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S.a.t's!


AnonyMouse_8391

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I think this topic should be sent to 'watchdog', SAT's is a crime against children and teachers. :o

 

My sons school has even opened early at 8am to offer breakfast so that ALL the children are sure to be in school on time to start their tests. xD

 

Suffice to say my son isn't attending, I have 2 other children to take there for 8:40, I'm not doing two trips each morning.

 

Mind you my son said to me the other day " I like doing exams, we get more breaks, we get 7, no actually 5 breaks a day" (he does tend to excagerate thus the change of number). Apparently they get a short break between tests. His development level is a few years behind in some subjects and I don't really think he has picked up the stress of it all, he's so laid back and has a low self expectancy rate, so doesn't tend to drive himself, thus not really bothered about the results of his tests and therefore doesn't feel 'under pressure'. His attempts, or lack of, will lower the SAT's league table for the school, but it is still a good school for him because they are working on his self esteem rather than stressing him out about his academic ability, which will improve once he loses his "I fail so I can't be bothered to worry or try' attitude.

 

Peggy

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I wish the Government and schools would be more honest about SATs.

Today I spoke to a woman who was, in her words 'shocked, I've learnt something new'. This comment was to the conversation I was having regarding SATs and the total waste of time they are.

She didnt know the tests were aimed at testing the school and its teaching, and informed the league tables. She really thought the final result was to discover her child's ability and therefore would have consequences for other years groupings.

 

If tests have to be used at least use them in the way they intended. And please to all schools, if a child needs extra lessons, make them available throughout his or her time at the school, not just for a couple of weeks leading up to SATs in order to massage the results.

 

On a positive note though, at least MP's seem to be waking up to the mess that is SATs.

MP'S report on SATS

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My 14 yr old was told if she didn't get good enough results in her SATs she would not beable to do the 'options' she has choosen for her GCSE's :o and was that a hard job to do!!-lifetime planning with a 'I don't know' 14 yr old-balancing acedemic requirements with opitions she enjoys-what was available to her band. There were 3 revisions because not enough pupils to do, staffing not available, clash of choices and then to be told if she didn't perform she wouldn't beable to do her choices stressed her out more.

I was relaxed when she took them at 11 to then find out the upperschool used the results for class setting when she arrived in the september.

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There is a letter from a Headteacher of a primary school in our local paper. I'm sure he wouldn't mind my quoting his words:

 

"Stop the Sats drive."

It's Sats week. A parent rings up: "My son gas gone to hospital." Panic!

He's a potential Level 5. We might lose 20 places in the league tables!............

 

Another bright child has cracked a bone in her finger. Can she write? Send her in. We can't have another failure. If children are absent they count as failures."

 

 

 

 

So, every child does matter. Is that what the government meant?

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  • 2 months later...

I can't see them going - any govt wants a tool to lever standards up and this is the one we've got.

 

I do believe the emphasis on teacher assessment needs to shift, especially in KS1. So many schools in my LA STILL have no clear idea what ongoing assessment/teacher assessment is about and are totally reliant on the tests (SATs and the optional ones). This is one area where the profession could claim back their professionalism and it frustrates me so much when teachers utterly fail to see that.

 

linked to that, outside of SATs, I am sick of hearing about "assessment weeks" each term in my schools, even in the fs sometimes - as a concept they are so fundamentally flawed. I have heard some teachers saying they can't tell us where their children currently are at, as they haven't had "assessment week" yet!! Assessment week should be when you simply write up all that you already know, not have to do another layer of assessment to find out what should already be apparent to you!! Everyday should be an assessment day!!

 

Cx

 

 

ps - made it to 900 posts! Only another 100 to go this year. :o

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Glad to hear it maz. The government paid the company £35 million!!

Can you imagine what schools could do with that money?

According to the article I read, it hasn't all been paid yet Rea, and they are having to pay back a lot of money to the Government to comensate for the enormous mess they created (but do I mean the Government or the company, I wonder? :o ). And they are not going to receive even one penny compensation for breaking their contract.

 

Maz

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  • 1 month later...

So what are we to make of the fact that Ophelia's brother Ed has scrapped SATs for 14 year olds, but has left the ones for 11 year olds intact. He really gave the game away this morning when asked on Radio 4 why he hadn't abolished these too - he said it was important to have some measure of how primary schools are performing. He hastily added "and how children are performing" but it was too late - cat well and truly out of the bag!

 

He also said how disappointed he would be to hear that schools were 'teaching to the test' but those of us whose children have just done their Year 6 SATS know that almost a whole term seemed to be given over to practice SATs papers... :o

 

Maz

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He also said how disappointed he would be to hear that schools were 'teaching to the test' but those of us whose children have just done their Year 6 SATS know that almost a whole term seemed to be given over to practice SATs papers... :o

 

Maz

 

 

The cynical part of me says you got off lightly if it was just the one term!!

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According to my sons yr6 teacher it was the whole year not just a term!

 

And mine! I can honestly say that it was nothing but practice for SATS from the day my children went into Year 6 in September until the day they took them. It drove me mad! :o

Edited by Wolfie
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xD I'm SSOOOOOOOOOOOOO pleased KS3 SATS have been scrapped - I've got a 13 year old daughter and she's quite chuffed too!

 

Y2 & Y6 were MORE than enough, thanks!!!!!!

 

Nona

 

Her school are apparently going to write to parents about the Record cards (as soon as Ofsted have left the building tomorrow, obviously :o )

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