Should mother cancel pre-SATs party?

[Pumpkin Pie]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... tests.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Headteacher asks mother to postpone a birthday party for her 13 year old DD as it is on the eve of her 11 year old DD's SATs.

Should the mother cancel the party at the Headteacher's request or should the DD be allowed to 'chill out' before SATs Week? What will your DC be doing next Sunday before the SATs?

[scary mum]

Personally I wouldn't have a party on Sunday evening anyway, but I don't think it is for the head teacher to get involved. People can choose to send their children, or not. My children were unaware that their SATs were the next day (or at least unaware enough not to mention it ) so had a normal Sunday evening.

[ginx]

I think it's really unfair to postpone a party for a 13 year old because her sibling is doing SATS. Depending what time the party is!

We're going out for the entire day on Saturday (going to be home late). We may go out - or not - on Sunday.

Fortunately, it's dd's birthday the following weekend. I wouldn't change my plans. That said, dd won't be late to bed next week - but I'm not sending her early, either.

Maybe I'm too lapse. We're just carrying on as normal. I don't want dd to feel pressurised.

[mystery]

Oh what a fantastic letter to have printed in the press complete with photograph - poor judgement and badly written to boot. Heads country-wide must be curling up inside at the thought of some of the things they have signed going into the national press. Some of them must be worth some money!

If it's genuine I wonder why she wrote and didn't just have a quick word with the mother?

I certainly would not cancel the party after that letter - maybe let it run a little later?

[mad?]

Mother should turn it into an all night party with alcohol, invite the whole class and suggest that the headteacher familiarises herself with the level of understanding apostrophe usage one would expect of a KS2 pupil. I love that someone has circled all the grammatical errors and would have been tempted to send the letter back, with corrections, suggesting that perhaps the staff should be revising for SATS. Grr! As for the 'other parents' who feel the party is too late, that's fine, they don't have to send their children. Double grr!

[scarlett]

I shall look out for you Mystery in the national papers, complete with pained expression .

Not sure why you'd have a party on a Sunday anyway. I always need a couple of glasses of wine after kids parties....and a lie in the next day.

[Okanagan]

Well ds will be playing in football cup final on the Saturday afternoon, followed by a celebration with his teammates, and another sports competition on the Sunday morning. No parties on Sunday night, but hardly a weekend of SATs non-stop preparation either. The nearest we'll get will probably be a reasonably early night on the Sunday. It's only the English reading test on the Monday anyway - so not really something that an hour or two of extra practice the day before is going to affect compared to the nearly 7 years of schooling they've already spent learning to read!

[um]

Personally I would not have a party on a Sunday evening ending at 9.30pm - SATs or no SATs.
Nor would I send my daughter to one.
If she goes to bed even slightly after 8.30pm, I genuinely can't get her up in the morning and my mornings are quite bad enough already without having to drag wailing children out of bed.
I actually feel sorry for the Head, though. She is up against a wall in meeting government set targets - her job could be on the line if the school dips below floor standards.
I don't think she's expecting children to spend Sunday evening studying, but I'm afraid that it is a fact that not getting enough sleep does impact on our ability to do well in tests.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14949533" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[scary mum]

I hadn't actually realsied it was a sibling's party (couldn't bear to click through to the Daily Mail and had heard about it vaguely yesterday, so clearly felt qualified to comment). I still wouldn't have a party Sunday evening, but other than that I am speechless!
I was once tempted to send back our primary school newsletter with corrections in red

[mad?]

I still wouldn't have a party Sunday evening, but other than that I am speechless!
I was once tempted to send back our primary school newsletter with corrections in red

Glad it is not just me! The letter is barely literate. Perhaps it was intended as a bit of last minute practise 'circle the errors in this passage' etc. Whilst it would not be my choice of Sunday night activity either, the head would do well to reflect on the impact being educated in an environment of such grammatical sloppiness/ignorance for eight years might have on SATS outcomes before stressing over a bit of lost sleep the night before. Or, perhaps she had just had a late night?