How to help reluctant son revise for SATs tests in May

[jessicajones18852]

Having a bit of a difficult time lately with revision. My son is very reluctant to do some extra revision for his upcoming SATs tests in May and while I'm in no way pushing him to do lots of extra work, I would like him to at least do some practise.

His teacher has suggested that he might not achieve the expected level in his tests- he is very borderline though so I think a little bit of extra revision would really help. Problem is he doesn't seem to ever want to - I've bought him a couple of SATs workbooks though he is simply not interested.

My teacher has suggested a site called MONSTER SATS which has online practice papers which she says kids sometimes find more engaging than just using paper and pen. Anyone using this site or have any suggestions on how to encourage him to do a little extra?

Thanks!

Whilst I couldn't give 2 hoots about SATS per sec, I do think its important that my dc have a good grasp of the educational content you need to reach the expected standard. That's the foundation they'll build on in secondary.

Don't, encourage him to do his best BUT not to get stressed over them as they are not important in the great scheme of things.

They are only to mark how the school has preformed in teaching so the government can rate schools.

FWIW my eldest barely 'passed' her SATS in English and yet now in Yr 9 she in in the top sets and is predicted to get a 7 (A) in her GCSE.

Don't do anything. He is far to young to have to revise for a test that's in no way beneficial to him. He will be subject to pressure at school. They are telling you this quite clearly and pressurising you to help them.

Why does it matter what he gets? Genuine question. I thought they did nothing but act as a rating for the school?

DS1 got into a big anxiety about SATs last year. I honestly would have pulled him from them if I didn’t know they were spending every waking minute at school going on and on about them- not by school’s choice inhaste t to add, and I know they hate them too - but OP they are for the school to be judged by 1 not your DC- make sure your DC knows this too. Don’t do any Easter classes or extra shit for this. Refuse extra cramming classes. None of this is for your DC.

The view that SATs are only there to judge the school is not true , or at least only partially true.
Your children’s GCSE targets at secondary will be based on SATs results.

It’s a double sided sword: if you do too well, these high targets can be terribly burdensome.
If you don’t do well enough you are easily written off and left to coast, as you are meeting very low expectations.

Having been through SATs with two dc myself I let them do homework and revision set by school, but I also revised the ridiculous holiday timetable down by insisting on “days off”.

I feel for the teachers, as their performance is judged on SATs results, but I wish they would transmit less of their fear to the kids!

My daughter was one who did too well in her SATs. She got put into level 6 groups in her primary where they tried to help children achieve level 6 but often they didn't get it, and they made this clear. My daughter is very competitive and didn't like the idea of not achieving it if she sat the test, so worked really hard at home on past papers and came top in all of them. It was beyond her natural ability and made her appear to be cleverer than a few others who I knew were naturally more able than her. She is now in year 11 and those SAT levels are often mentioned when the ridiculously high target grades are given! You want him to do his best bit not to inflate his ability too much. I don't think I could however, just leave it completely. I personally would like to see him atleast to start to get a good work ethic. I think this is more important than the actual result. Just being familiar with the lay out of the paper is quite an advantage.

I would focus on core skills like times tables, spellings and reading as these are the basic tools for everything and will serve him well not just in SATs but also in secondary school.