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My granddaughter was sick in the night at 4 am (don't know why, may be a germ or worrying about SATS).  She is one of the cleverest in the class (all grandmothers say that) but it is true.  My daughter rang the school and the school said she had to come in and do the maths test, so had to take her to school with no breakfast and she had to sit in a room on her own with a bowl (in case she was sick again) and then Mum had to wait until she had finished and take her home.  She went straight to bed when she got home and is still asleep now.  Do you think this is 'a bit over the top' and could be classed as cruelty to children or am I just being overprotective.  Most of the week she enjoyed the tests and said they were a lot easier than the revision, she was told the maths test today was angles and triangles, and although she is good at maths think she may have got a bit worried.  I call them silly SATS and tell her not to worry.  I remember my 11 plus and all the children were crying but my mother just said 'what a shame you have to do tests, I was never good at school and it didn't spoil my life' and it is a lovely sunny day you would be better in the garden or playing tennis.  I just did the test and passed, couldn't understand why all the other children were crying.  Think Mum had the best idea, she said I have the common sense and your father has the brains.

Aaw, Borlotti, poor little mite, that is really not fair to make her go in and do it - just the school wanting to up their marks!

I have always told mine the SATs are to test the teachers, which is what they are, and why the teachers get so stressed about them.  I have helped in a year 6 class and heard the teacher constantly telling the kids what they have to do to get a good mark.  It makes for bad teaching as they are just teaching to an exam and not educating in the full meaning of the word.

I have invigilated year 9 SATs too and seen how stressed they get, but then it is good practice for the GCSEs given that schools don't seem to do end of year exams now.

My daughter is working in year 2 and her school have just been doing them.  She said it was awful as suddenly she wasn't allowed to give the children any help at all and the children got quite upset and so did she!  She felt so cruel as normally they would talk through things when a child needed a word or help with a sum and she suddenly had to say no I can't help you.

Sorry, I can get quite stressed about them myself!

I hope she feels better soon Borlotti.

T.x

She is still asleep, but waiting for a telephone call to see if Nanny can make it better.  Today she/Mum got letter from secondary school and have to say if they want to go away in October for three days (£100) I think to mix with the other children, and do activities like sky diving.  Think this is fine for some children, but as she is a bit of a worry guts, think going to secondary school will be OK and a holiday later on.  I loved home when I was young, but about 15/16 couldn't wait to get away, but they have to grow up so soon today.

When I passed the 11+(in 1972) I don't think anyone at home thought I'd any chance of passing.... being one of 5 siblings without a CSE between them...
My youngest now 16 and just starting his GCSE's point blank refused to do his key stage one SAT's and wasn't too keen on KS2 or 3 but has got a bit better with age.. fingers crossed he will do OK. It's a shame when schools put so much pressure on children, I hope she is feeling better soon...  :)

That is totally stupid making a child who is ill do an exam, it won't do the school or the child any good.

My son was the last year group to sit Key Stage 3 SATS last year and then had the long wait while they sorted out the mess they had made of the exam. He got top marks and we knew he would so we weren't worried. He is in Year 10 now and thinks they have made a mistake scraping Key stage 3 exams simply because they give students a chance to get used to exam pressure before the serious exams take place for GCSE. He's not in favour of GCSE exams being scraped and left to internal marking because he always gets marked lower by some of the teachers in internal assessments than he achieves in the exams.

quite simple, they are not allowed in school within 48 hrs of vomiting, she would have been at home

lbb

Your daughter could have refused to take her in - the school could not have insisted.  It is true however that if your granddaughter is very bright then they will have wanted her marks to boost their score. They probably also wanted her to have her chance to show what she can do.

It is wrong for schools to teach to the exam however there is so much pressure put on teachers, for the KS2 SATs in particular, that even if you know you are a good teacher and have done the best you can you still want to make sure that your class do well.  Wrong but the results driven world we live in I am afraid.  You are right though the SATs are really to test the teaching and to ensure that progression is made. It also a sad fact that it is usually the parents who put the pressure on the children not the school or the test. Children are tested and assessed at school all the time but because there is no publicity about those tests the parents stay out of it and do not stress their kids out!  Children are generally competitive creatures and they like the chance to see how they do. 

With a bit of luck though they will soon scrap the whole lot of them and we can stop losing good teachers from the profession too.

My daughter rang the school in the morning and told them the child had been sick but was told she still had to go in, but they did put in a room on her own and after the test she could go home. She also had a letter earlier saying that they had to attend even if ill, which I thought was a bit of a joke.  Anyway she seems to be quite lively now and said the test was easy, so don't know if it was a germ or nerves.  Will see how she is tomorrow, sometimes I think grandparents and parents worry more than the children as she didn't seem to mind too much sitting in a room on her own with a bowl and said the teacher was very nice to her.  Can laugh about now but didn't seem so funny this morning when I got a phone call from an upset daughter. Luckily she wasn`t sick on the test paper.

As LLB said school rules are no one will attend school if they have been sick in the last 48 hrs, I wonder if they would have been as insistant if any child wasn't too bright, they obviously needed her marks Borlotti, is it a local school.  ;D ;D ;D

Yes, Bush Hill Park Primary School.  Possibly they didn't believe she had really been sick, but all over with now and best forgotten.  Be interesting to see what marks she gets, if we are allowed to know.

If a school told me I "had" to take a sick child into school I would make a formal complaint against the teacher and phone the local paper.

I used to enjoy exams as it was my one chance to prove myself against the bullies. But unless it leads to a qualification then it really doesnt matter how well you do. If a child of mine just wanted to take a snooze during the exam they would get my full support!

Quote from: Justy on May 15, 2009, 19:20:21
It also a sad fact that it is usually the parents who put the pressure on the children not the school or the test.

It was definitely the school putting the pressure on, and emphasising the tests for most of the year, for  my 3 children when they did KS2 Sats - at 3 different schools all in different local authority areas!

I thought schools were supposed to require you to keep a child who has been sick home for 48 hours, because of the risk of infecting others. Would serve them right if she had been sick on the paper.

Hope she is ok now, and her mum too

Sally

My eldest daughter sat her SATS this week too. She is a very happy girl now that they are over. I disagree with the need for SATS. My daughter was sick as a pig in November when they sat the mocks - she panicked and did rather badly. She was so terrified that I went down to WHSmith and purchased revision books and test papers to try and build her confidence up. She was happier going into this week - but it had made me very angry with the pressure put on them. They have enough to go through - with their bodies changing and the big leap to secondary school in a few months. I don't think they should sit these exams. I think they should be prepared for secondary school and have more homework etc. Primary schools should be helping their year 6's prepare for september not hoping for good bloomin scores for a league table!
Sorry for the rant -it's just wrong to put so much pressure onto children to do well in these exams or face secondary school in bottom groups - with no hope for a decent education!

I hope your granddaughter feels better, Borlotti, and has done well in her tests! I for one am really glad that this week is over and my little one can stop worrying. Nik

My youngest went through all this last year, only to have his results delayed by months due to the marking mix up, then the results were rubbished by the school as they felt they were innaccurate. When he started his secondary school, they said they take no notice of SAT's results and prefer to do their own testing over the first few weeks to determine what groups they are in for maths etc! All adds up to a total waste of time really.

I think the saddest thing is how the primary school curriculum is so restricted in order to 'teach SAT's', it appears to have narrowed the children's education enormously.

QuoteWith a bit of luck though they will soon scrap the whole lot of them and we can stop losing good teachers from the profession too.

Sadly it may take more than scrapping the SATs...  :-X

Hope the wee one is feeling a lot better Borlotti. I am amazed someone would pill in a child with D or v...not advisable for someone to suggest that! :)

Re the other comments. I think a lot depends on the individual school...the individual parent and.... the individual teacher. In other words, I don't agree it is exams/schools or parents who cause pressure...it's down to spcific instances.
Our two girls are in a village school. Two of their teachers in Juniors were frankly useless in that they were negative, non-motivational, with one who called kids in second year juniors "tupid brats/prats",as a whole class and shouted at them etc ( I work in all schools across two counties and can compare) These two had little or no fire for the job/kids.....maths lessons and "little tests" were sooooo heavy that my eldest who is cheerful/hardworking was petrified of numbers and saying she was stupid...we don't use that word at home and it isn't one to be used with kids in school. At age 10 she and peers hadn't had the maths curriculum of kids that age (By the way, I told them this in a constructive way and had dialogue with the school....told that eldest was too polite and needed toughening up...not sure what that is to do with maths???) Head changed and in different classes and competative ethos changed to a more nurturing/rounded approach curriculum with lots of experiential learning. Both girls blossomed in terms of confidence/happiness/learning.

I have written to governors/inspectors/head saying what a positive impact these folk have had on my kids. Two teachers in particular are inspirational...and I really mean that.

SATs last few weeks were handled in a low key way by the school but 4 of my daughters friends were stressed out their heads as parents have had home tutors for past months "to get them good passes". Kids discussing with each other who has hasn't got a tutor and you will be in a "crud class as you don't have a tutor", so not the school here. Parents. These are not kids who need help...parents saying they want an "edge" etc.

I suppose what I am getting at is that it wasn't the school that was pressurising my daughter previously...it was a specific head and teachers....and some parents are the same...so all cases different and it was the Government who brought in SATs, not schools.....maybe thats why we have MP's making expenses errors, they need more math lessons :)

And no way would I be happy taking in  a child who was poorly.

Well, all has ended happily.  All fun at school this week so perhaps it was just nerves.  Biscuits yesterday from teacher, toys today and disco tonight.  Then one week off.  Perhaps we do panic a bit too much and children seem to recover quite quickly and no-one likes to see their child/grandchild being sick.  I think they are going to stop SATS as they say it takes the enjoyment out of teaching and makes the curriculum too narrow.