SATS meeting came home in tears

[sotired2]

My DD is due to take her SATS next May I know in the long run whether she passes or fails has no real affect on her life. But I know she will struggle to pass them due to her SEN. School are being as supportive as they can and getting her extra time/sit in circumstances to help get round her SEN. But due to on going health issues she is not at school as much as she should be and often (like now) she is there but her health isn't great so this will be having an impact on her learning.

The thought of her being told next summer she has failed at something she has tried her hardest at but circumstances have been against her all her life so she isn't where the Government want her to be is just breaking my heart. Why cant she be praised for the amazing achievements she has made, for the strong independent lady she is becoming and for being so kind and caring - no she is labeled a failure.

Rant over.

If her school or anyone else labels her a failure they don't understand SATS. You don't pass or fail SATS. She may be working below the expected level, in which case she will get a score below 100, but it is not called a fail and she should not be labelled a failure.

that is interesting as all last night the teacher kept saying if they weren't at expected level he had the job of telling them they had failed their SATS!

that teacher is a dick tbh.

Thanks made me feel better!

Sometimes in these situations you are just too emotionally involved to see the obvious!

Do you need to tell her the mark? I didn't tell dd, I saw no reason for her to be discussing her results with children in the playground who might have got lower marks. It was the topic of conversation for about three days at school then things moved on. The only impact on her now a year on is in the stupidly high predicted GCSE targets. I've told them that I will tell them when they are 15!! She hasn't asked again.

Obviously different if the school tell her but at this age I focus on praising the effort rather than the result.

Cross-post, seconding tomorrow's post.

Apparently the school tell all the children individually - before sending the results home that night.

I may ask in one of my many meetings if this can be changed - although I doubt it!

No one told my DD she had failed.

The school didn't make any fuss of the magic '100', so when DDs scores were sent home (in a sealed envelope on a Friday, best way imo) we told her her scores, said we were really proud of her.

We also said don't discuss scores with others, as either they'll have done better than you in which case you might be sad, or you will have done better than them, in which case they might be sad.

It doesn't matter what she scores she will have achieved so much since starting school she should be tremendously proud.

Just tell her shes passed and have a good laugh about how SATS dont even include the most important questions in life about why she's so beautiful, funny, kind etc Then take her out somewhere for a treat to celebrate.

You can also explain SATs aren't about how good she is herself theyre about how good her teachers are at explaining things to the students.

I've never received any SATs scores for any of my children (I've been told I should have by law but still never received any). Its been easier for me to just laugh them off because no one had any results to compare but I do have my youngest yet to go through them. I have no intention of sending him into school early for extra revision or finish late for more revision. Its completely unnecessary imho. If they dont know it by now they wont know it from cramming.

Tell the school you do not wish them to inform your daughters. Are these ks1 or ks2 sats?

Also my DS "failed" one of his SATs and that was a very good thing as he automatically got extra help at secondary school.

I would put it in writing that you do not want your DD informed of the result of her SATs without you being present, and they are not to call it "failure" as if anyone has failed it is the school who failed to teach her well enough.

Lots of school have students who appear in year 6, sometimes not even speaking English but do not label these children as failures because they do not get the "desired" SATs levels.

If the teacher actually said that he would tell children scoring below 100 that they had failed I would complain to the head. Totally unacceptable.

I would have serious questions about a teacher who plans on telling kids they have failed SATs. Thankfully DDs school keep it low key, with the emphasis on showing how much they have learned in primary rather than levels, passes or fails.

Thanks everyone - as I said before sometimes you are just too emotionally attached to the problem to see the whole picture. I will talk to the teacher at our next review of her ILP (if that ever happens have asked 3 times now for a meeting this term - I will be so glad when we get to High School as we know the SENCO there!)

There was a culture of talking about pass/fail at my DC's school. Its so discouraging. I think this important enough to make an appointment with the head to discuss the school's general approach and the language used.

I also think its bad practise to give children their results directly at school. A sealed envelope sent home on a Friday is sufficient, with perhaps a little handwritten comment from the teacher.

DD’s School took each child off privately and told them their scores. Then they came home in writing a few days later. I don’t think that’s the best approach sadly.