Y7 day 1: I'm already cross.

[PiqueABoo]

The [bleeps] threw two lots of CATs at them.

If you wanted to depress the results and also make them a bit unreliable, then I can't think of a better time i.e. when lots of the children are a teensy bit anxious to say the very least.

Can anyone talk me out of that view?

[BitOutOfPractice]

Sorry about my crappy bracketry - it's been a looooong day!

[steview]

We do CATS around week 3 (and a reading assessment). They are not better or worse than SATS - just different!

CATS tend to pick up students with particular strengths/weaknesses with their current working ("which pattern comes next?" "which of these words is the odd one out?") which are really helpful to teachers.

SATs are better predictors of GCSE outcomes (both are based on taught knowledge) but CATS are pretty good too although that's we don't use them for setting etc.

[HibiscusIsland]

I agree it's not very friendly and welcoming op. Noblegiraffe's description at 18.40 of what Year 7s at her school do on their first day sounds better.

[Madsometimes]

Dd's first day was yesterday. It was a short day, and most of it was spent with their form tutor. They did a treasure hunt around the school to help them learn where everything was, and also had a session of drama and PE. After that was lunch, more form time and home.

It was quite nice to have no academic work and only Y7 was in school. I think doing tests on the first day is a bit harsh, but dd would have been fine with it. However, I think getting to know class mates and the school was a better use of the first day. Dd's school use cats for tracking purposes rather than setting, but she will be taking them at some point in the next few weeks.

[PastSellByDate]

Hi PiqueABoo:

My DD1 also started Y7 this week. She actually had CAT style tests (computer based) on her induction day back in July.

It's a big change and a nerve racking time (and that's just the parents) - so of course it probably threw your DD (and by extension you) to learn there was a series of tests on Day 1.

However - as Coolas quite fairly suggested - schools need to quickly get up to speed with their new pupils abilities and it often is a huge intake to deal with (ours is an ordinary comprehensive - 150 pupils from 10+ primary schools) - so mass testing early on may be logistically the easiest option.

On testing - my advice is to accept its a necessary evil. I've always taken the attitude that as long as you've tried your best, the result doesn't really matter - and often it's consistently trying your best (paying attention in class, asking questions when confused, getting help when struggling, regularly keeping up with homework, reading a bit ahead, etc....) which reaps rewards at testing.

On making new friends - it really is tough to start out in a form (?school) as the only one from your old primary school. But friends with older children who've been there and done that all say that although old primary school groups cling together at first, gradually as you start to do things in class/ outside activities with other kids you'll start to make new friends as well. One friend's daughter told my DD1 her advice was to be nice to everybody at first and if you see someone at a loose end, ask them to join you (at lunch/ on your team/ in class groups/ etc...). In a few weeks things will settle down into a routine and strange new faces will become friends (or at least known classmates). Certainly looking back now, my great friends from 'senior school' turned out to be classmates I was randomly grouped with for classes/ especially on in-class projects or through school clubs. Shared interests/ experience usually leads to friendships.

Hopefully that's the end of testing for your DD and she can relax into her first week at school and learning where all her classes are, the names of new friends and deciding which teacher she likes best/ least (endless source of conversation at that stage I find).

HTH

[PiqueABoo]

@PSBD, it's water under the bridge now, but I'm certain schools that do "back in July" have contemplated the best way to manage such tests and have good reasons for doing that. In essence, the remains of my complaint are that my DD's school don't appear to be very organised or thoughtful. It's not just day one informing me and I've got a strong feeling that over the next few years hundreds of parents and children will routinely pee away lots time trying to decode the incomprehensible.

Re. the CATs it's not that they're tests, DD enjoys tests (I think she might be an alien imposter), but on the first day she came home complaining of having had a 'headache' for most of the day which is very rare and I expect that was general purpose first day anxiety not the CATs: the kind of thing I would expect expect and an obvious reason to avoid any tests on that day. She has been quite sanguine since with no obvious or subtle signs of misery.

Well except for lunchtime, which is now 'boring'. The reason is that up to the very end of primary, DD's class always had huge amounts of fun chasing each other around at lunchtime in games they'd devised. Apparently although some of the girls would still like to do that, they don't because no other girls at the secondary do it and they don't want to stand out and be teased by the older children. I thought they'd gradually grow out of playful childhood themselves, but peer pressure appear to have killed it.

I think you're right about the friends and she'll very likely find some that suit her better than the primary school friends, a couple of whom I wouldn't miss for being a bit obnoxiously competitive etc. She's plotting to join a few after-school sports clubs and would have done some music, but she's a little pianist and that just doesn't fit with their several varieties of music club.

[HSMMaCM]

DD did this. Didn't bother her.

[Hassled]

Every time I see one of these "different ways the school cocked up on the first day" threads I think about some poor poster years ago who related how they all sat at desks in the hall on her first day and were told to write about how they felt when they first learned that Father Christmas didn't exist. Up until that moment she had been a believer. She sat crying in the hall while everyone else scrawled away furiously.

[BitOutOfPractice]

You're going to have to be super careful that this negativity about the school doesn't rub off on her OP

[BackforGood]

Agree with Coolas's last post.

Very much agree with BitOutofPractice's 2 posts. The way you are coming across in your posts sounds very negative and almost like you are determined to dissect everything the school does, and pick holes in it. It might not be the case - but that's the impression you are giving off. I'm picking up a vibe that maybe you didn't want dd to go to this school?

~Why not try being really positive about everything for a month or 6 weeks, and seeing how that effects both your mood, and the way your dd settles.
Secondary school takes 5 or 7 years - it seems if you are this angry after the first day, you've got a very stressful time ahead of you.

[AppleAndMelon]

They will all have the same disadvantage surely?

If your child under performs, the school aren't likely to keep her in the wrong set surely?

[mychildrenarebarmy]

DD started today PiqueABoo. They had assembly and registration then were doing tests until 1.20pm.

[PiqueABoo]

@ BitOutOfPractice, @BackforGood

I think you're cherry-picking my comments in a very negative way, amplifying what you want and ignoring what you don't. Perhaps we should call it quits?

@mychildrenarebarmy

That's mean too.
How did they manage to delay that start until Friday?

[mychildrenarebarmy]

It wasn't too bad because she knew there would be tests on the first day. She was a bit shocked by how many though. I think it some ways it was better to get them all out of the way in one go.

They had the first two days of term as inset days. I'm quite glad because today was her first ever day at school having always been home educated until now so it means we get the weekend straight after her first day.

[BackforGood]

eh? What are you talking about??

Looking at your title, and your first post you are coming across as being very angry about the school wanting a baseline assessment. It's hardly unexpected, surely?

[GnomeDePlume]

PastSellByDate Thu 04-Sep-14 12:12:09:
it's consistently trying your best (paying attention in class, asking questions when confused, getting help when struggling, regularly keeping up with homework, reading a bit ahead, etc....) which reaps rewards at testing.

THIS THIS THIS

And it doesnt just reap rewards at testing but all the way through school.

If every one was tested on day 1 then so what? Everyone was in the same boat.

[Lottiedoubtie]

I also don't really understand your issue. Why do you think schools who have done the tests in July are organised and those that wait for September disorganised? It seems logical to me to wait until September when the year 7 roll will have 'settled' and they can all be tested together.

Also on your point about practicing and improving for the test, of course you are right children can be coached for the tests and some improvement in outcome gained. However the reason your daughter was told she couldn't revise for them was two fold, firstly to reassure her and secondly because the school absolutely do not want her to revise and artificially inflate her result. It is better for your DD to get her lowest 'bad day' score so that school can support her from right now, where she is now not where she was after months of SATs prep and it is also much better for the school who are judged on their 'value added' data. Win win ifyswim

It is good for your DD to see tests as part and parcel of school life, small manageable things that just happen rather than as huge trials that require special breakfasts and long periods of ramping up to. A little bit of perspective is a valuable thing.

[BackforGood]

A little bit of perspective is a valuable thing


Ooh Lottie - I think that's going to become my new favourite phrase on MN now - there are SOOOOOOO many threads I could have used that over the years

[Lottiedoubtie]

sorry! Someone said it to me once and I was incandescent! ...in hindsight they were right though

I guess I've become that person

[HibiscusIsland]

If it's any help op, I know of at least one grammar school that sprung tests on year 7s on their first day. Seems to be quite common now although as I said I agree it's not very friendly/welcoming

[Four125]

The new Progress 8 measure at GCSE measures the progress a student makes throughout their Secondary Education from start to finish.

One of the best ways for a school to establish a baseline in order to measure progress is to test students at the start of year 7.
This progress will be monitored and any dips will be addressed at an early stage.

SATs results can be manipulated; it is easy to coach students to be able to pass them and test conditions can vary from Primary to Primary.

It's true, some coaching for CATs could be done beforehand but it would be less effective as the exam is not as formulaic and the questions are designed to test thinking skills, rather than literacy or numeracy skills.

The first week is a good and fair time to test for this, the first day? If it's the same for everyone then it will be fine.

As other posters have said OP you do seem very negative about DD's new school. I think looking at the positives would be more beneficial.
This might be exactly the school she needs to bring out her previous educational reluctance.

[Four125]

I meant bring her out of her previous educational reluctance.

Oops.

[ChocolateWombat]

It is very common to test on the first day.
In fact,MIT is also common for primary schools to set on the first day of Juniors and each year thereafter. Yes, the kids have had a long break, but the tests probably give a fairer reflection of ability,because most won't have been coached. Things like MidYis are testing ability,not Knoweldge anyway. They are often used for tracking purposes and will be used to predict GCSE outcomes, so teachers have an idea if someone is performing to the level they should, or underperformance. They can be used to assess the added-value of schools.

I agree it is not terribly welcoming to do a test on the first day, but most kids are probably not stressed by it and the fact it is done in a low key way,with no build-up makes it less nasty than having 2 weeks notice.
And whilst the OP is moaning about this, other parents in schools that haven't done it yet, will be complaining that the school has been back 2 days and little Jonny hasn't been assessed yet. So tbh, schools can't win.

Schools do need to assess new students. It might be for setting purposes or not,mbut they need to know where kids are beginning and actually a 'surprise' test is probably the fairest way of doing it. Everyone has been off all summer and it probably is a good reflection of true, not coached ability.

Sixth Formers do a similar thing on their first day back called ALIS.....tests ability and is used for tracking purposes,to see if students are on track to achieve the A Level grades they seem capable of.......not accurate for every indict ideal, but is pretty accurate on a more global scale.