SATs week is here

[paxillin]

Starting tomorrow with spag. Did you manage to stop yours fretting?

Mine aren't fretting. Neither are we. Neither is anyone we know. The sats count for nothing for the kids it's a measure for the school. We've barely given it a second thought. I'd be concerned if kids were fretting over it!

My dd quite enjoyed the actual week. They didn’t do much else and they were treated like royalty with breakfast club and extra playtimes. The actual tests are quite short.

To my child I just said that the hard work was over now and that she just needed to do what she could.

Yes, I got the royalty vibe, too, special play times only for year 6s, early start for all.

Secondaries here use it for initial setting, so the kids do feel it is important and the school has talked about little else for weeks.

My DD is starting her Sats tomorrow so we are having a chilled out weekend. The pressure the school has put on the kids since September is immense. Will be glad when this week is done.

Ah OK it's not used for setting here and nobody is bothered

But they looking forward to pizza, bbq, bouncy castle, etc at the end

Hi, room for one more on the SATs bench?

Ditto Tattletale - school have been putting on the pressure since Sept - at our end we've tried to keep home life as normal as possible and lots of chances to unwind and exercise. There's actually parents who are paying for private tutors in DS's class - I'm really at a loss why. They have their DCs secondary school place guaranteed and if it's a bid to make sure their DC will be placed in a top set then unless they're going to carry on paying for private tuition then surely they're setting their own DC up for a tough start at secondary school when they struggle to keep up with the pace of work?

I cannot wait for the week to be over. It has been hellish. DS is totally out of sorts and everyone else is feeling the effects.

(ASD)

It's really difficult to counteract the stress the school puts them under. They have been in streamed prep classes since September. I don't know anyone who got tutors for it though, that is quite extreme.

Joining in.

So far my child is pretty calm about it all. The school have an 8am breakfast club set up for the week and they've all selected their morning treats before the tests.

Why do the schools put the year 6’s under such pressure. I know the results aren’t going to have any long term positives or negatives for the pupils and it’s all down to school wanting to show off their results. Surely if good teaching is given there shouldn’t be any need for SATS to take off the year. A school which has additional homework, early morning classes etc is a poor school imo. Sounds like teachers and schools are panicking.

Around here, it is the already very good schools who put the most pressure on.

The problem we had, was both Yr 6 teachers left shortly after September, and they have since been filling with cover from 4/5 teachers over the 5 days.

Ugh.

Hmmm. My son's school didn't do them so nobody gave a stuff😊.

Is that a state primary, @LesLavandes? I didn't know schools could opt out.

They can't.

When my DD did them we arranged fun stuff all week, going for ice cream with their friends, going to a tea room together after school and stuff like that. At the end of the week they said it'd been the best week in ages. We'd told them not to worry about the SATs, it was to test the teachers not them.

Mine aren't in Y6 but my DD is about to take Y2 SATs. I notice that her school is very low pressure about them - just as it should be. Breakfast every day for Y6 plus extra playtimes and fun during the week. Y2 are getting lots of fun activities and games. Newsletter for Y2 said that children have not been told about the SATs and it's being treated as routine exercises.

Lots of early bedtimes and fun at home in the evenings is what I'm aiming for.

Yes, in year 2 ours managed to keep the actual SATs week a secret. Lots of tests before, so the kids weren't sure which ones were the SATs.

Paxillin - no private

Y6 here too. School have done lots of prep, mixed with loads of 'down time'. Kids have been told to do their best, but absolutely forbidden to worry.

DD is very relaxed, we've had a very chilled weekend. Don't plan to celebrate or offer extra treats, as that implies that the SATs are more important that we're leading her to believe.

Dc1 doing sats this week. School also doing lots of treats. He is looking forward to it and not stressed. At last parents evening we were told he should do well. His new school for sept use marks for initial setting

All very chilled here. DS has opted out of the SATS breakfast but I've got lots of lovely breakfasts for home - pancakes with nutella etc - and some treaty packed lunches to keep him going. I think he's going to find the week pretty boring but not too stressful. I know other kids at the same school who are very anxious, which is a shame. Not used for streaming in his secondary, so the pressure is off for us.

No pressure here altought lots at school. I have bought her snacks to take for the week and she seems more concerned with those. that said there was an unusual outburst over nothing earlier so that's probably her latent worry. glad when it's over.

*although (hopefully DD is better at spelling than me)