Has the SATs caused this reaction in my 11 year old?

[SunsetOnTheHorizon]

I have a reserved shy 11 year old. She's not into any new trend or doesn't have any social media or a phone. She's loves shopping, stationery and enjoys singing. So nothing worrying there.

She's returned to school this term and the teachers have gone gung ho about the SATs. Like full on constant reminders about how many weeks are left. They have tests to complete at home (at one point she spent 2 hours stuck to the laptop and even took it to her bedroom as it was getting past her bedtime)

The teachers are more stern generally, they want the best results. And this school has a reputation for obsessing about the SATs (even a rumour about the Head leaking the papers - way before my time)

Now - this week. She's became a shell of herself. She is constantly exhausted. Either in bed or on the sofa. Nothing interets her anymore. She hardly talks to anyone. I've sent her to school a few days this week only for her to return crying. And now I've decided not to send her until I meet with the SLT (which is happening next week)

Now - can I attribute this reaction in her to the SATs? Bearing in mind she had a sickness in the holidays but she fully recovered. These symptoms presented once she started the new term.

She refuses to go back. Doesn't like her school. But never in my life did I expect her to end up like this...

I heard SATs can be stressful - but this? I'm really concerned about her - hoping she bounces out of this phase. She hardly laughs or plays with her sister anymore.

Any input would be appreciated.

You could perhaps reassure your DD that not doing them is an option. You could take her out of school for two weeks if you need. She can see how she feels, but having that as a backup may be all she needs to feel the pressure lift.

SATs are a waste of time really with the exception that they provide an indication of if the school is doing it’s job well enough.

I too would ensure my child was not at school on SATs days and let my child know this was going to be the case and that SATs are for testing schools not children.

That’s not really true though. It’s the Dc they do the tests. We cannot get away from that. Teachers are invested in them. They do want to see Dc do well. They know them well and they do think results matter. Near misses do concern them!

Many people look at school sats results when considering a school. How many times on MN do we hear that a school is high achieving so it was chosen? The op did this. So they matter to prospective parents too. However impressive results should not be by over stressing Dc. It’s counter productive.

Just keep her off school on SATs week. School will provide level to high school based on work throughout the year. Nothing is worth that amount of stress to an 11 year old, it's crazy.

Could be.

My sweet tempered, totally chilled out 10yo ended up screaming at his swimming teacher, he was so stressed over sats. Primary schools make a ridiculous fuss over them and do a lot of harm.

Secondary schools do often say that but, in my experience, that's not the whole truth. The issues are more caused by the lower expectations of the children in Key Stage 3 and the fact that the curriculum isn't progressive at that point and, in most subjects, the majority of children end up repeating what they've already done during Y7 and some of Y8.

That's also something that's been shown by research into education. There's a reason why Y7, Y8 and Y9 were labelled as "The Wasted Years".

Along with CATs they used SATs to set them for secondary and annoyingly used it as a flight path to GCSE grade predictions too. Ds excelled in secondary and went way beyond his average grade flight path.

Yes and once it looks as if they are likely to excede their target grades some secondary schools lose interest in putting interventions in for them, concentrating instead on those who have not met some fight path based on some tests taken in yr6. Obviously not all schools, but some.

@Iamnotthe1
Schools need to get to grips with the Ofsted Framework as it relates to the curriculum then! I don’t recognise what you are saying about y7/8 in most schools. Ofsted would be horrified! No wonder some schools are RI or worse if y7/8 repeats y6.

It's not that those schools aren't teaching the curriculum: it's quite the opposite. The primary and secondary curriculums were written at different times and the latter does not lead directly on from the former. There is very little, for example, in the Y7 Maths curriculum that has not already been taught in Y5 and Y6. In fact, any child getting a high "expected" in their Y6 SATs (107/108/109) or a "Greater Depth (110+), would stand a reasonable chance of getting a 4 or 5 on the Maths GCSE foundation papers if taken at the end of Y6. There was an experiment done where they mixed up foundation GCSE Maths questions and SATs Maths questions: experienced teachers could not successfully re-sort them.

The disconnected curriculum is true for a number of subjects. It's something that was also pointed out by teachers on this forum during remote learning when they found that the lesson they were teaching and those their children were having were not that far apart despite there being years of difference between the ages of the children involved.

It's not the fault of the teachers or, to an extent, even the school in general. It's an issue in the education system and why there need to be some changes made.

Just to answer a few queries.

I can keep her off for SATs week - but what's the point? The damage they are causing (caused) her during the preparation for SATs is what I'm worried about. Not the actual tests. If they did the SATs without the constant threat of missing golden time or being told to go next door. Or a teacher constantly banging on about how many weeks are left than I wouldn't mind. Nor would she!! She loves tests. And has actually asked me to buy her more workbooks, lots of them. She loves working out and giving herself a mark and then checking how much she scored etc.

And the laptop in the bedroom was a one off situation - when I saw her do this (it was taken off her in less then 5 mins - no screens upstairs). That's when it hit me, that she's highly anxious. Otherwise all Internet usage is monitored and happens in front of me under my watchful gaze.

Perhaps I didn't explain how bad she had gotten (I use past tense as she's better now and I'll explain what I did) As I see it - she totally shut down. Didn't let anyone in, everything was a 'dream' to her. And keeping her off school - I used various methods to get her to talk - eventually she did (in the third person) but she explained everything about her 'dissappearence'

I didn't attend the meeting with the Deputy as tbf - nothing appealed to her or.me about the school anymore. She had no solid friends - her teachers weren't the nicest.

I moved her! She's in another local school. And they told her on her induction WE DONT STRESS YOU OUT WITH SATS!! ITS FOR THE SCHOOLS BENEFIT." Now, maybe they shouldn't have said that or whatever. Bottom line - I couldn't give two hoots. My DD is back. She smiles, she laughs, she runs, she's excited about stuff, she plays and annoys her siblings, she gobbles her favourite food, she gives me chat back!!! It's plain and simple - she was burnt out/stressed out whatever its called with this pressure. Now if I did that as a parent and she went to school like that - all ill and exhausted. I could be questioned about her health, and if she got worse Social Service's might even intervene! How and why can a school get away it? Get away for effing her mind over with this pressure! I see it as abuse. Totally effed up. Not sure who to approach with my experience - MP sounds good. As did another suggestion. But I am one raging parent. I have a happy child - who can enjoy the last few months of her primary school life. I did what any caring loving parent would have done.

@SunsetOnTheHorizon
So your original post was Friday and she’s back to normal by Wednesday?

You have always avoided asking yourself: why did you choose the school in the first place? Sats swayed it. It was high achieving. You have had teachers you and dd didn’t like. That’s bad luck but the ethos of the school was pretty evident I think. I assume you have done due diligence for secondary school! Or do you have a place at the local hot house? Just wondering why you don’t reflect on what you wanted and let it get to half way through y6 before you realised.

Is “gotten” past tense?

Are you someone affiliated with the school? And I didn't know I'm sitting a grammar test - no need to point out mistakes? And are u even a parent like you say you are? From everything I mentioned all you do is defend the school? Not a shred of compassion? And no, I didn't seek out this amazing fucking school. I moved to the area and this was the only place that had space for my 3 children - not that you need to know!! And my post was about the pressure associated with SATs not "please tell me why I chose this school?" Get a life! Get off threads where you can't stick to the topic. And any sane minded person would identify when their child is struggling under the pressure the school applies. That's all I did. Identify her worries and addressed them. Why the fck am I explaining this to you.

That is great news and I remember a similar instant transformation in one of my dc when they moved school. One of the joys of childhood seems to be that although worries can be all encompassing they can also soon be lifted. Hopefully she will make some new friends to see her into secondary. Are her siblings younger or older? Will they move too?

Oh and when we move we saw the new school on Friday afternoon, dc wanted to move and so started on the Monday. Things can move quickly when moving schools.

*moved

My son went to school from 3 to 9 in Spain. We moved back to the UK knowing we would have to really help with SATS because his written English was poor. As a family we made a plan and I only went back to work part time so I was at home as soon as he came back from school to help him revise. It was structured, timely (20 minutes a night) and consistent. We did mini mock tests at home when he wanted to also (mostly at the weekends and holidays). His results were in the top 1% in the UK across all the subjects. I love my son dearly but he can be lazy and he is bright but he’s not a natural genius he has to work for it. I am not trying to brag about him I’m just trying to explain that my help mostly structuring his revision to be the most effective really helped him. I don’t think 2 hours on a laptop for an 11 year old is a good use if her time and I can understand why she is getting stressed. If this is what the school is expecting then indeed it is not acceptable. I hope you find a way to help her as 11 is such a difficult age.

Typos in my post but I am also not great at spelling and grammar my son was better than me by the end of SATS! I pay for grammarly every year and it really helps.

I’ve just read you have moved her. Hope she is settled. My son moved school in Spain due to bullying and it was the best decision we ever made👍

schools are rarely truly student centred or properly holistic. The government agenda has seen to that. Schools have a bit between their teeth and SATS are their sole mission. However I would dictate the following to the school. That your child won’t be completing homework and will not be punished for uncompleted work as long as she’s concentrating and not chatting.

Tell school he won't be taking part!
My daughter has a learned disability and I felt the pressure would be to much.
She's going to still put in the work and try and learn with her class but will only do the test papers if she wants to.

Sats are not the sole mission of a good school. Progress is. Ofsted look for progress. They understand every child won’t excel at sats. It’s not until you have been a governor, read the Ofsted framework and had training on what Ofsted look for that you actually understand this. It’s also reasonable for he who pays the piper to call the tune. However poor leadership blames anyone but themselves for the ethos of a school. They do not have to be sats driven at all. Progress driven - hopefully yes!

Progress (including sats) is a schools sole mission often at the cost of a truly holistic education. My experience is that state education is very limited due to a narrow agenda, failing to centre the child

Sats are not the same as progress. Have you ever seen progress data? It’s ongoing assessment. Not a test. My experience has been that the best schools have a broad and exciting curriculum. They are not narrow and in exciting. You cannot, in a class of 39, centre every child. Any more than preps do with smaller classes. What you can do is have breadth and high quality teaching which means the majority are engaged and do well.,

Then the secondary schools that do this are as bonkers as the primaries putting on SATS pressure. They soon spot People who can actually perform maths at a higher level than their SATS etc. Indeed most set their own internal tests for setting purposes

Then the secondary schools that do this are as bonkers as the primaries putting on SATS pressure.

Not saying I agree with it, just that I know of schools that do it.

In my school our Year 6s have a great week during SATs. They come in and we serve them breakfast of toast and cereal. Then they sit one or two tests, which they will have done 3 or 4 previous papers of, so they are familiar with the format, and for which they are well-prepared. They then have an extended break time, followed by activities such as art or PE for the rest of the day.