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.

Having worked in a school where year 2 SATs were a huge stress as well as a change in routine, I think it was done well at yours. Now you've said your son has autism though, I think I'd have mentioned there was going to be a change in routine as a heads up.

ToDuk - It's not the SATs themselves that would have affected my son, but the changes.
That's my point though. There wouldn't have been any changes. What changes are you thinking there might have been? The children do little maths sheets anyway so the sats one would just be more of the same but on a blue booklet (are they still blue??). The reading comprehension would have been like ones they've done before but on a yellow booklet. It would basically have been nothing out of the ordinary.
Seriously you're over thinking this and making a problem out of nothing. This is more likely to stress your child than many old ks1 sats paper.

Are you new to MN OP? Otherwise, sats being talked about all the time on MN. School normally tells you yr2 sats are done during May to discourage parents to take holiday during this time.
Saying you didn't know sats happened in May doesn't make sense, unless you are not interested in what's happening in your dc's school, which doesn't seem the case from your post.
A lot of children act different in summer term. Heat, end of year excitement, sports day, etc, etc. When my ds was in yr2, he was acting so different at home, including regular meltdown. I spoke to the teacher/TA. They said it was norm for that time of the year.

So unless, you have expressed certain concern, they may have treated it as regular thing this time of the year.
If you were aware that the changes can affect your ds, you could have requested meeting/ chat, like Sirzy

I really want to add OP that you're not the first parent of an Autistic child to face SATs. Schools are well used to this. Please try and get over this or you are going to have a very hard time while your child is at school and potentially make things worse for him.

Our School told us at the Y2 welcome meeting in September that our Children would sit SATS at some point in May. Nothing else has been mentioned throughout the year.
My son still hasn't mentioned anything about sitting them and I haven't asked him. I'm very grateful to the school and his teacher.
Personally, i'm not going to request the SATs results as we get an overall teacher assessment in our reports which i feel tells me what I need to know.

I have two DC who are autistic and they didn't have a clue they were taking them.

I think you're taking this very personally.

School would have prepared the children for any changes. However, as I've already said, mine were none the wiser.

The school said that they weren't going to tell them anything but they would be some time in May so I was quite surprised when ds announced that he had done some SATs and the ones coming up on the next few days. I asked him if his teacher had told him. He said 'No mummy there was a notice on the door saying 'Quiet SATs in progress' and a timetable in small writing for the teachers on the wall which told me what is coming up for the rest of the week.'

It does say 2017 National Curriculum Tests on the front (where the child writes their name) which might be a clue.

When dd1 had them they "played at Victorian schools" and she didn't have a clue.
It was much better for them all, and they all came out buzzing that they'd had such a fun few days of pretend. It was only a couple of years later that the penny dropped for her and she realised what it really way.

The best approach in my opinion. Our school did the same. I don't care how he did. I know how he is doing at school from parents evenings and reports. How he can perform in a test aged 7 means nothing.

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/ks1-sats-to-be-scrapped-and-replaced-with-new-test-for-4-year-olds/ the consultation has closed so we should know soon if the tests will be scrapped

I wonder when that info will be released? Are they proposing replacing the y2 tests with anything else?

The dc's school did this, didn't confirm when they were taking place. It was fine. I understand they're quite low key tests.

I would just have liked the chance to have been able to say to my DS that he was going to take some tests and that it didn't matter if he couldn't answer all the questions or found some questions tricky.

Wouldn't it be great if instead he just didn't answer some because it didn't matter? Telling him it doesn't matter is like saying ' it matters' because you mentioned it.

The consultation proposes replacing the key stage 1 SATs with a new test in reception, and establishing a baseline measuring progress from reception to the end on KS2.