School did not tell parents when children sat KS1 SATs

[lottytheladybird]

I found that that DS's school purposely did not tell parents when the children sat the SATs, and they also did not tell the children. I was told that they purposely did not tell the parents as they didn't want the parents worrying the children. I feel that I had the right to know when my child was going to sit these tests and that my opportunity to have a chat with my son regarding these tests were taken from me.

I then asked if parents would be informed of the results. DS's teacher said they were just to inform her and asked me why I wanted them. Considering they've made my DS do these tests, I'd like the results.

What are your thoughts? Did your school tell you when your child did thier KS1 SATs? Have they shared the results with you? I'd really like to find out if it's normal for what's happened at my DS' s school to happen other schools.

Don't you think the teachers say that to the children?

We say "Do your best, but don't worry".

He doesn't need to hear the "test" word.

You want to do precisely what the staff don't want to happen!

they also did not tell the children
If he didn't know he was taking a test he didn't need you tell him it didn't matter if he couldn't answer all the questions or found some questions tricky.

Fantastic approach from the school.

Just told my DD2 (y7) that she did KS1 SATs in y2! She had no idea .

What exactly would you have "chatted" about? They didn't want parents putting pressure on their kids and winding them up.
Why do you feel disadvantaged by that??

Same here, Teen.
When yr6 were doing sats few weeks ago, I mentioned something about YR2 sats to my ds. .
My ds said he didn't take it.

The school won't automatically report results to parents but you can ask for them if you are interested. As the teacher has said the results are used to help her make her teacher assessment judgements nothing more. They are a single piece of evidence.

DS's school purposely did not tell parents when the children sat the SATs, and they also did not tell the children

my opportunity to have a chat with my son regarding these tests were taken from me.

But he didn't need you to talk about them, because he didn't know he was doing them

Sound like a good school that puts the children first.

Knowing that your child is taking SATs does not equate to putting pressure on them.

I would have wanted to have a chat about it with my DS because I'm his mother and care about what he's doing at school.

Low key at out our school too. You can ask for the results, but they won't mean much - the school will be assessing progress all year, these results are just one more bit of evidence for the teacher.

I'd wait for the school report to be honest.

Also, why the assumption that parents knowing that their child is taking SATs must have a negative impact upon the child?

Chill out. They did the right thing.

I think the assumption comes from years of experience of having children complete SATs and knowing the best approach.

That doesn't mean that anyone is saying that you personally would stress out and put pressure on your son OP.

My children's school didn't tell us.

Best thing imho.

No pressure on kids or parents and realistic results.

What's not to like?

Whilst you and your son may not have been stressed out about SATs, unfortunately many children/parents have been in the past. So I think sensible schools now don't talk about them. Your school did the right thing.
Just think of SATs as being a box ticking exercise for schools - not particularly useful for your child or you - best to forget they even exist.

"I would have wanted to have a chat about it with my DS because I'm his mother and care about what he's doing at school." Do you chat about everything he does in school? The tests are no different to any other work he does day to day and are no more important than any piece of work he completes in every lesson.

They don'the want the children to know. If they had told you, you would have told your child.

I don't think there is an assumption that telling parents would have a negative impact. They are simply part of normal school routine and not regarded as noteworthy.

You could chat just as productively after he'd sat them as before, you know? Probably more so, actually.

Surely you know that they take SATs in Year 2, so you did know?

If your son didn't know he was being tested then he didn't need a pep talk about not worrying about tests. I don't send my 6 year old to school every day warning him he might not get everything right and some things might be tricky.

Our school has the same low key approach and it worked brilliantly. The children thought they were doing a quiz and had no stress at all.

A friends dd goes to a school with a very pushy head. She knew she had test coming up and they had to swot for them. Apparently she was in tears about them for weeks before hand.

I knew they do SATs in Y2, but didn't know when my DS did them. When so many of you say your child's school had a low key approach or that your child thought they were doing a quiz, does that mean that you actually knew exactly when, i.e. which days, your child was taking the SATs?

Your child's teacher would have had that chat with your child so don't worry. You can get the results if you want - the school have to give them to you but its the teacher assessment that is most important.

I knew they did SATs in May but no idea which children did which tests on which day - neither did DS.

It can be whenever in May and they could have said then changed plans etc so much better to not make a big deal about dates. If your DC didn't know he took them then you chatting would have alerted him to it. The teacher did a good job by the sounds of it. You can ask for assessment results.

In my kids school they don't even call them SATS or tests in front of the children!