KS2 SATS writing topic - favouring the boys ?

[orangetulip]

DS came home yesterday saying the long writing topic had been to write a review of a PC game ...
(What about kids who don't have a computer I'm quietly thinking....)
Is this a ploy by the government to claim they have addressed the imbalance between boys / girls' writing - or has my cynicism of SATS just gone too far this time ?! What do you think ?

here

Good point made about what will replace the SATs. We teachers should be careful what we wish for...

Indeed...APP looks to be a potential nightmare. Between the devil and the deep blue sea!!! Roll on retirement or a lottery win!

EarlyAdopter, I can't understand why you are stunned. Trainers are totally impractical if you live in a wet and muddy moorland area, which we do.

My DS has no trainers because they are banned from school; they have to wear black plimsolls during PE. He has walking boots and wellies to play out in due to the area we live in. His sports are climbing (climbing shoes) and horse riding (boots). It is dangerous to do English riding in trainers.

Lots of sports involve no trainers! Karate and football for example.

My DD also has no trainers and does no sport. She does 3 dance classes a week and has no time for or interest in sport. Lots of kids do no sport; as long as you get exercise by playing outside why should you need to do sport?

What does he do for outdoor PE on a muddy field? When I take DCs for games at school they all have trainers. Black plimsolls would be hopeless.

They only use the field for PE lessons in good weather. Because the plimsolls get dirty they then have to de indoor PE lessons barefoot. A lot of them play football on the field at playtimes, but they do it in their normal school shoes.

I know it seems odd to ban trainers, and I don't know for certain why it was done. It was put in place when a new head took over, and I was told (but it may be untrue) that it was due to branding leading to arguments and upset at his previous school. The school handbook says trainers are not in keeping with the smart image of the school.

I think it is all a bit of a shame, Milly-I would have thought that the health comes before the image of the school. I go into quite a few schools and PE is done barefoot and they go out for games all weathers, except a heavy downpour. They are told to have old trainers that they don't mind getting muddy.