General Chat

No need to be rude and laugh Errol, I quoted a head teacher and not my words .................suggest you visit your nearest beacon school and ask them

Ended a few years ago???...............they must be using old letter heads then, will let them know their mistake

For those not sure, the Beacon programme which ended a couple of years ago identified high performing schools in a bid to share good practice so of course SATS played a part in that because it identified high performing schools.

me either hun lol

must go have a word with me dad tomorow find sumit out lol

37 and you know nothing of nuclear physics? Shame on you!


pmsl Errol

I'm googling as we speak hon xx

You are quite right, Helen. A large part of the funding is based on "bums on seats".

Beacon Status (if that is what you are referring to) is slightly different.
I am a governor at my daughter's school and sit on the finance committee and if you know of ways to obtain funding through SATS results I would love to know - we could do with the extra dosh lol

tht is ryt helen hun


stray
xxxx

May I add that if a school has better sats results, more parents want to send their children there, and schools are funded on how many children are enrolled. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I won't be offended (unless it starts with - You idiot...lol)

I am not a fan o SATs having watch my 14yr old go through hell this summer as the teachers put them under that much pressure so for 7 yrs old for me is a big no.no FGS I wish they would remeber they are children...

Well I beg to differ Errol as they were the words of the headteacher of my childs primary school and he asked parents to petiton the Goverment to stop the SATs and he ran a becon school that was held as the top performing primary in Sheffield

The SATs do in his words go towards becon status which also gives extra status and funding..........his words not mine.....

Contrary to popular belief, SATS is not just about league tables.
And schools certainly do NOT obtain different funding depending on SATS results!

I disagree with SATS even thought both of mine had extra support in after school classes to get through them as it is all about league tables and becon schools which get a higher status and funding, primary children only need regular ad-hoc testing that is fun and meaningful to the child and not to a league postition

yes that is correct i do type really fast and i never proof read
i also type in txt tlk so miss me vowels out a lot of the tym

but as long as ppl no wat i mean then thats ok

no offence taken hun

stray
xxxx

By the way, Rudolf etc. I do hope that the spelling and punctuation in your postings are meant to be sarcastic, particularly as you say you taught pre-school. If they are not sarcastic, then perhaps you think too fast, and do not proof-read your posting before pressing the button.
No offence intended
Eileen

37 and you know nothing of nuclear physics? Shame on you!

To be serious, that is not what I said. I said I agree with SATS but I also said that it sounds like the school introduced the "exam" somewhat prematurely in this instance.

i think sats r brill for older children
but primary age should be ongoin assesments
altho maybe an exam in yr 6 is gud but b4 that nope

kids have enough to put up wit in life without the added pressure

i no lyk i say from pre skool if one of my kids had a lacking in an area we were their to sort it out and help and suport them and we nvr had no formal tests

No Errol not really. Government sats I can understand to a point. But she is already tested 3 times weekly - if the teacher can't assess progress from that plus normal school work then I despair!

I wouldn't like to sit an exam about nuclear physics as I know nothing about it and if I were seven I'd be worried about it. Fortunately I'm 37 and I would think *stuff it* she doesn't have that privilege. Sadly for her.

I wouldn't object to her being tested on work she has been taught. That's school and you have to knuckle down and get on with it that's life I totally agree.
xx

My OH, who is a primary school teacher said that although you do need to assess the children to see which level they are working at that this way seems a bit extreme, there are plenty of other ways, which are less pressurised.
I know my children, as I mentioned before aren't having this sort of formal exams for assessment, neither do my friends children who attend a different school. It would seem to be something this school is trying, I would think if enough parents are unhappy then the school may decide to try another method of assessment.
I'm staggered to think that they haven't considered the implacations of testing children on things they haven't been taught.

I have to say the teacher was fantastic.

She was aware that my girls confidence had dropped and asked me what her specific interests were so she could angle a few lessons towards her to try and fire her up on subjects she is knowledgable on and confident with.

She is as angry as I am about what happened but as hs been said before the teachers hands are tied they take their orders from above.

I have every confidence that between me and her teacher we can boost her up and get her back to where she was pre exam I just feel these exams have been totally counterproductive and apparently my girl is not the only one this has happened to.xx

Precisely Caz. Sadly some schools have neither the staff nor the resources.
Muffy, the whole point of SATS is that the tests are standardised thus making it easier for teaching staff to assess against recognised standards and criteria.
This certainly is NOT putting them into boxes - on the contrary. It is providing the opportunity for teaching staff to recognise strengths and weaknesses and react accordingly, giving the individual child greater opportunity to achieve which, at the end of the day, is what we as parents want isn't it?

I do sympathise to an extent with your feelings, I am now a gran aged 63. However I feel that often not enough is expected of children now. I think we have jumped possibly from too much pressure of the wrong sort, to not enough of the right sort.
I have five children, two in their late thirties, and three in their mid-late twenties. My husband, now retired, was a teacher firstly at grammar school and then at sixth form college. I was housemistress at the same college. We have also living with us now our six year old grandson, and one of our daughters recently qualified as a teacher.I detail this only to show that we have been 'in' education for many years.
Apologies for the ramble, and back to my point.
I went to a private girls' school. We had tests in every subject weekly. We had bigger tests at the end of term, and at the end of the school year we had 'real' exams. If we did not pass the end of year exam, we repeated the year. i.e. we got left down a year.(Nobody to my knowledge ever got left down two years) Now I am not advocating being left down, as it raises further problems much later in one's education.
My husband went to a boys' grammar, and he was what they called 'double express' In other words he was so bright he was in a class two years older than him, fine for sitting at a desk, but rotten luck when playing footie.

I think perhaps the setting of weekly tests was helpful in that if someone was slipping behind it was picked up very quickly. Termly tests helped to round up the whole of what one had learned that term and see how it fitted together.
I think the result was that tests and exams held absolutely no terrors for us. They were just part of the school week. We did not treat them lightly, as we knew they were coming and that we had to do the work, but they did not bother us.

Provided tests are relevant to what has been taught, they should not be a problem. I think the problem is caused by Central Government insisting on certain types of tests and basing 'league tables' on them. A school is succeeding if it teaches each individual child what it needs to know. It is not a successful school if the school itself is made to jump through hoops set by people who often know very little about education and even less about learning.
Really all a child needs to learn to do well is to read. Then it can learn about anything.
Thats my rant
Sorry to be so long
Eileen