Booster homework:SATS

tom9980

Claire212 wrote: »

It's a shame that schools are putting so much pressure on our kids.

Correction the government put staff in sometimes impossible situations without the necessary resources and/or time to do the job required. Government also put pressure on schools to produce results and compete with each other, failure leads to sanctions and threats which can often ignore realities on the ground. In short there is huge amounts of pressure on staff which in turn is unfairly being put on your kids.

securityguy

unschooler wrote: »

Gove is the worst thing that could have ever happened to education in this country

How fortunate we all are that previous Labour education secretaries presided over a primary education system free from such pressures.

Egypt191

Thanks for all of the replies, it makes very interesting reading. Yesterday when I spoke to the school and told them how distressed he was they suggested that his medication be increased. They then informed me that that he had to do the boosters regardless. From reading all these posts it makes me think otherwise.

bestpud wrote: »

.....

I think you must be very, very patient or seriously dislike telling people straight as I'd have wiped the floor with the HT! :mad:

I'm patient, I like to bide my time until I have enough facts to bombard them with so they can't wriggle out of anything!!

Lagoon wrote:

....I don't want to offend the OP or anyone else

I'm not offended, I see your point, but they are attempting to teach him materials that they haven't touched on throughout the whole school year.

Spendless wrote:

...Not easy if your child is going to be upset by it though

This is one of the biggest hurdles i'm facing, they've drummed into him so much how much of a failure he will be if he moves down that I'm trying to make it clear it's about the school, not him:mad:

Securityguy wrote:

...Level 6 is entirely pointless. The syllabus isn't the same as KS3, and therefore it is not remotely comparable to a level 6 in KS3

Thanks, again, interesting reading..

Madmel wrote:

...I think I'd be tempted to keep him off school for the SATs.

interesting one this..DS was told that if he was off Sick, or for any other reason for the SAT's, his teacher would come to our home and make him take the test here!!!! But I'm also aware that you can't pull a child out of SAT's, otherwise I would. I couldn't care less what grade he gets, as long as he's happy, and he's not at the moment.

Loz01

SATS are so pointless, when I got to secondary school they made us re-do loads of tests to see what maths/science/english group we were going to be in anyway!! It's awful the pressure they put on the kids.

peachyprice

Egypt191 wrote: »

interesting one this..DS was told that if he was off Sick, or for any other reason for the SAT's, his teacher would come to our home and make him take the test here!!!! But I'm also aware that you can't pull a child out of SAT's, otherwise I would. I couldn't care less what grade he gets, as long as he's happy, and he's not at the moment.

Would he be happy taking them at home away from the pressure the school is putting on him?

I have a friend whose daughter has severe separation anxiety, she was out of school for the majority of the summer term, her class teacher took her SAT's to her at home and she did them while her teacher had a cup of tea with her mum, it was all pre-arranged and the daughter did really well.

I would be tempted to call their bluff by thanking them for the offer of letting him do them at home

As for the suggestion of increasing his medication? !!!!!!, when did they become doctors, disgraceful.

unschooler

Egypt191 wrote: »

Thanks for all of the replies, it makes very interesting reading. Yesterday when I spoke to the school and told them how distressed he was they suggested that his medication be increased. They then informed me that that he had to do the boosters regardless.

This is a disability discrimination issue. You can contact the NAS for advice. http://www.autism.org.uk/ If they tell you that you signed a parent/school agreement, so tough luck, remind them that home-school agreements are not a legally binding contract, unlike disability discrimination laws.

Egypt191

peachyprice wrote: »

Would he be happy taking them at home away from the pressure the school is putting on him?

I have a friend whose daughter has severe separation anxiety, she was out of school for the majority of the summer term, her class teacher took her SAT's to her at home and she did them while her teacher had a cup of tea with her mum, it was all pre-arranged and the daughter did really well.

I would be tempted to call their bluff by thanking them for the offer of letting him do them at home

As for the suggestion of increasing his medication? !!!!!!, when did they become doctors, disgraceful.

unfortunately he doesn't have a good relationship with his teacher (surprise, surprise) so them threatening to come to our home is a violation to him. I think if they turned up he'd run, and they know that!:mad: There isn't alot of care going on at the school...

noodledoodle7

Hi Op

Reading your post, it really sounds like something I could have written to the point I am wondering if they are in the same school.

At the beginning of this year all year 6 parents were called into a meeting in the evening and told how important SATs were and that as the new grammar test has been introduced they would be heavily concentrating on this but had no practice papers or current revision material. Fast forward a could of months and they still did not have the material to teach them Grammar.

Eventually they gave all the pupils a grammar book around 4 wks ago and have been absolutely bombarding them with study. My son is also very bright and it was mentioned a few months ago that he would be doing the level 6 paper. I never thought anything of it at the time but wish I had objected.

He comes home with at least 2 hrs homework every evening and he also has extra maths booster classes at breaks/lunchtimes. He became so stressed out, crying at bedtime that he could not cope. I explained to him that the results only mattered to the primary school league tables but every time he mentioned this to a teacher they insisted it would affect what class he would in when he reached his secondary school (which he has been worrying for months about getting a place) and would heavily affect his future.

Everyday I have to remind him he can only do his best and the levels have no bearing on his next school but his teachers are still telling him the opposite to the point he won't believe me now.

The worst part was on the last school holidays he had 2 weeks off school and we were due to go on holiday for a week, he was in tears wanting to take his homework on holiday as he was worried he would not be able to complete it in the full week he had left when we returned because he had so much to do. It broke my heart and he worried about it all holiday.

Anyway, a few weeks and they will be all over and done with, I have just purchased some signed sports memorabilia for him as a surprise when it is all over with to show him how proud I am of him, even without any results.

Hope your son feels better op.

Take Care
xx

Egypt191

unschooler wrote: »

This is a disability discrimination issue. You can contact the NAS for advice. http://www.autism.org.uk/ If they tell you that you signed a parent/school agreement, so tough luck, remind them that home-school agreements are not a legally binding contract, unlike disability discrimination laws.

Ah, this old chestnut (I'm not being flippant either, just they have no regard for special needs) The amount of letter's in both of my DSs files regarding this are astronomical.... But thanks, I'll look into this now.

pigpen

If he is finding it so distressing the last thing he should be subject to is MORE homework!!

I'd be marching into the school, demanding a meeting with the head and telling them to place their homework and their inadequacies up any orifice they choose because from now on he will NOT be doing any homework and if they don't like it they should make sure they are teaching better throughout the year so they don't have to force 11 year olds to cram for these tests which have no bearing in their future education at all. They are to make sure the teachers are teaching properly and effectively not the childrens abilities.

They tried this tactic with 2 of mine and I tore strips of the class teacher and the head.. totally out of order.

The rubbish they spout about they use the results at high school is rubbish.. When they start at high school they do CATs tests which assess where the children are at in an informal manner and they are banded according to ability based on these results the SATs are just a farce.

Bin the homework, give him a hug and tell him you don't care if he gets all level 1's because he is wonderful just being him and fling him out to play and be a child. They grow up too quick as it is without all this pressure to cover school targets!