would SATS results influence your choice of primary school ?

FatVonD

I did but with hindsight I wouldn't again.

In my instance the good SATS results were due to parents paying for private tuition rather than brilliant teachers.

The school at the bottom of the SATS league table had such low intake that my friend's child thrived there in class sizes of just 15.

patchwork_cat

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Small schools often appear to have poor SATS results too. One child's poor result can massively impact the school's percentage scores in any one year.

Around here the small village schools top the tables year in year out.

mildred1978

balletshoes wrote: »

but the SATS results for primary schools in England and Wales are fairly pointless in my opinion. .

I thought SATS had been abolished in Wales some years back.

mildred1978

patchwork_cat wrote: »

, f your child.

Not to be overlooked is which primary do the rest of your road go to? It is important for children to have friends nearby.

That's easy if you only have single languages to deal with. My son will be going to a welsh medium school. All of the other children in my street go to the English medium school. There are only 2 other children close in age, and I expect they'll go to the English medium school.

JodyBPM

It would be a consideration, along with a variety of other indicators, including Ofsted report, location, feedback from other parents, and my views of the school and its teaching staff on visiting it.

FBaby

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

I agree with a lot of this.

I have bright kids, so wanted a school where the majority of kids achieved level 5 in Y6 (rightly or wrongly implying that the overall teaching level in the classroom was above average and probably at a faster pace, reducing boredom.) Our school currently offers level 6 in Maths & English which a significant minority of children achieve & more importantly are taught to that level.

But then depending on the size of the school, children might be put into set. In his old school, children were put in one set out of 4 for Maths for one lesson a week from Y3. At his new school, it is one set out of 3, but for every maths lessons.

sooty&sweep

I chose my son's primary school based on where I thought he would be happy as a happy child will always do better.
Saying that it had and still has decent SATs results but I could have got him into the top school in the district as it is marginally closer.

milliebear00001

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

I agree with a lot of this.

I have bright kids, so wanted a school where the majority of kids achieved level 5 in Y6 (rightly or wrongly implying that the overall teaching level in the classroom was above average and probably at a faster pace, reducing boredom.) Our school currently offers level 6 in Maths & English which a significant minority of children achieve & more importantly are taught to that level.

I agree with others about over inflation of SATS results and I'm not in the slightest bit interested in hot housing or SATS themselves actually, I just want my children in an environment where they are not being 'held back' and being realistic, teachers have to teach at a level suitable to the whole/majority of the class (unless you're in the private sector where this is usually not the case.) I think kids are capable of far much more than our schools generally expect.

The highlighted bit is not at all true. If that is your experience, then it is an experience of poor schools and poor teaching.

Many schools set by ability anyway (my own children's primary, which isn't especially large, sets using three ability levels across three year groups).

In my own maths set last year, I taught children ranging from a level 5 down to a level 2. I taught them in small groups using excellent TA support and creative teaching in a 'carousel' teaching style. It is entirely possible to teach across several ability levels without simply 'pitching at the middle'.

Point about unpopular schools having smaller class sizes is a good one. If I could choose any change to state primary education, it would be to halve class sizes!

susancs

milliebear00001 wrote: »

All of which your local school may have, without necessarily having fantastic SATS results.

Many schools simply spend all of year 6, forcing children through test paper after test paper in order to ensure they get a decent level on test day. These children often have much bigger issues at secondary school, when this approach falls apart. I also know of several schools who simply 'help out' the children on the day

The experience of year 6 you describe happened to both my daughters in that their learning was virtually put on hold in year 6 whilst they did revision and SATs papers from September to May. The Headteacher and Deputy ran a year 6 School in the Easter holidays which consisted of revision book work and more test questions. Then there was a breakfast club from 8am during the SAts week for year 6 pupils and high energy snacks given inbetween tests. Homework during the year consisted of past papers and revision book chapters. SAts results were obviously high under these circumstances. When the Head was challenged by Parents on the lack of all round education she pointed to a piece of research that showed that children who achieved good SATs results were more likely to achieve 5 GCSEs grade A-C. The Head also claimed that the children had misunderstood the teacher when she regularly told them that they would be put in lower groups in secondary school unless they achieved good SAts results. This was not true as the feeder schools all did their own tests as they placed no value on SATs results.

Exactly as you have stated happened on entry to secondary school, in that these children were disadvantaged initially compared to peers from schools with lower SAts results who had better all round knowledge and higher level skills. Many had inflated grades and went down grades in subjects which caused upset for children and parents and a lot of extra work for teachers explaining where they lacked skills and providing tution to allow them to catch up with peers. Many parents kept insisting that their child got a high result in SATs and their child was exceptionally gifted, when they in reality had average learning abilities and skills. Some of these Parents even employed after school tutors as they felt the secondary school was not recognising and teaching their child at the correct higher level, putting extra pressure on these pupils.

daisiegg

FBaby wrote: »

We didn't get a place at our local senior school for my son because of many kids from out of area having gained a place to the local infant schools to get priority to the local senior school because of the poor results of their local senior school. As a result, coming in the area at a later date, my son only got a place at the other school with poor results (the school was put under remedial measures). Well I am so fortunate it happened this way (although clearly didn't see it at the time!!!). As a result of the poor ofsted report, the school got a lot of support, the Head was sacked, a new Head was appointed, who was known to have turned around the worse high school area into the most popular one and sure enough, the SATS resuts have gone up significantly, from an average of 70% in the previous 3 years to 86% ane 88% this year. I liked the school the moment I visited it and have been absolutely delighted with every aspect of school life. I couldn't praise the school any more. Funilly enough, this year, they got much better result than the local very popular school...

Similarly, we chose for my DD a secondary school with good SATS results, but not as high as another one in our catchment area she would definitely have had a place to. I have also been very pleased with this school this year.

Secondary schools don't do SATs...do you mean GCSEs?