SATS reflections

[weareallout]

I was never anti SATS. In some ways I like that Yr6 have some form of testing at the end. My child has found yr6 a bit boring but their primary is nothing like some about if all. Friends tell me their schools little except SATs work Jan - May. I'm actually now quite annoyed that their 7 years of broad & varied education are being defined by about 4 hours of tests. The reading one sounds hard & not relevant to modern day 10-11 year olds?!?! SPAG - I've managed a degree & career without it.
Our school said it was 'low key' but mocks / booster groups / breakfast club etc all make it a big deal.
Anyone feel like it's all out of control?!?

She won’t. But the way the system is set up you have to wait until your child is in crisis before you can look at alternative provision. I’ve known for years that she wouldn’t manage a mainstream high school.

we are waiting to find out if LA will agree to assess for EHCP (6 weeks), then there is a min of 20 week for report, although some LAs have 50 week waits. And during that time she will be out of school. She currently can’t even manage an hour a day because of burn out.

There’s no need for our schools to be so test focussed. Many successful education systems don’t have such an obsession with testing (Finland). It’s an ableist system that weeds out disabled children like my daughter. A better designed system would mean she could stay in mainstream with no detriment to other children.

Also when did we get to a place where a 10 year old child suffering immense stress over excessive testing, was somehow seen as a failure of them for not being able to cope. She’s 10! Her focus should still be playing, reading, writing stories for goodness sake.

I dunno I don't think testing in general is awful- it wasn't stressful when I was at school and don't remember it being much of a 'thing', trouble is the targets teachers have pressure to meet and the baptism of fire into the world of testing that these 10 and 11 year olds have. I don't think totally removing the stressor is necessarily healthy, there are important life skills to be learnt from learning and applying this but it's definitely not working with how it is currently and its not fair on anyone.

There have always been testing at 11. I'm 60 we had test every year in primary. My DM did 11+ and county exams when she was 10 back in the 40s . Her DM took her out of school when she was 15 before her o'level because she thought a health condition my DM has was bought on by stress, it wasn't and DM had grown out of it

If the LA fail to comply with the statutory 20 week timescale you can look at judicial review. Sometimes the threat or pre-action letter is enough but even if it’s not you don’t have to wait 50 weeks.

In the meantime if DD can’t attend school full time the LA must provide alternative arrangements to ensure DD receives a suitable, full time education. This should begin once it becomes clear DD will miss 15 days. The days don’t need to have already been missed or consecutive. If this isn’t forthcoming, as it so often isn’t, email the Director of Children’s Services informing them of the situation and requesting provision under s.19 of the Education Act 1996. If that doesn’t work email again threatening judicial review. Then if that fails contact SOSSEN for help with a pre-action letter.

You might not - but do you think others wouldn't? And if 29 other kids in your child's class knew their results - you wouldn't tell yours?

What does the SATS result tell you that your term reports don't? What are you going to do with the information of "5" on your kids English SATs?

Especially as kids are prepared and 'tutored' through the SATs and how to pass them - they're hardly an accurate reflection of the education they've receive d- it just ells you how well they have done in those tests

Its shocking that kids are in tears over these tests - aren't we all told they are testing the school not the child... ?

anonymise the tests and don't publish individual results - just give schools overall grades - like 30% level 4, 50% Level 5, 20% Level 6. And how that compares to the national average.

Then it will stop the stress and actually be a reflection of the school not the child, The parents don't need to know their child's results for something that isn't testing the child and has no bearing on anything - in Y7 they get retested/setted anyway.

I was under the impression you receive the SATs scores with the end of year report. So my dc would not know the other dc results.

I already explained, I just like to see the scores. The numbers. It is what I am used to. My dd did the 11+ and I wanted to see the scores as well (but we were never told them). I get annoyed at the school reports, as growing up I am used to seeing scores. For me GDS, I am like okay great above ability, but what is score and out of what number. What is the average score, what is the range for GDS. Or the same for expected. I am just interested.

They use SATs for forecast GCSE results etc it's a myth they are just testing the school.
And what type of parent tells their child that. If they are nice kids they will care about their performance affecting the school and teacher.

DC's raw scores were on the portal of their secondary school so we could see them. But ds primary school actually requested the raw scores which their primary school said was unusual , but then again they also did CATs around transfer day rather than when they actually started. They used both for setting

You mean the 11+ scores? I have the parent portal now, if it is on there, where do I find it? Thanks for letting me know :)

My dd didn’t do SATs because of covid and the world didn’t implode. Of course there has always been testing, doesn’t mean there always should.

I did tests in year 6, but it was nowhere near as pressured as SATs.

lots more children dropped out of school and were failed in the past. I thought we were moving towards a more inclusive system. Obviously not.

That should say ds, didn’t do SATs.

No SATS raw scores. I cant remember where but they were on DC's schools portal, but i think schools have different systems so may not been on all of them

Ah okay. We will get SATs scores from the school when they send the end of year report.

@SamPoodle123 if you wanted your DD's 11 plus scores you can ask the schools. I know that LU give parents feedback after a date in March. They tell you top /lowest quartile etc but that's generally for those who weren't offered places.

@00100001 SATs are now pass or fail. A scaled score of 100 is judged to be age-related expectations. Around 110 is judged greater depth.

Sorry - to clarify - levels don't exist anymore.

SATs aren't graded as Level 4/5/6 these days. The system has changed.

Fair enough.

Still don't see the need to know the results

The absence of levels, though, is one of the issues now. At least previously a child could see that they had moved from, let's say, level one to level three. Although below average, it was expected progress and they could at least leave primary with their self-esteem intact.
Now they might just miss 100 by two or three marks and leave primary school having failed.
Teachers are in the business of enabling children - of opening doors for them and giving them opportunities in life. It's what drives us. It is heart-breaking to watch them designated as failing to meet the standard as they stand on the threshold of high school.

One of mine did Sats this time. Wasn’t too bothered by them. I think there’s been too much made of the difficulty in the press. Kids need to learn to deal with mild pressure. Not every anxious feeling or a few nerves mean a full on mental health crisis. I’d rather mine got used to taking tests so that high school tests don’t come as a shock.

Honestly, the press aren't making too much of how hard they were - they were very hard. But not in a positive let's-challenge-the-kids way - in a downright misleading and poorly written way.

Questions were badly worded, texts not appropriate and questions designed to trick or confuse (or be downright ambiguous).

On a par with 2016 when only 53% of kids achieved expected because the tests were utterly ridiculous.

(And before anyone says yeah, but kids need challenge - half of our kids go to grammars. If they struggled, god help the rest of them)

It has to stop. Reviewing the value and delivery of these tests isn't about lowering standards -it's about ensuring that children can love their learning and feel motivated to be the best they can.

Exactly.

The few on here who are saying that education is about passing tests might like to reflect on this.

The tests (and the education that is dictated by them) are an elitist view of education - the true reality is that there are many children who will never achieve this. But every child - from the academically gifted to those with learning difficulties - deserves to enjoy learning and progressing to THEIR standards.

We must ask ourselves how soul-destroying it is for children who will never achieve the required SATs standard having to slog their way through something that they do not grasp. How is this helping their education in any way? More likely it is turning them off and making them feel helpless and that education is not for them. And the academically gifted will sail though it all, as everyone knew they would anyway - so how has this advanced their education?

Many thanks. Maybe I will try asking. I did ask one school that we got an offer from previously and did not get a response.