Guest Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 My 11 year old son started his week of sats yesterday and he is really stressed and upset about them. Granted he is quite a sensitive child but I feel so sorry for him as he is really worried about the prospect of a whole week of tests - 2 every day. My son is quite bright and he has been doing extension lessons in science and maths as the school feel that he should be able to achieve a level 5. I am wondering who will benefit most from a high level result - my son or the school? I have told him not to worry and that the sats are testing the school rather than my son but as he takes things so much to heart, he is still fretting. My son is a very conscientious pupil and he always tries hard and does well - his teachers assessement not mine. I just feel that there is enough pressure to deal with in life as we get older without heaping it on at such a young age. I know that the schools are under pressure as well but that is no consolation for my son and his peers. Several other parents have said their children are feeling the strain as well. Roll on when the sats are scrapped!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 I am with you! My daughter is 11 next year and will be the first of my children to go through SAT's for a great many years because we have been living in Scotland. There they have teacher assessment ongoing throughout the children's schooling and it works very well. Any system which results in schools taking a whole term out for revising, offering extra revision classes after school and the publication of a raft of SATs revision workbooks has got to be wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JacquieL Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/8038444.stm I think that continuous internal assessment is the best way forward but then professional judgements can't be trusted can they and we all know about that one! While schools are judged on their SATS results and league tables are published, this pressure will go on. One high achieving child away on the day can depress the school's score, a low score and parents vote with their feet, the pupil role goes down, funding is withdrawn, people loose their jobs etc.etc. Even with value-added the children at the end of Y6 can be quite a different lot from those starting in reception, so the value-added may be flawed. HT's are trying to get them abolished, and Science will be teacher assessment from next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 When my daughter got to the point of crying herself to sleep and not wanting to eat breakfast before her SATs last year I rang the school. They were pretty unsympathetic until I threatened to remove her from school until they were over. They couldn't backtrack fast enough. I had the deputy on the phone reassuring me that they would tell her not to worry and take the pressure off. That sorted it for her but I am not sure if it helped any of the others. What they don't seem to realise is that sort of pressure won't help the children to do well. If anything they will find it harder to relax and think straight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Dont you find it just a tad annoying when your child says 'teacher said..' rather than listen to your own words of absolute wisdom and common sense? Annoys the heck out of me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 I too would love to see SATs abolished - it will be interesting to see what the teachers among us feel about this. My Grandson is 10 - so it's not statutory for him this year - in light of this - and of course other considerations - he is going on holiday with his family on Thursday - so when I collected him from school yesterday he said "Nana I have been in the 'special needs room' today doing my SATs because I'm not allowed to miss them" I was quite surprised about this, but have to add he didn't seem upset by it, so that's good. My grandaughter is 7 (from different son!) so she is also taking her SATs - we have tried to 'play this down' she is a bright little girl but she is also a real 'worrier' - I think the two things often go together. Sunnyday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluestar Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 My daughter has sats this week and athough didnt seemed to mind the science one yesterday got herself in a right state this morning about spellings!! I told her not to worry thats what spell checks for!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 My daughter is in a similar state. Last week I kept her off school and she came to work with me for a day. I refused to tell school she was ill because i wanted them to know that she was off due to the pressure they were putting on her, but it didn't get much response. Then she brought home a letter telling me that if she was ill this week she must still come to school and arrangements would be made for her to come home once she had completed the test for the day! I haven"t told her but if she is ill this week, she is ill and will not be attending school in any form. I was horrified at that kind of pressure. That said she can't be too worried at the moment as she is roaring with laughter on the computer in the other room! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 I don't remember getting stressed doing the 11+ exam. I think the pressure is all the hype that goes with SATs beforehand. We knew roughly when 11+ was, but there was no 'teaching for the test' we just went into the hall and got on with them. A maths on the morning, and english in the afternoon and a science the next morning and that was it. Mind you, our parents were probably stressed - there was a lot riding on it for us, whether we got into the grammar school or went to the comprehensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 The pressure isn't from the tests it's from the use the results are put to. Without league table end og KS2 SATs would be no worse than the other tests children undergo in their school careers. Most schools use the optional SATs in other year groups with little or no stress on children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Im with you all on this one. Daughter expected to get level 5 but she too is very sensitive about these things. Got wound up and stressed just when they started doing the revision! thing that annoys me is that they have had no geography, RE, history, art etc since Feb as its all revision. Got a call this afternoon that she was crying and had tummy upset and I know its because she is getting wound up again. If she is ill tomorrow then so be it. Hubby is a teacher and he doesnt agree with them. Only benefits the school. We had discussed taking her out all tog ie parental right and all that but thought that if she was the only one this may make her stand apart from her friends and so also upset her. Must admit she has been fine the last 2 days and did the one for today this morning...im wondering if it is the one tomorrow she is dreading?? HATE them HATE them HATE them!!! And the other thing Im a science graduate and looking at what she is doing in science we never even got taught until secondary school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 My daughter is in year 9 and so would benefit from Sats being abolished - or so we thought! School put them thorugh 2 days of assessments, in core subjects, under exam conditions at the end of March. These results would be given to the students verbally and included in their Summer Record of Achievement. So - Sats by another name then. Then it got worse. Last week she informed us she'd be sitting Maths Sats today. I phoned the Head of Maths who explained they'd "done a bit of an experiment and given the students a GCSE paper to see how they'd get on. Some of them hadn't really grasped the language involved and so hadn't done very well. The school hadn't got sufficient data to record. The students weren't to worry, it wasn't testing for the sake of testing but a chance for them to celebrate their knowledge of maths!" When I got my stunned brain around that I spoke to one of the Deputy Heads. He has a son in the same year and had also had a chat with the Head of Maths. He was more concerned that the results from the GCSE papers didn't reflect the Teachers Assessments and could therefore compromise their Ofsted report What a happy, confidence-filled parent I was after that conversation Poor daughter sat the ****** Sats today and all for the sake of a tick in a box in a Government office somewhere - Teaching not Testing please!!! Nona Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 I think SATS are just awful. I've been lucky enough never to have to deliver them but just feel they achieve very little for the children. They are only good for the schools who have kids who are taught to the tests or a really high achieving class of Y6s. I have Y2 this year but luckily for them, they are automatically disapplied from tests due to the fact they work within the P levels. I have to give loads of data on my kids but I don't have to test them to know where they are at! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittycat1279 Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 SATs are a major pet hate of mine having taught in year 2 for 4 years (I'm back in year R now ) it's bad enough testing children so young but what makes it worse now is that they are just being used as an assessment tool. I agree with the teacher assessment and do believe that we as teachers are far more accurate in our assessments than any test can be. I was talking to one year 2 teacher today and in the level 2 maths test every child except 3 achieved a 2a (one of which is polish orphan that has been adopted by one of our families and only started school in September having not been in any education system) There is no way that all those children are actually 2a and if we were to use those levels it would give a completely false picture. So having rambled, my point is why do we still need to test them when our own assessments are more accurate than any test can be. It makes me think that the powers that be just don't trust us as teacher's to make accurate judgments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Well my son survived the week of sats and he was so relieved when they were over, bless him. On a personal level I am really annoyed that the education system can cause my son to feel so upset and under pressure at the age of 11. But it also concerns me that since January my son's school have been coaching for the tests by concentrating on maths, english and science sats papers from previous years and the other subjects seem to have gone out of the window. I believe that schools should be teaching our children and not just having to teach them how to pass tests. I do also feel sorry for the teaching staff as they must be under enormous pressure and I know that my son's form teacher does not agree with the sats but the school have to comply. I've got it all to come again next year but my 10 year old son has a much more laid back (actually virtually horizontal) attitude to tests and life in general. He is not a worrier at all and in previous assessments he has been totally unfazed. Amazing how two brothers can be so totally different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 mustangsally I am in virtually the same boat as you except mine are both girls. I too am very pleased she has got herself through the last week, but I'm also very upset she has learnt nothing since September to be honest. Well nothing except how to pass a SAT! Thank goodness my second is as yours and not at all fazed about the prospect of them. Number three might be another matter altogether but I have a couple of years to prepare myself for that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.