Boycotting SATS

[MumofChimp]

We’re taking our 11 year old on holiday during SATS week, as that break is more valuable to him than sitting in a classroom completing tests that say nothing about him and are just used to rank schools. Much of his Y6 curriculum has been wasted, doing practice tests that he’s found tedious. He’s an anxious boy who really struggled emotionally with the pressure of the Kent Test and this is a step too far for him. I always said that, if we had the opportunity, we’d boycott and - yes! - we have the opportunity. Anyway, the point of this post is, is anyone else boycotting and how are you going about informing the school? I’m not interested in counter-arguments; I’m an ex-secondary teacher and I know that the results are of little use for progression.

My child is severely dyslexic, I had thought about keeping him off that week, and even mentioned it to sendco who said it was fine however he has already had to do all the mocks, he's only in a room with 3 other children whilst sitting them and apparently once it is over they do fun things for the rest of the day. if he is really anxious I will obviously let him miss at least the reading one but I am going to encourage him to sit them all and just try his best.

We are fortunate to be in a school that does not do SATSand that was a major draw when school shopping. When SATs (or GCSEs or A levels) are in play I hate how the curriculum revolves around the test - it is a case of tail wagging the dog. It certainly adds a great deal of unnecessary stress, and also stifles intellectual curiosity and disincentivises any sort of creativity in teaching. It is also massively disadvantages children who are unable to test well, which can be due to lack of support with test taking strategies (support tends to align with socioeconomic factors), SEN that are not fully assessed or accommodated for, or MH challenges like anxiety. The UK has embraced an exam centric approach to education as a means of levelling the playing field, but really we have created a system that further favours those with parental resources and the neurotypical.

Just email them and say he will be off. Fill in the absence form if needed. No need for the stroppy tone though, they have enough on their plates.

I as going to say the same, you dont need a special way of informing them of absence, do whatever the school policy is. Won't anything else mess up their procedures and recording systems ?

You may not be looking for arguments that run counter to your point of view but other mumsnet users should be warned that this:
I know that the results are of little use for progression.
is fundamentally untrue.

A child missing official KS2 assessment data becomes, data-wise, irrelevant in terms of progress and in no way contributes to the secondary school's progress 8 measure. Given the importance of this measure and its link to how schools are ranked and judged, there are numerous decisions made at a leadership level in secondary schools that take account of the KS2 assessment data. You disadvantage your child by making him/her statistically irrelevant in a system with limited resources

All people are, of course, free to make their own choices. But to pretend that this choice is free from consequences is disingenuous.

You know he’ll have to do them the following week, right? Without being allowed any contact with his classmates, who are all in post-SATs chill mode. If he’s ARE or above, you’re going to majorly piss off the school, who have presumably nurtured him to get there for the last 7 years or so. In any decent school, SATs week isn’t remotely stressful. I could go on, but you clearly know better so carry on…

Just look on the website for the absence policy if you don't know it.

As a former teacher you know that it's not the school's fault your ds is doing sats.

I was all like what no that's just silly why would you do that his secondary school need the information and it's good to make them a regular thing so he gets used to them for gcses

But then I googled "the Kent test". They should just use that. No point making the kid sit two

My dd is no lover of school. I don't think she's ever been pleased about going a day in her life but she quite liked SATS week because they only did SATS and the rest of the time they did nice things. Like they made a boat and then the next week they launched them.

They will just do the tests with him the following week and he won’t be able to go out to play with his friends etc in case they talk to him about the tests.

My son is anxious about tests (autistic) and missed the SATs due to Covid. I feel it really impacted on him when he moved to secondary as he just wasn’t used to the experience. SATs are done in a familiar setting and allows children to experience the feelings of resilience and achievement of completing a right of passage. Secondary schools are full of testing! It doesn’t go away after the SATs.

That's a good point

Presumably you've got what you want, secondary school-wise, via his Kent Test result? And if he was tutored, because, you know, what he's been learning in school for the past six years isnt guaranteed to be enough, this in no way represented teaching to the test, did it?

And if he wasn't, then it still somehow wasn't what he had been taught in school over the past six years that got him through, so why should the school be able to use your DS as part of its evidence as to how it is performing, right?

when you chose the primary, did you look at their performance tables? Did you look at their ofsted report & grade? Because if those formed part of your decision making process, then you’ve already opted into SATs and choosing now not to engage (particularly when you’ve opted in to the Kent test) is a pretty ropey way to behave towards the school that has nurtured him for the past 7 years. It’s one week and a few tests. You can make it low key for him. You can show him it’s not important without withdrawing him altogether.

You don't like assessment but put him in for the Kent Test? OK then.

My thoughts exactly!

Odd that you’d put an anxious boy through the Kent test but boycott sats. Doesn’t make sense.
He needs to be very robust to survive the grammar system.

I too don't get why you'd put a child through the Kent test yet boycott easier more low key SATs. High Schools in our area use them. Kids with no sats sit extra tests in ks3 instead

Worth bearing in mind OP, that children are absent during SATS week can be made to do them the week after.

You don’t need to tell the school in special way - you need to fill out the form as you would for any week of unauthorised absence. However, I think it’s pretty poor that you are not having him do them - keep them low key, let him practise doing exams, feel the achievement of getting through them with his mates and having fun afterwards. And above all that sometimes in life we have to do thinks that are not exactly palatable but we don’t get to run away from them or have mummy and daddy opt us out of them simply because they don’t personally believe in them.

This sounds horrible for him. He’s been working towards them with his class mates, he’s already sat a load of tests and now instead of saying “you’ve got this, I believe in you, whatever the results you’ll be OK” you’re saying “this is too much for you and you won’t be able to cope and I’m whisking you off”.
Not good for his resilience.

When he gets to secondary it will be constant testing too, maybe more so if they don't have a sats score as a starter for 10. Not saying it's right but it won't just stop after SATs week.

My DD missed the Y4 times tables check, we just told school we were going away.

Are you going to tell him if he's anxious he doesn't have to do other things? Avoidance just makes anxiety worse.

As a mother of a child who didn't do sats (private) he was placed in all the low sets in his state school and predicted 6 in all exams as they had no data. He was good at maths and spent 4 years climbing the sets.
However I assume as he's in a grammar school they might have their own data.
But also intrigued how he will cope if he's sensitive about tests. A friend's daughter was at a grammar (in the fringes of Kent) and it was test, test, test with notes home for not getting good grades.

It's a shared experience with his cohort, he might not enjoy it all but I'm sure you have the skills to take the pressure off. It's a safe space and they will be ready for it. The feeling afterwards is when they come together. It's not like you can protect him from testing at secondary and won't you feel daft when he has to do them when he gets back in isolation?

My youngest does well in class and then falls apart in tests. He has massively under performed in all the practise tests he has done. I am really worried that he will come out with not meeting expected standards in everything. The secondary school will just see him as not very bright and predict low GCSE grades. Nobody will push or encourage him because they only need him to get a 5 to prevent them looking bad. I am hoping he can show what he is capable of in the SATs so that he can be supported to meet his potential. He is capable but lazy as can be. He will not be motivated to try to show teachers that he can perform much better than they think based on his SATs results. He will do the bare minimum. Once he reaches an age and maturity level to realise he should and could have worked harder and achieved higher grades it will probably be too late.

I love this kid more than anything in the world, but I can see him making his own life much more difficult because he is just a ten year old boy.