Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Discussion of all things non-11 Plus related

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Amber »

Rob Clark wrote:Because I grill every child DD has ever brought through the door (most of them only come to our house once, bizarrely), then hang round at the school gates asking the others. Any DC who looks at me a little weirdly and tries to get away, I mark down as level 4 or below.
:lol: :lol:
Mistake. Those will be the level 6s Rob. I can tell you're not a teacher.
Looking for help
Posts: 3767
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Looking for help »

Rob Clark wrote:Because I grill every child DD has ever brought through the door (most of them only come to our house once, bizarrely), then hang round at the school gates asking the others. Any DC who looks at me a little weirdly and tries to get away, I mark down as level 4 or below.
:lol:

From the stats on the link that mitasol posted, you can hazard a guess....

I too am obsessed in a way I wasn't with my others at GS, I'm always asking what set is so and so in, and is anyone else doing this that and the other....probably I'm mad but there you go :lol:
Also to be fair to us with children who didn't get in, things like SATs results and sets become much more important. One of mine was in the lowest set in Maths but was at a grammar, so I wasn't terribly concerned. If my son moves down to the second group in any of his subjects I shall be down to the school like a wailing banshee, trying to figure out what has gone wrong.
Caroline1852
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:24 am

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Caroline1852 »

Rob Clark wrote:Because I grill every child DD has ever brought through the door (most of them only come to our house once, bizarrely), then hang round at the school gates asking the others. Any DC who looks at me a little weirdly and tries to get away, I mark down as level 4 or below.
Ha!

My son was pretty poorly one SATs test day -- he was at home in bed -- and the school receptionist called me in the morning to tell me to bring him in for the pm SATs. She practically ordered me to do so. :( I was so intimidated by her insistance (I'm so much a product of my state school) that I got him up from his sick-bed and took him in. (I feel bad about that to this day.) When we got there the receptionist asked what was wrong with him and I said he was feeling very sick and faint, and she said it's probably just nerves at which point I gave her full throttle: "No! It is not nerves. Why would he be nervous about a meaningless test? He doesn't care about SATs. I don't care about SATs. He already has a confirmed place at his selective school. SATs are of no consequence to him. You care about SATs, you care more about your league table position than you do about the health of your students." :cry:

I still regret taking him in.
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Amber »

I gave her full throttle: "No! It is not nerves. Why would he be nervous about a meaningless test? He doesn't care about SATs. I don't care about SATs. He already has a confirmed place at his selective school. SATs are of no consequence to him. You care about SATs, you care more about your league table position than you do about the health of your students." :cry:
She was only doing her job. :? Probably still in therapy now Caroline...
Last edited by Amber on Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Looking for help
Posts: 3767
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Looking for help »

I'm quite shocked to be honest - imagine everyone had that attitude and the school did really badly in the league tables , you wouldn't be sending your child there, now would you :shock:
Caroline1852
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:24 am

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Caroline1852 »

Looking for help wrote:I'm quite shocked to be honest - imagine everyone had that attitude and the school did really badly in the league tables , you wouldn't be sending your child there, now would you :shock:
Are you being serious? You really think it's reasonable to command small children to sit exams when they're poorly.

And actually it wasn't a highly performing school at all, it was just the closest one to my house.
Looking for help
Posts: 3767
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Berkshire

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Looking for help »

Of course I wouldn't send a child in to sit an exam if s/he wasn't well.
It is the attitude that you have posted that I am shocked at ...
Caroline1852 wrote: He doesn't care about SATs. I don't care about SATs. He already has a confirmed place at his selective school. SATs are of no consequence to him.
I just think that is terribly sad.
Caroline1852
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:24 am

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Caroline1852 »

Looking for help wrote:Of course I wouldn't send a child in to sit an exam if s/he wasn't well.
It is the attitude that you have posted that I am shocked at ...
Caroline1852 wrote: He doesn't care about SATs. I don't care about SATs. He already has a confirmed place at his selective school. SATs are of no consequence to him.
I just think that is terribly sad.
Sad that we don't care about SATs? Do you care very much for them?

You have to look at it in context. I was worried about my son being poorly and I felt bullied into bringing him into school. He wasn't worried about SATs (they didn't feature on our horizon of things to be remotely interested in). I thought it was ridiculous and insulting that she was diminishing his genuine ill-health by citing some psychosomatic fear of the terribly important SATs. Ugh.
Amber
Posts: 8058
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Amber »

Tried not to wade in here but ...
I agree with your view of SATs, Caroline. They were originally introduced to demonstrate whether schools were doing their job properly. They were not for children or parents. Their purpose has now been hijacked and they are turned into something else.

I know a head teacher who actually resigned over a case like yours, Caroline, as he came under pressure from the LEA (in the days when they existed) to ensure all his top performers were in school on SATs days and he wouldn't. I totally understand where you are coming from in your principles...but the poor receptionist was only the messenger, and schools do live and die by the wretched league tables.
Caroline1852
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:24 am

Re: Would it be reasonable to ask a High School...

Post by Caroline1852 »

Amber wrote:Tried not to wade in here but ...
I agree with your view of SATs, Caroline. They were originally introduced to demonstrate whether schools were doing their job properly. They were not for children or parents. Their purpose has now been hijacked and they are turned into something else.

I know a head teacher who actually resigned over a case like yours, Caroline, as he came under pressure from the LEA (in the days when they existed) to ensure all his top performers were in school on SATs days and he wouldn't. I totally understand where you are coming from in your principles...but the poor receptionist was only the messenger, and schools do live and die by the wretched league tables.
Thank you, Amber. I agree the receptionist was only the messenger, but she didn't need to be quite so lacking in sympathy for his genuine ill health: human being first, job second.
Post Reply