A bit of advice please re SATs...

[muminTewkes]

Ive posted this over in the SAT forum but thought Id get some of your thoughts from Glos..being the helpful lot you are

...help...losing the will to live!

DS1 is doing well at school clearly.
He's just passed for Pates and is really excited about going.
He's just a "normal"bright,bubbly kid.

The school and I(we)haven't always seen eye to eye.
Information is scant,we were never told to enter him in the 11+ or indeed that he was ever capable.
We have,in fact,occasionally caused a fit of a fuss regarding certain teachers and their methods there.
All in all,being very childish...we aren't "liked"although DS1 does appear to be by most of the teachers(one certainly doesn't-our fault I'm afraid !)

Last yr(5)he was at level 5 apparently and this year has been a total wash out as far as I can see.

He has learnt nothing despite his teacher this year actually being great-he really is-lively and has ds1's personality down.
Unfortunately ALL they have done since October is SATS SATS SATS...English and Math over and over(with the odd half hr of PE)and ds1 is about to combust.

He adores maths-unfortunately,and I hate saying this as it sounds so boastful,but he is bored out of his skull.Hes done the work,he thirsts for more...but..cynical old me reckons they know hes easily L5 and cant go higher so why bother?
He has actually been known to do a particular teachers filing as well as putting stickers on books for the next class...I mean..is this really what they do with bright children???
He(x2 a week)has a different teacher for maths who does seem to give the "more able" 3 or 4 extension work but even this appears half hearted.

As for the literacy,at first he enjoyed learning the different types of writing that can come up in the SATs..now it seems that all his creativity has been knocked out of him with ENDLESS reading comprehensions.

I think hed believe he'd dies and gone to heaven should he have a history or art lesson!

This is one long moan but this morning he actually cried at the prospect of going to school.He seems overcome with frustration and anger at it all.

So,people what to do?Is there anything to be done even?Is this just how it is with SATs?

Apologies for my moan and Im sorry to any Primary teachers as atm I have a HUGE downer and have for at least this past year/18mths on his school

[turtleglos]

Hi, I just want to send hugs as I don't really know what to say. Our school has been pretty good with ds1 this year. Ds1 has been showing his creativity at home by personalising his dr who figures with oil paints and bits and pieces, maybe your ds could try something like this. I do have to keep telling ds1 not to worry about sats though because everytime his teacher mentions them he gets worried that he will get them all wrong!
Only 2 more months and then they can get on with the fun stuff.

[bustwinks]

Same here, there is another thread about year 6 being a total waste of time !

It seems that all year 6 is about is sats !

I know where you are coming from, regarding work, my dd has said she hasn't learnt anything this year, they just do worksheets,work sheets and more worksheets, she say its very boring.

I told her to make the most of it, cause it wont be like this come September !!

In fact her spelling this week were, to, too and two !!!

[capers123]

DD2's school are being very tough on SATS this year.

Their results were not quite as good last year, primarily due to that particular cohort of children, yet the governors are rumoured to blame the new head teacher for it. So this year he's going all out to improve the results.

As if we care! Well, i do care for the head - he's OK, but as for the governors...

Argh.

[livviloo]

I am so sorry for the struggle you are having.

We had school reports this week(half way through the year) and Ds got only 2 "good" remarks for effort and all the rest satisfactory or needs to improve(ie the bottom mark). He did however get "above national expectations" for all attainment scores.

We have parents evening next week where I will be hoping to discuss why my child who is clearly able feels the need to make no effort in most subjects.

My DH, who is a primary school teacher, say "just be grateful he isn't in the group desperately trying to achieve level 4"

I guess I should.

[pixiequeen]

I do feel sorry for your DS, mumintewkes. It's not fair that schools should make kids lives a misery over exams at this age. I think we have been lucky - DD's school are not very SATS orientated. I'm not even sure what levels she was on at the end of year 5. School are doing a little preparation with them - they seem to have done at least one whole paper for each subject, and two practice papers came home for maths. I did ask DD if she minded what levels she got at the end of year 6 and offered to help her practice at home if she wanted...but I expect you can all guess what her answer to that was!

I was feeling nervous that her school seem to be doing so little - some of her friends in other schools are going to SATs clubs etc - but having read the posts on here I think I shall just feel grateful that DD is thoroughly enjoying year 6. They have chosen a really interesting history/geography topic for this term and there are lots of more 'grown up' opportunities like Young Leaders, this year.

I think if it was an endless round of worksheets that were just boring/stressing her I would be taking her out of school for lots of 'Health Days' (as per previous thread on this forum somewhere!)

Only a term and a bit to go, though!

Pixiequeen

[turtleglos]

Just wondering how your ds is getting on now. When the dc's in our school got their results they seemed to get into groups to chat about the new school and who was walking with who etc. My ds1 was left chatting to the teachers! Thankfully the dc's are getting back to normal now. I was just wondering if something like this had happened in your dc's school?

[muminTewkes]

Hi
Thanks for asking...no,he's really not bothered by stuff like that and he's also pretty unfazed by tests etc its the boredom and monotony of it.
Afraid he also has my personality which is rather errr challenging of things he see's have little point or benefit

I can't wait till July personally-I just cannot see the need to ONLY do SAT based work for months on end..not really inspiring..

[turtleglos]

Sats are in the middle of May so only another 8 weeks ish(and I think they have 2 weeks off for easter ) so hopefully it will be ok.
They should then do fun things until end of July(incl. day at Pates).