My child missing KS2 SATS

[ClareJK]

Hi, my father has been very unwell, when he was diagnosed, he said if he gets better we will have a family holiday. Thankfully he is on the mend and has kindly booked a family holiday to Disney in the US. However, despite advising on dates, the holiday has been booked during SATS week. To be honest, I went into denial about this at first and really didn't want to make an issue, as my children were presented the holiday as a gift for Xmas. My child has achieved decent results at 11+ and we are happy missing the SATS won't affect her too much, but the school are very unhappy and trying to push me to cancel or delay our holiday. We have two more children still at school and really didn't mean to cause this amount of upset. Help, what would you do, we are due to leave in 2 days!

The problem I see with all these posts is that the poor bloody teachers have such ridiculous performance measures that one child doing something differently seriously affects their numbers

exactly. The culture around sats in year 6 horrifies me and is so bad for our children's mental well being.

Your family commitments are more important. SATs and the culture around them have got totally out of hand. I’d be up for a mass boycott of them tbh. It is shocking how much emphasis is put on them and I do not think you will regret spending this time with your Dad.

I’d imagine she is just thankful that her dad is ok and now well. Jeez some people on here??

Well, the way it’s meant to work is that you take the grade that each DC got in Year 2 and decide what that would ‘normally’ predict in Year 6. So a 2B in Year 2 would be expected to produce an ‘At Age Related Expectations’ in Year 6. If that child produces an ‘At Greater Depth’ result, it’s a sign that the school has done a good job. If the child produces a ‘Working Towards’ result, the school has done a bad job.

That isn't quite right. The KS1 attainment puts pupil into a PAG (prior attainment group) across all subjects- so not reading to reading. Pupils stay in the same prior attainment group, which is based on their average point score at key stage 1, when their separate progress scores in English reading, English writing and mathematics are calculated.

Reading and writing are averaged (so 25% each of the final PAG score) but maths stands alone and so is 50% (double weighted) and so a child that got L3 in maths but a 2c in reading and writing would be predicted much high grades in reading at the end of KS2 than a child who got 2cs across the board in KS1.

A 2b across the board at KS1 would be an average of 15 which would be PAG group 15 and would set a 102.94 in reading, 101.17 in writing (not a possible score) and 102.30 in mathematics.

A 2b in maths with a 2c in reading and a 2c in writing would set 100.66 in reading, 98.64 in writing and 100.33 in mathematics.

A L3 in maths with a 2b in reading and a 2b in writing would set 108.72 in reading, 105.61 in writing and 107.32 in mathematics. It assumes a L3 was a 3b at 21 points.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/763614/Primary_school_accountability_technical_guide_2018_.pdf

This isn’t education though is it?! This is BS assessment that harms everyone by turning people into data. We aren’t numbers. That is truly dangerous thinking and removes all human kindness and individuality.

This is why I left teaching and won’t be returning until they remove testing and all this number crunching which at best obscures, and at worse crushes lovely, very small, curious little people.

Have some backbone and boycott. If you are a governor back your staff to the hilt to boycott.

These targets are necessary because without them I would not bother to stretch the more able or encourage the strugglers, I would just sit in the corner of my classroom and drink gin.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Effyouceekay

I'd missed this post.... bloody brilliant!!

These targets are necessary because without them I would not bother to stretch the more able or encourage the strugglers, I would just sit in the corner of my classroom and drink gin.

@Kingscotestaff

Have some backbone and boycott. If you are a governor back your staff to the hilt to boycott.

Do you mean teachers or parents? As you know, teachers have to have union backing or any such boycott would be illegal, since SATs are statutory and here to stay (whatever DollyRose the tealady thinks - dates are already in place for until at least 2021).

The NEU are making noises for next year, but I'll believe it when I see it. And will be straight in there if they do.

DollyRose the tea lady 🤣🤣🤣

.....and this is just one reason why KS2 levels should be completely Teacher Assessment levels ONLY. One day, just one day, we may just get politicians who get this.

Stupid bloody government.

Primary teacher here, go on your holiday and enjoy it 👍🏼

I’m a parent not a teacher. I would boycott SATS in a second if it was a big organised protest. Sadly I think a lot of parents wouldn’t as many actually believe all this shit about SATS, look at Ofsted reports and think everything is the teachers’ fault. These tend to be the same parents who complained and asked for extra work when the primary school started setting less homework and doing less marking. It’s awful and if parents actually stood up and refused en masse to let their kids take the tests something would have to change.

I'm a school governor and we were recently advised that he rules have changed this year and KS2 SATs no longer have to be sat at the same time throughout the country. I'm not sure how flexible this is but it's worth speaking to school again to see if DD could do them in a different week.

Why should the school have to put themselves out to do the SATs on a different day (if that's even possible for a child on holiday)? They could end up doing them every day for the rest of the term. Why should the teacher have to have that extra hassle?

concerned this is true for children who are sick / in hospital / have a broken arm, but it still involves parents guaranteeing that the sick / injured kids have had no physical or social media contact with any other children until they take the exams.

However, children absent for term time holidays are specifically excluded from those allowances.

I don't think the OP has any intention of not going on holiday otherwise she'd have sorted this out well before having a faux panic 2 days beforehand

It's more likely that the OP has only now realised how much she has annoyed the school and is worried about her future relationship with them because she has 2 other children there. So more about how the OP comes across to the school than how it affects the child involved.

I am no fan of SATs, but I wouldn't take a holiday in that period as the year 6 work is almost entirely, IME focused towards those darn tests and the child may feel that they are missing out because the other children talk about it as well (and there may be treats afterwards, biscuits and doughnuts featured heavily at my DD's school!).

^this, what ChicCroissant said. Op is bothered that school are pissed off with her not that the poor teacher may not get their pay rise op doesn't give a stuff because apparently her kids academic performance is all down to a tutor anyway 😂

Bet the Grammar School will be thrilled as well, they will have other pupils without SATs but it would have helped their stats too!

OP - have an amazing holiday - it’s much more important than SATS. It’s ridiculous the pressure put on 10 year olds - a year of teaching wasted on endless practising to pass a test.

Concerned, they never had to be taken at the same time across the country, schools just had to make a notification if they were administering the tests to groups of children at different times during the day. That's gone now.

I work in a school. We have had unwell children take the test in a classroom or other available room in school on their own basically in quarentine with only a teacher present then go straight home. Anything from vomiting to chickenpox. They are that much of a big deal for the school.

SATS SHMATS. Enjoy your lovely holiday, though you may get a fine.

Bet you would have moved the holiday if it was booked during the 11+

@theColonel - well the 11+ would actually affect OPs DC future choices and education, whereas SATs will not, so that would be entirely reasonable.

Of course but it's a bit selfish when it's such an important 4 days for the school and the holiday doesn't have to be those 4 days