General Chat

I'm absolutely livid with all this I really am. I need to rant so apologies in advance. My eldest did her sats last year in year two so I assumed this year the pressure would be off somewhat ...........

Just been to parents evening and two weeks ago they gave the kids exam papers with things they haven't even learnt yet - stuff they are not expected to learn until the end of this school year ! All in proper exam conditions.

As a consequence my girls' confidence is shot to pieces. Having made a blinding start to this school year, since this exam , she's no longer participating in lessons in the way she was. The teacher herself admits it's the exam and said though she hates it she has to do it as it's just the way things are done these days.

I think it's appalling to constantly pressure kids like this for no reason. She was happily tripping along and BAM we're now on a confidence building exercise. FOR WHAT? I just don't understand what possible benefit it is to do this to kids that age.

We had a long chat about it tonight and I told her that she wasn't supposed to know the majority of what was in the exam paper and that she wasn't to worry and I think I reassured her. I also stressed that the teacher was impressed by her attitude to work up til the exam and that I was proud of the work I had seen tonight.

Sorry to run on but I am so angry about this. Does anyone agree with this system or am I alone in thinking these constant tests are doing more harm than good? xx

no i think the skools hav introduced some very silly things

my 6 year old imformed me the other day that
if i drank mucky beer i would say norty words fall over and be sick and do things i wldnt if i didnt drink it
i was horrified ans ask her hu told her that n she said oh mum we been learning about drugs at skool now im all for teaching kids bought drink n drugs but she is 6 years old she has nvr came into contact with anyone hu has taken drugs and the only tym she sees people drinkin is at family party in a pub
and they are always tuk home b4 people get drunk
they never see us drink in the house
i think their far to young at 6 to be told stuff lyk this

so yes muffy i think sumtyms the skool get things wrong

stray
xxxx

I wish our kids were allowed to be just kids. The exams aren't for the childrens benefit at this age in my opinion.
Hope your little un soon gets her confidence back. I'm sure there's better ways of assessing what each child knows in a more informal setting. My 2 younger children are 9 and 6 and I'm sure they aren't doing formal exams, they do some at the end of the year but not in a pressurized way.

Omg I deleted by mistake instead of editing

But I agreed with you Muffy

It's abotu league tables and not our kids, it's unfair on the kids at the end of the day

Too much preausre on the little ones and not enough on the teenage ones who are allowed to seemingly come and go as they please, perhaps its easier to control the small ones but hey we're nicking their childhood

I agree Muffy,


I feel the system is placing ridiculous pressures on little ones who should be learning how to socialise, learn basic literacy, numeracy and IT and not be tested at such a young age.

Its all about government targets and statistics. We too had parents evening tonight and my youngest has been diagnosed with dyslexia like Will is. These tests would be impossible for them!!


All the best to a good Mum and your lovely lass,


Caz xxxx

I am in favour of voluntary SATS because they provide a benchmark means of on-going assessment.
Many schools use them although maybe not under quite such draconian conditions!
They help to gauge a child's progression because they are standardised and provide a means whereby teaching staff can decide whether an individual child needs further help in certain areas.

Caz, voluntary SATS are not used by government and the only targets set at this level are by the individual establishments.
On-going and regular assessment is very good for the individual child so long as it is carried out in the proper manner. Sadly, we have far too few teaching staff to do this another, meaningful way!

I don't disagree with sats Errol. To a point. Every couple of years maybe. What I fail to understand is why the kids were given a paper with information they have yet to learn! Surely they should have tested them on what they have been taught and made sure they fully understood that rather than breaking their confidence with things they can't possibly understand? xx

It sounds like the school introduced the "exam" somewhat prematurely although some do set it this term to see what level the children are at individually.

I ama gainst children this young having constant exams. By all means test them on what they know but not under extreme exam conditions, and certainly not on things they have not been taught. No wonder the poor soul's confidence has gone. Whatever happened to playing when children? Not much chance of that if they are always worrying about exams.

Ann
Glos

as young as the children are surely assess them over the year is better not put them in exam conditions for things they havent been taught

the system is rubbish

but to be honest the teacher hav so much pressure now from the top dogs their hands r tied

But how can you continually assess each child over the year?
A standardised test is a good way to discover strengths and weaknesses before it is too late.

Surely Errol there is no need to keep putting kids in *boxes* like this? group them according to their performance last year and assess them as they go along.

My girl has weekly spellings, times tables test and reading assessment. Coupled with all the other work she does, surely a good teacher can assess them as they go along and make relevant changes accordingly? xx

yes errol hun

as a teacher of pre skool children in the past thats how we assessed them

and to be honest spendign every day with them u see their strenghts and weaknesses or u should !

altho my daughter teacher 2 yr ago didnt no she was left handed and she had been in her class 10 month

so u may be ryt

The government tests werent what showed my kids progress errol, it was teachers who were experienced and aware,

But I accept that not all schools have such good teachers,

Caz x

3 of my kids are left handed Stray of 5 and 2 are dyslexic,

Caz x

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

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 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