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Do you think year 6 SATS should be abolished?

PastelColours

Was debating it with my sister and wanted to know what you guys thought

(edited 4 years ago)

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Reply 1

PepeTheFroggi

I forgot they existed lol. but really what is the point of them? they don't really do anything in the future do they?

Reply 2

PastelColours

Original post by PepeTheFroggi

I forgot they existed lol. but really what is the point of them? they don't really do anything in the future do they?

Lol they used to put our SATS results on our reports in secondary which was just annoying but I don’t really see the point of them

Reply 3

Obolinda

Volunteer Team

they use them for target grades and they are so off! 10 year old me was not that good at exams and just school in general 😂

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 4

Muttley79

Original post by PastelColours

Was debating it with my sister and wanted to know what you guys thought

They are used to measure the effectiveness of Primary schools and the progress you make in Secondary school.

The problem is that some Primary schools just focus on them in Year 6 and so it becomes boring ... the new Ofsted will help stop that.

Reply 5

Dancer2001

Original post by PepeTheFroggi

I forgot they existed lol. but really what is the point of them? they don't really do anything in the future do they?

They’re supposed to measure how well primary schools are doing, and how good the teachers are. They don’t really affect the individual students at all.
The problem is that teachers pretend they are important for the students to try and make them work hard, but this just makes them stressed.

I think a good idea would be that the exams don’t change, but the results don’t get released to/about individual students. This way the data about how a class did as a whole is still there, but teachers can’t see how well individuals did, and kids can’t be comparing results.
Maybe parents could still request their child’s results, so they could see how they’re doing and whether to hire tutors etc.

Reply 6

username4406682

Original post by Obolinda

they use them for target grades and they are so off! 10 year old me was not that good at exams and just school in general 😂

Eyyy MCA represent

Reply 7

Obolinda

Volunteer Team

Original post by LiberOfLondon

Eyyy MCA represent

MCA?

Reply 8

fallen_acorns

Original post by PepeTheFroggi

I forgot they existed lol. but really what is the point of them? they don't really do anything in the future do they?

They have a number of functions, mostly though they are used by schools to monitor the progress of students, and parents to choose between schools. If your a prospective parent looking to pick which primary school you want for your kid, standardised testing and other such results are a big way.

Reply 9

fallen_acorns

I don't think we should abolish testing for year 6 students. They will be 10 years old roughly which is a reasonable age to test a child propperly (I really don't agree with meaningful testing when they are 5-6 etc.)

But I do think the purpose of the testing should be clearly defined and justified. I would happily scrap the current SATs and replace them with something more personalised and devised by different teachers. I know it wouldn't be comparable with children across the country, but honestly that doesn't bother me. I don't think at 10 years old you need to know how you compare with the rest of the country, and I hate the marketisation of schools that standardised testing and league tables have brought in - its awful for teachers and students.

I would rather tests devised by their schools and teachers designed to aid parents and students in understanding their educational needs, weakensses and progress, rather than the current SATs.

Reply 10

username1799249

Original post by PepeTheFroggi

I forgot they existed lol. but really what is the point of them? they don't really do anything in the future do they?

Well yes they do. They provide a baseline by which secondary schools are judged with regard to progress 8. They also give primary schools their progress score by comparing to ks1 sats.

All are useful for school leaders in particular especially when it comes to allocating resources. The question I ponder is why are we so obsessed with league tables which are invariably played and is it worth putting our kids through that pressure in order to jump up the league tables?

nah, it's fun.

Original post by Obolinda

MCA?

It's a joke about my school (MCA/Mossbourne Community Academy) using SATS for predicted grades until Y11 mocks.

Reply 13

Obolinda

Volunteer Team

Original post by LiberOfLondon

Oh, lol. Although you probably shouldn't publicly post your school, I think 😐

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 14

lubasud

Original post by PastelColours

Was debating it with my sister and wanted to know what you guys thought

No because I never found mine out so I have a vendetta against SATs. Also all it does is make schools look good and increase the ranking in the League tables.

Reply 15

TheV1llain27

I still remember doing my SATs in year 6 and to be honest with you they were pointless for me as I went to a Grammar school after year 6. For children that do the 11+ (entrance exams) its pointless because grammar/selective schools dont look at SATs results as they have their own internal exams when students join in year 7. I think it does help most state/comprehensive schools in the country at working out which students lack basic English reading and writing skills or numeracy when they join in year 7 so students can get the support they are entitled to. Having SATs in place gives primary school teachers their own targets and helps the government measure the progress of a school a lot easier. Keep in mind private schools don’t do SATs anyway as they have internal exams at the end of each year. But you shouldn’t worry about the exams anyway they really don’t mean anything for us as students, it’s mainly used as an indicator for teachers progress or something like that.

Reply 16

username3434964

Original post by LiberOfLondon

It's a joke about my school (MCA/Mossbourne Community Academy) using SATS for predicted grades until Y11 mocks.

Most schools do that as far as I know

Reply 17

lubasud

Original post by Bill Nye

Most schools do that as far as I know

I can second that - my SATs gave me targets of 7s and an 8 in Maths. My English Language and Literature targets were both reduced to 6s in KS3 and my Maths target was reduced to a 7 (I'm currently in Year 11) in order to be "linear with my other targets". Not that I believe that excuse by any means.

Reply 18

watershower

I see the purpose SATs have but they shouldn’t be released. Why should league tables matter for primary school? My primary school, looking back on it, was brilliant, all we did was play and we didn’t even know SATs were going on. We all got brilliant results. Results don’t need to be compared and once you step foot in year 7, unless you have really bad results (indicating there’s an underlying problem) they become irrelevant (and should do). Primary schools should only pass them onto secondary school once the school is confirmed and that’s that. 10/11 year olds shouldn’t be worrying about exams