Can you refuse SATS

[Zizi444]

Can you refuse to allow your child to sit SATS? What would happen if they were off on that day?

In my opinion they are a pointless waste of time are purley for the schools benefit. They serve no purpose for the kids other than to stress them out. My eldest never did them due to covid and I'd prefer my youngest not to do them but I'm not sure if this is an option.
Thanks

They get 6 seconds per question, if he misses one it just won't get a mark. Really quick and nothing to worry about. 5 mins includes the logging in.

But, you have concerns over the amount of school missed affecting his learning. And you plan on making them fall even further behind by purposefully missing more school.

I understand your concern over a test, but your logic to fall even further behind makes no sense. It’s certainly not going to help your child’s confidence.

How is taking a test based on times tables during Year 4 when he’ll have missed the majority of Year 3 and even more of Year 4 going to help his confidence? He doesn’t even go to school full time at the moment and literally had his first 3 mornings back in over a year just before the Easter holidays.

It isn’t at his level, he doesn’t stand a chance.

@Kirbert2 I know for SATs they will disapply if working at the level below, so they might do for Y4 test

TBH I feel the same way about GCSEs - Y11 is just revision and exam practice and no real new learning. No other country wastes this year - they do diplomas at 18 which are a mix of exams, dissertation and teacher assessment, so they are much less stressful even at that later age.

I am really quite nonplussed as to why the UK system is so highly regarded because, frankly, ‘exam skills’ don’t prepare our YP for the real world or work!

But for five minutes worth of test it's no more stressful than a simple spelling test that likely happens all the time. The best thing to do is not make a big thing of it. It doesn't really matter, it's just really not worth missing more school over. If they will disapply then great, but I'm not sure it works the same way as for sats.

@picturethispatsy but many of us are saying if you don’t like the system don’t just pull them out for the week of SATs. They have done all the hard work before that week (not necessarily saying the system is correct) so why then pull them out the week of SATs which is probably a much easier week than the time before because of the treats etc they get in that week. When my DS did his SATs the only thing he talked about were the additional snacks they got!

It seems odd you let them have all the pressure before and then take them out for that week. It doesn’t make sense

Yeah you make a valid point. I went off on a tangent about the testing and the system as a whole as it makes me so sad for our kids.

@picturethispatsy I’m sure I read somewhere one of the people responsible for bringing in SATs wouldn’t have done so if they knew what horror they would turn into. With the league tables etc they have become such a big deal and so pressurised, not just an end of school test which was the original idea.

Schools are meant to offer a wide curriculum still throughout Y6 but that does get squeezed in many schools.

He doesn’t do spelling tests at the moment. I know exactly what will or won’t stress him out and this will stress him out so it won’t be happening.

He isn’t going to catch up in what little remains of Year 4 and a few more weeks compared to the fact that he’s practically missed the entire school year plus most of Year 3 isn’t going to make a difference but forcing him to take a test where he’ll be lucky enough to get one right is going to affect him and I will not put him through that when he’s been through enough already.

The Times tables test they only get a few seconds to answer each question it just moves on they can't spend ages so no he won't be there more than 5 minutes because he can't be, the timer will just run out and it will end.

It will be pointless as he’ll just sit there as the timer constantly runs out. I’m not putting him through that.

He probably already gets put through it every week at school as most school practise loads in school in the weeks beforehand on TT rock stars which works exactly the same, timed questions.
If he's in year 4 he probably already does this every week.

I haven’t read the whole thread. I think you’ll find a lot of primary teachers hate SATs as much as you do. I’m an SLT member in a primary school and despise them. However, this is the system we are unfortunately stuck with currently.

Local authorities are tightening up on school age children being home educated (elective home education or EHE). You would need to jump through a lot of hoops. It’s not quite as simple as withdrawing them and going travelling.

He doesn't do it at school every week because he hasn't been to school in Year 4 yet minus 3 mornings before the Easter holidays.

And it would work quite well but for those schools that hot house the pupils to pass the exam beyond their ability at that age.
Primary schools often game the system so that they look good. but what it means is that pupils find it very hard in secondary school not just due to the transition or the change from simple and concrete subjects to abstract subjects but because their grades do not reflect their ability and this is shown when secondary schools do CATs.

But it does depend on the school and how much pressure they put on to get good results.

I told the school unless they stopped putting pressure on my daughter re SATs she wouldn’t sit them. I was ENTIRELY prepared to just ring her in sick.

“Local authorities are tightening up on school age children being home educated (elective home education or EHE). You would need to jump through a lot of hoops. It’s not quite as simple as withdrawing them and going travelling.”

This is not true. The government are trying to pass a bill currently that puts SOME new HE measures in place but it hasn’t been read fully in the Lords yet so currently you can still remove your child as normal and although you have to provide education immediately (this has always been the case) that can be done whilst travelling. And in fact IF the bill gets passed in its form (with the proposed amendments), parents will still have the right to deregister their child UNLESS they are in a specialist SEND school. So for mainstream the current rules will still apply regardless. This bill has never been about jumping through hoops to deregister for most parents.

The part about SEND is a whole other story though 😞

If you ring her in sick, she will just have to do them when she comes back.

@Smellslikeburnttoat what does your DD want?

My son didnt sit them to be fair he wasnt in school at all at that point ( he now recieves AP) but the school actually contacted me and asked permission to not let him sit them

That's true, although DS is at a grammar which has had the top GCSE results in the country in the past, so I would have expected the pressure to be quite high.

When I was teaching we obviously tried to encourage the kids to reach their potential but I never recall us pressuring any of the kids, especially off the back of SATs, which are generally regarded to be really quite easy.

“Which are generally regarded to be really quite easy”

How long ago did you teach?! Have you seen a recent SAT paper?

I taught secondary and A level but son sat them last year so yes, saw recent papers and the general consensus between the class was that they they were much easier than they expected.

No surprises in the SATs, just what they've been earning for the last few years.