Booster lessons for SATs

[Barnowls]

Hi
I'm after opinions on schools paying for external companies to come in and deliver booster lessons to year 6 kids to prep them for SATs?
Why would schools who can barely afford to heat the classrooms throw money at this?

There’s a high immigrant population in East London who have parents with high expectations. They are also good schools but it’s interesting some northern areas never get anyone to Oxbridge. Different goals snd aspiration. Different population. Eton is just one school and most private schools are seeing numbers to Oxbridge cut. Look at Winchester. However some of these Dc will go to the USA universities. They are no less talented than before.

I wish SATs would be scrapped.

i don’t entirely believe secondary schools put all that much faith in SATs as they seem to do their own baseline assessments and CAT tests in my area in first term of Y7.

The selective state schools (remember that selective schools are NOT confined to traditional grammar schools, there are exam-selecting state schools all over the place) also don’t care about SATs, just their entry exams.

And parents at primary schools know full well that SAT scores depend on a whole bunch of variables, and you can’t always compare year on year, or one school vs another.

And what does Progress 8 mean? My dd’s comprehensive school has a fantastic progress 8 score, so yes I can compare it to other comps nearby. But those comps have different catchments. It won’t tell me how my dd will do at that school. So it’s interesting, sure, to see how much schools are adding value, but it is not truly a deciding factor in my parent choice, over and above the raw GCSE results. Not worth dedicating so much primary school effort to churning out SAT results.

Given the teaching profession is broken, we have to give something up to make it less arduous to be a teacher. If I was going to give something up t would be SATs.

I think teachers find assessment far more time consuming! It’s all years and not just y6.

GCSEs are indicative of the catchment area too!! Often of upbringing, deprivation and ambition too. The whole idea of progress 8 is that it’s measured over a period of time. Not one set of exams. Schools can have decent progress 8 without stellar results. They might have very good teachers who have ensured great progress from the starting point of Dc.

It is not a state schools job to spend taxpayers money prepping children for private school.

It is their job to enable children to do as well as possible in national testing performed in every state school.

It is irrelevant whether or not you agree with SATs and their choice to provide booster sessions is not related to their decision not to pay for dyslexia assessments.

Many schools use dyslexia friendly techniques as standard because it benefits many children, and as you say support will now start then it sounds like they have been prepared to accept your private diagnosis. Not all schools will.

I’m a Year 6 teacher, I’ve never worked in ANY school that have supported prep for 11 plus as that’s your choice, nothing to do with the school. You were expecting too much in that respect.

Money for providing support for things like extra tuition for SATS comes out of a totally different budget than for something like a Dyslexia assessment (which would come out if a woefully pitiful SEN budget). All lovey in School is ring fenced for certain things. Any decent school will out support in place for children suspected of having Dyslexia , you don’t need a report for that. The SEN budget money is far better prioritised in paying for assessments such as Autism/ADHD etc, etc, as that’s a whole different support issue. I say that as a teacher AND the mum of a Dyslexic/Dyspraxic child before anyone jumps on me for my comment.

I’m not in a grammar area so no skin in the game but I’ve always been a bit baffled by the fact that state schools don’t seem to help at all for grammar selection. If you know a lot of the richer borderline kids will be tutored to get in, it would seem a way of levelling the playing field to support bright kids who wouldn’t have that chance otherwise in the state sector.

@Bunnycat101
I argued for that loudly when I was a governor. The primaries are not allowed to coach. Private schools can. Clearly wrong. I believed that should be changed but the LA believes the KS2 curriculum is good enough. What they do not realise is lack of familiarization with timed tests right at the start of y6 matters holds Dc back. Plus little familiarization with verbal reasoning. I wanted after school clubs. But who pays in the disadvantaged areas? Parents can’t.

They now have fsm places with a lower pass mark. Doesn’t help the “just about managing” parents but is an improvement. They also started liaisons between some primaries and the grammars. Some Dc were bright enough but parents felt the DC would not fit into grammars. So culture needs to change too.

I wish SATS and 11 plus would be scrapped.

The grammar system causes so much envy.

This thread seems to be really about 11 plus not SATS.

It's not that private schools prepping for 11 + is unfair @Barnowls the whole idea of selective entry is unfair. If you do the 11+ you are supporting an unfair system.

Our school goes for 4 teachers in an afternoon for 3 classes rather than 3, so the 90 kids are split over 4 teachers. One teacher takes on those that need extra support and the other three take all the others. I think that works well. So essentially not sure how that works cost wise, maybe half an extra teacher over the year?

As I teacher, I can tell you most of y6 is geared towards the SATs. It interferes hugely with normal teaching and learning. It’s because a school is judged by these results. Ofsted pay much attention. It’s a shit situation but it’s the reality. (Same for y2, but perhaps down a gear)