Anyone Opted Out of SATS?

[Highlander]

have just found out DS1 will 'be tested' within a couple of years of starting school

[motherinferior]

No, but I am hugely relieved that DD1's school absolutely downplays them. I think she's done hers but you'd never know.

[Sanctuary]

We wanted to opt out of year 2 SATS

Ds has dyslexia and the teacher felt it would really knock his confidence BUT that we had to ask headmistress

She said no but would provide a reader??

Well guess what no reader was provided and ds sat there totally confused.Guessing most of the answers

So NOW he may resit them???
I HATE SATS

[motherinferior]

I had no idea - nobody had - if and when DD1's were. Or are. She did some sort of test the other day. Might have been SATS. Or maybe not. It was all very low-key.

[Fennel]

No, but I would if my children seemed remotely stressed by it - dd1 did yr2 SATS last year, in such a low key way we didn't know she was doing them and I don't think she did either (she's very dreamy, things pass her by rather).

dd2 did them last week and knew exactly when they were and how everyone in the class was doing, which I don't like but she wasn't stressed either.

One of my friends is going to opt their dd out of SATS at our school next year because they don't want their dd worried about performance. I am quite impressed, would be tempted to do the same except I really like the yr 2 teacher and feel a bit that it might not be helping her if we do that (she doesn't like SATS either but gets judged on her class's performance).

[aintnomountainhighenough]

I will opt out when the time comes and wish more parents would. As a matter of interest does anyone know if a school can opt your child out. I heard this week that at DDs school 3 children didn't take them because they weren't up to it. I find this rather odd becuase surely this is fiddling the figures?

[Highlander]

crikey, I'm quite relieved by the responses here. I was expecting more scorn!! Excellent, I think I will take a stance when the time comes.

Have to visit his local schools soon - should I ask pushy Q's about what they specifically do for boys?

[WedgiesMum]

Y2 sats are supposed to be very low key assessments and are teacher led which means the children should be unaware they are doing them and should do them when the teachers feel they are ready. Sadly this is not the case in all schools, but what I would check is what your particular school's approach is.

It may be difficult to get out of doing them though as there is no set time as such for Y2 children to take the tests so you might find it hard to not send them on the days they are doing the tests.

Children aren't 'opted out' as such but disapplied from the test if the school feels that they are just not up to the assessment. For example children with particular special needs or learning difficulties will be disapplied. It is not supposed to be to do with 'fiddling' and I think that IME most schools do not try to massage their figures in this way, but am willing to be proved wrong on that

HTH

[mrz]

I'm afraid legally you can't just opt out of SATs. As WedgiesMum says some children may be disapplied but schools would have to prove that the children's learning difficulties are such that they would be unable to take the test.
A friend actually moved houses at SAT time so her children would be "between" schools and not have to take the tests.

[aintnomountainhighenough]

The children that were opted out are not special needs so that is why I find it a bit strange. That and the fact that the school is in special measures! Thanks for your responses though.

[sarahbearhall]

Yes but if they were disapplied they will still be recorded on the league tables. It may be the children who were disapplied would not have achieved the minimum score - you don't have to be SN for that to apply. Even children who have taken the test have a Teacher's Assessment recorded as their score. The tests just support what the teacher already knows. At Y2 even if you took the child out of school on the day they would still have to appear on the league tables. At our school they would just do the test on a different day as you just have to do Y2 SATs sometime in May. Please don't take this post as support for SATs - I can't stand the damn things - just explaining how it is!!

[harpsichordcarrier]

gosh how interesting
riven, good for you.
it may that Y2 sats are supposed to be downplayed but in RL the whole school can feel the pressure and this will rub off onto all the children

[LindzDelirium]

at DD's (very high achieving school) I was told that the children who are not expected to do well at SATS are marked as absent that day

[Feenie]

Children are also assessed when they enter Reception, and again when they leave - will you try to exclude your child from those assessments also? Your child won't know about these assessments, of course, just as they shouldn't know about their Y2 SATS. There will be a teacher assessment at Y1 - how will you opt your child out of those? The only difference in Y2 assessments is that they contribute to the teacher assessment which is reported to parents at the end of the year. Your child's progress is measured to determine what to teach them next.
In Y6 the tests are totally different - they are something to get arsey about because they are distressing to children and tell us nothing different from the teacher assessment - get arsey about those instead. I would!

[cory]

Ha! Fat chance! Dd was off sick during Yr 6 SATS week and they sent a learning assistant round with the exam papers.

(actually I didn't mind too much, because she didn't really mind)

Her Yr 2 SATS were totally downplayed though; half the kids hadn't realised they were doing an exam.

[Zazette]

I think my dd did her year 2 SATS the other week. Not at all sure though - her teacher mentioned that she wanted a bit of work that had come home back by a certain date to include in her assessment, but dd insists (when expertly interrogated by moi) that the only tests she has ever done have been ballet ones.

So, all very low-key here too, and no purpose would have been served by opting her out. yr 6 SATS a bit harder to manage, but the school still plays them down as much as poss. This is why it is good to choose a school that DOESN'T have fantastic SATS results, IME, it's because they're too busy educating them properly and being lovely to waste time cramming them for crappy tests.

[constancereader]

It is very bad practice for a school to stress out children about yr2 SATS. When I had to administer them the children did not know that they were being tested at all.

I find it astonishing that schools think it necessary to tell such little children they are being tested.

[cece]

DD has just been doing her Year 2 SATs. She has had no idea she is doing them. That is the way it should be.

I only know what days she did them as I am also a teacher and I know what the test papers are about. Hence I know when she says we did x, y and z I know that they are part of the SATs.

TBH it would be hard to withdraw them from the Year 2 SATs as they take place over several weeks, usually in May but can be another time if the teacher feels it is appropirate.

I agree - if you want to get stressy about SATs save it for the Year 6 ones. They are awful and should be done away with asap. They tell the teacher nothing they don't know already and completely stress the kids our.

[AbbeyA]

If they are done properly then the YR2 children wouldn't know, unless the parents make a big thing about it which would be very unfair when the schools downplay it. I don't think that you could opt out of Yr 2 ones, they would simply do it when they came back, they are not like the yr 6 ones.

[angrymum1]

its me cod

i tired but they talked me out of it

any good school does it evry discretely imo

[angrymum1]

transpired they LOVED doign it

[roisin]

ds1 genuinely didn't know when he was doing SATs in yr2, and hadn't ever heard the term "SATs" and at the time (4 years ago) they were more formal than they are now!

He's just survived yr6 SATs with no apparent stress or pressure from teachers or school.

[mrz]

LindzDelirium "at DD's (very high achieving school) I was told that the children who are not expected to do well at SATS are marked as absent that day" it wouldn't make any difference to the school's achievement absent children will still affect league tables.