My sons missing 2 days of SATS

[Bright4880]

Hi , my husband booked a surprise holiday to Florida as our Xmas present and it's just hit me it's his year 6 sats that week and he will miss 2 days , I'm so worried

How long are you going for? He will miss one paper, the last maths one, on the Thursday.

Isnt that missing 1 day? I thought SATs were for 4 days

DDs high school stream classes according to SAT scores.

Thursday is usually 2 maths tests.

In the news letter it says mon -fri for the sats . I don't really agree with these exams as all I've read over the years is that it's mainly for the school and to be honest when my son started the school the class was let down by teachers keep leaving ect . So I don't feel I owe the school anything but just feel sad for my son as I do understand all the hard work he will be doing will not get recognised. We have looked into changing the dates but the cost is just not possible

Sats are 4 days so he'll only miss the Thursday one. Honestly I wouldn't be bothered by him missing the one day. Every secondary we have looked at has said they use SATS results for streaming for the first month or so then assess them and group accordingly. we have specifically chosen a school that does not stream classes in yr 7.

What time do you leave on Thursday, would it be possible for your son to sit it early that morning. Then you keep him off any social media etc, so he can't communicate with any of his mates. Check with school

That's made me feel a little better at least , my poor husband never does anything grand like this and I feel I've just stressed about it since Christmas Day and put a dampener on the holiday

I wouldn't worry my son took his SATS last year and his secondary school have tested them all in the first few weeks of starting secondary school so don't think the secondary school my son is at take much notice of SATS. It's just really for the primary school to see their progress and how well they are teaching/ reaching targets. Also at my sons school in year 7 they are not put into sets they are all mixed ability groups.

Depends whether he's on track to pass or not.

Genuine question.. how can he on track to pass if he misses them?

I wouldn't worry. Enjoy Florida

All the local secondaries track against sats results. They take CATS too - some schools before they start in September, some towards the end of the first half term. SATS very key in setting, more so obviously when they are set right from the get-go, which was the case at both dc1 and dc2’s (separate) comprehensives. At dds school, only set initially for English, maths and science. At ds1’s school set for pretty much everything.

Personally I would try and change the holiday dates.

It’s unfair on your dc and unfair on the primary.

I got worried about missing any SAT stuff & we're booked to go away 20th of June!

Dds secondary school everything seems to be based on sats results - all the streaming etc. It’s the “baseline” used. May not be the case for all schools though.

SATS results impact the school. If he is on track to pass then school will probably be more keen to try and get him to do them, however possible, as will help their results. If he was unlikely to pass then him missing them might not impact their results as much

Deeply unfair to your son. He will spend all of year 6 being schooled in how to pass the sats, only to not sit them. Wtf was your h thinking??

We leave early on the thurs so that's not possible, he's where he should be so I'm not overly concerned. We wouldn't take him away in secondary school during term time . That was my husbands thinking, last big holiday before he starts

Ex-secondary school teacher here, in year 7 we got lots of children who arrived without SATS and they then do CATS anyway and were all re-set after that. Too much pressure is placed on young children, they should be enjoying trips and family time wherever possible (in my view), so I wouldn't worry about it. He'll do the majority of them and either catch up or miss the Thursday ones, not the end of the world.

I'm am ex-teacher and plan on taking my dc out when they are that age. Don't worry about it.

Dds school there were no other tests it was all on sats. I wish I had known how important they were apparently “for the school” but actually important for the individual.

As it seems he will sit the first 3 day's so will miss 1 day , as I said my husband wasn't aware of the sats dates

Hi, I'm an ex-primary school teacher and I honestly think it's no big deal

Cool story, bro.

Thank you for everyone's advice x

Speaking as a year 6 teacher I'm not sure his teacher would see a great deal of point helping him much.

If he doesn't understand something the teacher's valuable time would be better spent helping another kid.

No teacher would admit to this not but what is the point teaching to the test, which is all year 6 do from January, if he won't be there.

Does his dad normally pay so little attention to school matters?