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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

year 6 after sats

32 replies

mumofsomeone · 25/05/2019 09:20

Are your kids having any homework after Sats? I am only asking because for the past week did nothing relevant to curriculum and for the rest of week (off) have no homework; They only did auditions for a school play, drawing and play even more. Is this normal?

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Hiddeninplainsight · 25/05/2019 09:53

My Y5 DD is desperately excited about Y6 because the Y6 have reported that the will do "no learning" now because they have fully covered the KS2 NC curriculum. But in all fairness, they do learn stuff from plays and sports and the trip, and all the 'fun' stuff.

Urbanvoltaire · 25/05/2019 09:58

Yes, mine had no homework thankfully, they did a few days out, sports day, rehearsal for year end production. Time out of the classroom best spent.

Rockbird · 25/05/2019 10:03

Ours are continuing as normal. Curriculum and homework. DD1 is furious because it was sold to her as a fun time after SATs and it really isn't.

TheSmallAssassin · 25/05/2019 10:08

Why do you want your child to have homework? There isn't any benefit in it for primary children. Let them enjoy half term!

spanieleyes · 25/05/2019 10:10

They've had a bit of a break this week-with just one week between the end of SATS and the end of term. Next term however it's business as usual with the addition of the end of term production!

Flurgle · 25/05/2019 10:17

We are working- lots of writing to make sure all the evidence is there. Catching up on history, science etc as it has all been very sats focused recently.
We could not possibly let them off timetable- the behaviour would be appalling

caughtinanet · 25/05/2019 10:19

You're saying it like it's a bad thing, no live chances are going to be spoilt by a lack of homework in the last few weeks of primary school.

Usuallyinthemiddle · 25/05/2019 10:21

It's marvellous.

supersonictraveller · 25/05/2019 11:03

Yes, no homework, just fun. Next half term, it's all about school play, sports day, residential and concert. Great.

Original poster

mumofsomeone · 25/05/2019 11:04

spanieleyes, yes that i would imagine a bit of catching up at history, science etc. But nothing at all is not good for kids, then what is the point of spending such a long time at school, they could call it a day and simply sent them camping or something like this.

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IHeartKingThistle · 25/05/2019 11:11

I'm a bit torn on this. I don't like exam pressure on Year 6s and feel like they absolutely deserve some fun stuff. But I teach secondary English and many Year 7s come to us unable to work to the standard their SATs scores say they can. I think there are a lot of reasons for that but I do sometimes wonder if not doing much work from May to September is part of it.

Gobblebox · 25/05/2019 11:18

I say this as someone who was in formal education until age 25........Childhood is so short. Play play play. I can’t wait for my year 5 dc to have a good break between year 6 and 7 - in fact have booked a long cultural Easter 2020 holiday to ease the pressure of year 6 tests. It had no impact on my now year 9 dc. Both are summer born so missed out already having started school a less than a fortnight after turning four......And the fun times rapidly diminish at an alarming rate now they test them every minute in secondary school.

Pieceofpurplesky · 25/05/2019 12:08

When you say 'draw' do you mean art? Part of the curriculum probably overlooked. And by auditions do you mean study the play that they won't have done prior to SATs - so drama.
Both skills that they will study at secondary

ElenadeClermont · 25/05/2019 16:14

No homework here, but in school they work on their writing and science SATS till the end of June. SATS are not over yet.
They are also catching up on everything else, like music, drama, arts and lots of PE. They have done very little of these for months.

Original poster

mumofsomeone · 25/05/2019 17:09

@Pieceofpurplesky, art but the art is draw sun, houses etc rather than learning art as you say and by auditioning i mean the school makes a play for year 6. The role of the play is being given to 7 out of 60 kids. So the 7 have to learn the lines and the other 53 watch in a boredom. Which do makes sense of course to learn and put the whole play together for us to watch at some point in July, but all day long since May is a bit too much i think. With this rate many of them will forget how to hold a pencil.

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Attache · 25/05/2019 18:15

Big "self-directed" project - I am not a fan - plus swimming, cookery, and yes they have an art day etc.

froomeonthebroom · 25/05/2019 18:26

Ours did a school play, enterprise, sports day, art, tech stuff with an outside company, gardening and a minimal amount of maths and English. I felt they deserved the break and learnt a lot from the off curriculum stuff. There's plenty of time at secondary school to knuckle down imo.

AllPizzasGreatAndSmall · 25/05/2019 20:32

The role of the play is being given to 7 out of 60 kids. So the 7 have to learn the lines and the other 53 watch in a boredom.
What a totally crap way to do a year group play.

Rockbird · 26/05/2019 09:27

Ha. Same thing happened at our school on friday. Half a dozen parts and 54 standing on stage doing nothings. DD1 has never been chosen for more than one line despite the fact she's been in the (small) school drama club for years and desperately wanted a go.

modgepodge · 26/05/2019 10:29

Firstly, schools have to submit writing judgements (teacher assessed) in June, after half term I’d imagine most schools are doing lots of writing to ensure they have adequate evidence for that.

In my opinion (as an ex y6 teacher) a week of chilling after SATS is good, and the rest of term should be spent covering the subjects which have likely been neglected the rest of this year - PE, drama, art, history, geography. I always kept some maths and English in there, albeit in a more relaxed manner, to ensure they could still write a sentence and add two numbers together come September, plus as PP said, behaviour deteriorates with no routine or teaching happening.

Would be very surprised if any school is genuinely putting on a play with only 7 speaking parts for 60 kids. The nature of all plays is some children have more lines than others, and yes, these will likely go to the 7 strongest actors. Who may previously have had speaking parts, because they were also too in previous years. Just like the same kids have likely been selected for the football team each year. In an ideal world all kids would get a chance to be a lead part - but I’ve done plays where I’ve cast shy children in large parts to try to be more inclusive and frankly it’s not fun for anyone - rehearsals are a nightmare and everyone spends the whole play struggling to hear them.

Rockbird · 26/05/2019 12:18

How would the teacher even know who is good if they don't give the kids a chance? Same faces all the time. This means that if you make a good impression in reception then you're set until year 6. That's a shitty way to run things.

TeenTimesTwo · 26/05/2019 15:56

How would the teacher even know who is good if they don't give the kids a chance? Same faces all the time. This means that if you make a good impression in reception then you're set until year 6.

This happened with my shy, not very articulate DD2. She didn't get more than about 4 words in anything all the way up the school. Then in her year 6 leavers she got a medium-big part which she did confidently and well. I had a lot of people coming up to me saying in surprised voices how well she did. We weren't all that surprised, as she had done extra curricular drama on and off since she was 5...

ShawshanksRedemption · 26/05/2019 19:05

Year 6

There will be the play (and auditions) - but there will also be props to make, scenes to paint, and costumes to sort out. And I know some parents are not happy when their child has only 1 line, but as someone who is helping organise the play this year I'll do my best. It may surprise you to hear that some teachers just won't touch it with a 10ft barge pole for all the grief that came with it after last year... Anyway, there will be auditions and we'll go from there. Having done assemblies in the past, the staff kind of know who will be OK and who will corpse in front of an audience, but I'll be looking at enthusiasm, commitment to learn lines, and people who want to be a part of a team and not just the star on stage.

The other part of the time will be fund-raising/enterprise, which will involve maths and creative skills. Literacy will be looking at pushing for improving work to get to "Expected" or "Greater Depth" so we have evidence for moderation when it comes round.

There will be sports day practice and swimming too. Behind the scenes staff will be arranging end of year celebrations with a party (plus entertainment), yearbook and hoodies. Oh and also having meetings with year 5 teachers about the kids they are about to inherit, so there is a handover.

It may look like nothing is happening on the face of it, but it's actually one of the busier times of the year!!

Parker231 · 26/05/2019 19:07

Homework isn’t compulsory for primary years. Better spending their time doing sport, music, drama or just playing.

ShawshanksRedemption · 26/05/2019 19:08

Oh and of course the year 6s will have their taster days at their secondary schools and the Head of Year 7 visits to our own school to meet the pupils individually.

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