and saying she is stupid! I have now taken the decision to totally cut back on the revision and told her that Sats don't matter but she is still under pressure at school to achieve the ridiculous levels that have only recently been set. So yes, I will be keeping her off school that day and we will visit a museum or gallery in the hope that someone will listen to the teachers and parents opposing these new government decisions.

We want happy, eager to learn children, not children who have been told they have 'failed' when leaving primary school.

Just to be clear, I am not against assessing children, and doing tests is a part of life. Just let those tests be fair and give the children a fair chance, the new, revised tests don't.

Sila and waho - well said.
Has anyone identified any quantifiable benefits from increased national testing in primary schools? It would make for interesting reading - presumably a comprehensive study was undertaken as to needs and expected benefits before they were introduced; then another study undertaken before makign any further changes to see whether those benefits had been achieved or could be demonstrated as being achieved.

Since this is what has to happen with many/most public and private sector initiatives that have a cost associated with it, I would love to see the benefits assessments: not just 'increased quality in SPaG teaching' which could mean anything, but (for example) 'this percentage of 6 year olds couldn't read or write in 2011, in the first year of the national testing this had dropped to x% and in the second year it had dropped to y%'; the DofE has made a saving of £xmillion in administering emergency measures for failing schools since the introduction of the tests in x year' sort of thing.

On projects I've worked on, if you can't demonstrate quantifiable financial and non-financial benefits being achieved in the first year, the initiative is usually shut down..

For me, whether or not your child realises they are sitting the KS1 SATs is not the point. The questions we need to ask ourselves are:

-Who do these tests benefit?
-What is the impact of these tests on the education our children receive? For example, is it in our children's best interests to spend a year of their school life, aged just 6 & 7, learning a narrowed curriculum specifically geared to passing tests? & then again aged 9 & 10 (not to mention the yr1 phonics & reception tests that have just been scrapped) Should that really be our priority?
-Are SATs necessary? Is there a better way?

As far as whether or not we will be keeping our children off on May 3rd. I will be keeping my yr5 son off for a day of fun learning, I will be doing so to show my objection to all formal primary aged testing & the resulting impact on the teaching that then takes place. I do not believe (as others have said) that it will mean my child has a 'black mark against his name', it will have absolutely no impact on his future educational attainment or happiness, whereas being educated in an increasingly competitive 'test culture' at such a young age, is I believe, damaging.

I will be giving the school a letter explaining my reasons from the template offered by the LET our KIDS be KIDS campaign: letthekidsbekids.wordpress.com & I believe it will be well received, in the spirit it is intended, which is a show of support & solidarity to our schools & teachers who are mostly doing a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances.

I think no-one here is looking at the impact on the teachers in the schools if children stay away. Where I am a governor a child is going on holiday to the USA rather than do the SATS tests. The parents have said they will rely upon the secondary school to test the child (they do) and put the child into the correct set. What message does that give the child? The teachers are very upset in that they have worked really hard to teach this child and have given the child a lot of time and attention. They would like to see the child do well. It is very sad that parents do not appreciate teaching and teachers but would prefer to make a political point (or have a jolly good holiday).

It is sad that parents cannot support their school and none of this is the fault of the teachers. If lots of high ability chidren stay away, the results of the school go down and may hasten a visit from Ofsted. It is shame parents do not think about the impact on the teachers.

Staying away for one day does not change the ethos of the school and their attitude towards tests. Far better that parents ask the school to try and keep the tests "low key" and as stress free as possible. It is always better to work together rather than boycott.