Why was my Y1 ds doing "science tests" today in the staff room, without me knowing anything about it?

[Greensneeze]

My ds1 (6) has just told me he did "science tests" today, on his own, in the staff study - he was given 45 minutes. He says he was given just a pencil, and was alone but the teacher popped in and out a few times.

The questions were things like "How does the heart work" and identifying rocks from a list of characteristics, ie chalk "smooth, pale, can be scratched with a coin" etc

Should I be bristling at the fact that they are testing him when a) he's not meant to be doing any 'official' tests until Y2 SATS (and I don't approve of those!) and b) nobody said anything to me!

Well yes, you must go in if he was upset by doing the test and if it made him anxious. Yes.

If he hadn't been anxious, but excited or interested or whatever, then I would struggle to understand the extent of your worry.

The thing I can relate to is when ds2 has come back and said he's been to see someone about his handwriting, or so and so called him in to do a weird reading test at break - then, I go 'How Dare They'. But it's a knee-jerk control thing with me - like don't test my child Without Telling Me or Informing Me, He Is Not Your Guinea Pig.

Then I calm down, and realize that isn't what it was like at all. And he's unbothered, and it's part of their job etc

Was he particularly perturbed by it or talking about it excitedly?

Are you projecting your feelings onto him?

I really doubt that the teacher (with whom you have a good rapport) would have left him alone if he was at all upset.

I am genuinely suprised at how many people on here feel that a formal 45 minute test, sat isolated on their own, is an appropriate way to assess a six year old little boy.

My dd is in Year 2 and although her school does not do SATS today her year have sat formal maths papers. The children didn;t know they were going to do this, the only reason I knew was that I commented to dd's teacher that she seemed high as a kite this morning and she commented well they are doing standardised tests today so that will calm her down.

Some schools do optional SATS in every year. I expect the having to sit on his own bit was more about the fact that the papers have to be dealt with under exam conditions for the Year 6's. To have them in the normal classroom might compromise the schools results if it was thought they had been opened early or something.

I hate SATS and all the pointkess preparation but it does sound like they are just trying to assess his level.

But why be upset if he isnt upset?

And it was in the staff study not staff room and the teacher came in a lot.

Where is the problem?

and I speak as a parent and a Y1 TA!

I doubt they were trying to assess his level.

They probably thought 'DSGreeny is a bright little thing. He loves science - wonder how he would get on with a tricky paper!'

But a Y1 child's results would not count todays the results anyway. And it ony has to be dne in formal conditions for it to formally count - a Y1 child does not need this type of situation. If they were going to do it, after chatting to mum, they could ahve done it in a far more appropriate way. They only had to start 5 minutes after the Y6s had started to get round that.

You see I disagrre. I think they probably were trying to assess his level. And I wonder why they felt the need to do that.

There would be way more appropriate ways of assessing a 6 year old's capabilities IMO.

Mind, I think SATs are not great anyway.

Yes but the thing is DSGreeny is not a clever little rat to be stuck in a maze and tested to breaking point! It smacks of testing out the different kid to me!

This is a Y1 child being given an official Y6 test! It is shocking. Finding things to stretch a child is not difficult, there is no good reason to resort to something like this without consultation. The language and requirements of a paper like this are a lot to ask of a child that age, even if they are more than able to do the actual science!

Yes DSGreeny is very smart, yes I would have an element of pride in his achievement, No it is still not ok.

I agree about SATS, I don't approve of them at all. Especially in Yr2.

I this it is obvious that they were assessing him. I can't see any other reason why they would test him in this way.

Not read the whole thread, but that was definitely one of today's Y6 science papers. What a bright ds you have.

Talk to the school.

I probably put the stick in the hive on this one with the statement that this sounded like a y6 paper. I hope that I haven't stirred things too much.

You sound like a very together kind of person Greensneeze, so you don't need me to tell you that you need the facts before you can tackle this proactively.

Was it a Y6 paper, or an adaptation of a paper? Why was it given? Why was DS singled out? Did they consider the emotional impact this might have on him? Did they realise it could have stressed you out too, as you weren't aware of what was happening and only realised the extent of the testing (if indeed it WAS a Y6 paper) when you started asking questions amongst other parents.

You have the right to question this. It is not standard practise, as far as I'm aware.

If it had been my dd, I'd have been chuffed to monkeys BUT she doesn't have any SN and she generally copes well with tests and such. And I'd just be blardy chuffed that she was bright enough to do it {insert shallow superficial emoticon please}

In your situation, bright as your DS clearly is, the emotional impact is something that perhaps only you can really know. And if there is even a slim chance that that may have been negative, talking to the teacher about this logically and rationally is the only way forward.

If schools aren't challenged about this kind of thing, they don't realise that they may have made a mistake or that they could do the same thing with another child in future and cause terrible problems.

Good luck in sorting it Greensneeze. And I hope you'll fill us all in on how it works out.

Squilly, to be fair they would have had to have worked bloomin fast to have got an adaptation on todays paper together for use today IYSWIM.

Sorry, my last post was probably a little too inflamitory, but a previous post really irritated me (yes I know it is not my place to be irritated). What I actually meant was that testing a child to find out their limits would usually take place in a graduated format where some questions are easier and some are harder. Meaning that the child has every chance of getting at least a portion correct and would not be stressed out by, potentially, not being able to understand any of the questions. And, again, testing of this kind is done with the relevant parties informed and consulted!

Sorry for getting on my high horse, it was uncalled for.

Good point KingCanuteIAm. I hadn't thought of that (DOH).

I think this is really odd behaviour on the part of the school. Whilst I don't necessarily think that they should have to ask permission to assess Greensneeze's ds, I wouls question the nature and validity of the assessment.

It isn't appropriate to isolate a Y1 child for this kind of assessment, and I would echo previous posters, including a Science teacher, who point out that a Y6 Science SAT is far from the best method of assessing whether a child is good at Science or not. Weird.

You would think, like every other state school in the country today, that they would have been far to busy administering Y6 tests under ridiculously stringent exam conditions to mess about putting Y1 children in individual rooms. Very strange.

I actually think you should query this on the TES Primary forum - I reckon there would be a riot.

Surely the fact that the Y6 Science SATs are being gotten rid of as of next year also points in the direction that science SATs are not a good way to assess a Y6 pupils capability, let alone a Y1s.

Or maybe school thought this was their last chance to see how he would square up on a Y6 SATs paper - but for whose benefit? Schools or GS's DS? Still not convinced it'll be that much benefit to the latter.

cat64 that's very thought-ptovoking and interesting.

However I do still think she should have let me know they were planning to do this. It's significant enough to warrant consultation with the parents, I think.

Feenie, really? I'm surprised to hear you think it's that out of order. I like and respect this teacher a lot and she has always been spot on in her dealings with ds, until now. I wonder why on earth she thought this was a good idea!

Greensleeves~find out more information first.
Is your ds the only person you have heard it from ? he's obviously very bright but you don't always get the whole story at this age.

Also in answer to one of cat64's points:

I don't think the teacher "trusting" me to take care of his welfare/development outside school is in any way comparable to my entrusting him to her to make decisions about him while in school. I am his mother - she is a teacher who is paid to teach him according to accepted norms, standards and conventions. She has no original link to him and no responsibility for his welfare long-term - I think it's a bit ridiculous to say that I should trust her to make all decisions regarding my son during school hours without consulting me, because she is trusting me to take car of his social and personal wellbeing.

I think the disagreement is over the threshold of significance at which a desision or action should be agreed with parents beforehand. In my view, knowing my little boy and the teacher, I am surprised and slightly offended that she did something like this without mentioning it to me.

My ds1 is truthful to the point of Tourettes, he frequently snatches defeat from the jaws of victory by relating facts super-literally

eg "DS1, you can have 20 minutes on the computer while I do the washing up"

"No I can't Mummy, I'm banned from using the computer today because I sat on DS2's neck and poked him in the eye, had you forgotten?"

I know everything he told me really happened and was the truth.

I'm not going to go in like a bull in a china shop, I like and respect this teacher and want to hear her thinking and what the ramifications are for ds1 of this experiment test. But I'm not going to bite my tongue and wonder just because she is a teacher, one of God's elect, and entirely beyond reproach

I think that is exact;y the right attitude; finding out the teachers thinking and respond accordingly.

It could have been worse.....he could have been sat in the Yr6 examination room intimidated by the "bigger children" on top of all of this

I helped with the year 6 SATS today as well. Ice cube and bags were in. What does the heart do, a decision flow chart about rocks with the word you used, a question about dividing up different sorts of yellow flowers, a queston about the ingredients of a cake - a question about the effects of chewing gum on heart rate..can't remember anything else.

I would be displeased to put it mildly if my 6 year old was asked to take a KS2 sats paper.