Year 6 - how much SATS preparation does your school do?

[Dancergirl]

We had an email saying that all homework for this term is doing practice SATS papers. Personally I think this is too much and seems very dull.

Is this the norm now?

Not in my school. All year 6 pupils will be doing work leading up to SATs week but it is done in a way that is non-threatening and for them they are simply learning more. They will have some practice exams because that is part of the skill of our year 6 teachers in preparing all the pupils for the exams.
Having observed as Chair of Governors the actual exams on SATs week, all the pupils sitting the exams, breeze through them with the minimum of anxiety. They all bring in their favourite fluffy toy or something similar and the only people who get uptight about the exams are parents!
I however accept that this is not the norm in many schools. Doing practice exams as homework I consider as a poor use of the practice exam documents and actually does not in anyway help the pupils with exam technique.

Thank you admission that's interesting. Dd's school are using an online resource called Monster SATS. They have a log-on and are supposed to complete about 3 papers per week for the rest of the term. I have no idea if they are marked or how feedback is given.

It just seems so soul destroying to have such a heavy focus on the SATS with 4 months to go. A few practice papers done in the weeks before would be enough wouldn't it?

My child's school does practice in class and does a breakfast club which they encourage you to attend.

but not homework
They've made more of a fuss about it that I would have liked

DS2's teacher is running booster sessions after school. It's voluntary and DS2 didn't want to do them so I said that was fine. He's said they're not doing much SATs stuff in class and were probably doing more test papers in Yr5!

It's a lot more relaxed this year compared to last year. Ds1 was in Yr6 last year and it was non-stop SATs from October after an Ofsted of Doom. DS1 has ASD and did not cope well in the run-up but was completely fine for the actually SATs. When the results came in, the number of children meeting the expected level in maths and English was actually down on the previous year (2016 33% 2017 25%). Ofsted remarked despite the best efforts the results reflected the years of previous poor teaching.

OP, that sounds ridiculous.

My DD is in Year 6 and my observations are very similar to admission's experience as CoG. DD has done one set of practise papers, in the autumn term, to familiarise her with the test format and exam conditions, and she will do another set this term.

There is no extra homework, booster classes or non-stop testing, and everything is kept as low-key as possible.

Once a week year 6 have a morning by themselves (there are only 7 in the year) with a different teacher to do "sats practice". It's all fun rather than pressured.

However it's not a typical mumsnet school at all.... It's v small with lots of art and drama and a school dog!

Thank you. The question is what do I do about it, if anything?

Not a lot you can do about it, our school does practice papers from Jan as homework too. They are not expected to do tgem as a timed test, and can ask for help. Best practice is to add a post it to the homework showing the areas where DC asked and got help.Even if homework for a Y6 wasn't a practice paper, you can be sure that the homework given would be directly linked to SATS levels anyway. I have no great problem with it, surely familiarity with the question style just makes the kids prepared and less likely to be fazed by it all in May.