Bloody SATS! Part 2....

I previously posted about the amount of practice SATs tests my 10yo is currently having to endure  Bloody SATS!

The end of this current term he was sent home with 12 papers to complete.

Obviously, I was horrified at the thought of A) The tears, tantrums and pleading I'd have to go through to get him to complete them B) The tears, tantrums and pleading from him begging not to do them.

So I made an executive decision.  He's not done them.

Here's my letter to his teacher explaining my choice.

Dear Teacher,

As 10 year old's parents we decided he didn't have to complete the 12 sets of SATS practice papers he was sent home with at the start of the Easter Holidays.  We felt due to the amount of practice papers they have already completed in school time and the undue amount of pressure the school has put on the pupils to pass these tests, he deserved a break which we believe the school holidays are meant to do.

As we spoke at our Parents Evening meeting, I said I felt the SATs hold no meaning or worth to the children.  You pointed out they will not be fazed by the exams when they happen as they will know what to expect and yes, to a certain extent I agree.  However they have been doing test papers since January. They know what to expect by now.  They have been told if they fail they will have to re-take them in year 7. That is as maybe, however, it's not constructive to put this pressure on children to pass a test that will have no bearing on their future.

The 10 year old  has attended four sessions at Explore Learning so has had four hours of education throughout the break.  I will return the blank papers for you to use.

We have explained to the 10 year old that although it is our choice he didn't complete the work he will probably get a code for this.

Yours sincerely

Am I right to give him a break during school holidays? What are your thoughts on how your school deals with the SATs?

Bloody SATS!

Those of you who have had or currently have a child in year 6 at school have either thought or are thinking this at the moment.

Bloody SATS!

There, I've said it and I feel better. Just a little.

Actually it's not the actual SATS I have an issue with. I understand the Government need a way to mean test the schools and see how they perform with actually educating our children.  What I have a massive problem with is the schools cramming so many practice tests on our children from January to May that they become utterly demoralised, un-interested and can't wait to leave the place and head off to their next adventure of bigger school.

I have a 10 year old in year 6 currently. He is tested on maths and literacy every day. It's too much. Sadly, it means the actual SATS are worthless, It's a result not based on what your child has achieved to learn over the past few years but what they can remember that has been crammed into their minds in the past four - five months.  It's too little, too late and ultimately not a true representation of the schools education system.

This year we have been told they are harder than ever. Some of the literacy they are expected to know is of GCSE standard.  I can construct a sentence but I'm buggered if I know what a modal verb or a subjunctive clause is.  Do you?

This year they are tested more aggressively on spelling, punctuation and grammar.  Oh and handwriting.  Now you may have seen my previous post about handwriting The Writing Rant  and the fact schools are told to teach children cursive writing when it's about as much use as a chocolate tea-pot.  As long as it's neat and readable and they know when to use lower or upper case.  When they get to Secondary school, they can write how they want.

I also disagree with the schools boosting. They take the high achievers and boost them to get their marks up. They take the low achievers to try and scrape them through.. then the plodders are left bobbling along.

Today is the day many of us find out what secondary school our child is going to.  As far as I can tell, most secondary schools don't even use the SATS to group the children when they start, preferring to place the children themselves.

Maybe it's time the government changed this outdated system and actually used teacher reports to grade the schools for their league tables?

What are your thoughts on the SATS?