Government SATS are effortlessly damaging generations of children.
We have all seen posts from Parents complaining on social media for some years now about how the Government SATS system has been affecting our Children negatively and causing stress. Yet I still see new posts daily from parents new to the schooling system shocked about what is happening to their own children when they start their turn in the system of testing.
When asked, Natasha Dennis, a concerned parent from the Midlands, whose child is currently facing these exams said ‘’How the hell can you be 6 yrs old and be crying and stressed about SATS?’
The number of Secondary School Children suffering from stress and stress-related illnesses due to SATS has been increasing over a number of years. Unfortunately, the Government also got away with passing the tests down to even younger Children in Primary schools, as early as 6 yrs old.
“Children will still sit tests in reading, maths and spelling, punctuation and grammar. But the tests are more demanding than previous years, with more expected of pupils.”
BBC, Primary Tests, 2018.
Complaints roll into local Education authorities, Schools and then the Government decide to lower the age to now target 4 yr olds who have just started in their schooling life. Groups have been formed on social media by Parents all stating their concerns and sharing their stories of how the SATS are affecting their kids and their households. Parents are anxious about their kids’ welfare. Schools should be a fun place to learn, especially in the early years of an impressionable wide-eyed open-mindedness canvas, otherwise known to you and me as my Child.
So many tests every term at the beginning, middle and end of term time. Who are these SATS results actually for? Does anybody know the answer? As Parents we complain to each other, start a group on social media, complain some more. Feel better as we know we are not alone in our anger and we start to demand change.
A growing number of parents are starting to homeschool but we are not all in that fortunate position. Let us get back to complaining and we, the parent still force our Children to go a sit in a hall with a pen and listen to the order of ‘’Wait until I say you can turn your paper over’’ Then the results come through and with tears streaming down the cheeks of your Individual beautiful Child the answer is ‘I am not good enough’
Ashmore Writes 
Says were originally invented so that teachers could see what level a child was working at so that their education could be tailored for them as they went through the school system. However by the time the revised version of the National Curriculum came out, Year 6 pupils could not be tested above Level 5 so if a child was working above level 5 this was not recorded.
Secondary schools have always done their own assessments of pupils entering their school, not really taking any notice of Sats.
As time went on the results became a stick to beat schools with. This was passed down through anxious teachers to their pupils. I came across a primary school that got into trouble for helping pupils with their Sats, otherwise known as cheating.
SATS make for unhealthy teaching environments and testing for the sake of testing.
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Hi,
you appear to be very passionate about this too Sharon. I have always said Teachers are not to blame. I know a lot of teachers and they hate the test system. After moving my children to a different Primary school, I can only say that I wish every child could have had the Headteacher and staff that we were privileged to have.
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‘Teachers aren’t to blame’?!? 🤔 ~ mmmmm, this reminds me of something that was said during the nazi war trials. The officers etc were able to do what they did because they said they were simply ‘following orders’.
And we have all been conditioned into this disempowering way of thinking. Take just one day and see if you can count how many times a day you say I ‘have’ to do this, that or the other. Then question it. Do you really ‘have’ to do it or are you making a choice to do it?
Rather than be concerned about SATS I’d be more concerned about teachers working in unhealthy teaching environments ~ why are they doing that? And where is all this stress about SATS coming from?
My son had SATS but it was never even an issue. It might be because my son knew he wasn’t going to school for the education but if he did go for that, surely the SATS could help? Don’t they measure where the kid is at and therefore show the areas in which they need more attention?
What I find more disturbing is parents who say their kids are ‘doing really well at school’ ~ what the hell does that mean???? Only the other day my mum said my niece’s little girl, who’s about 6 years old, is doing really ‘well’ at school! I was horrified! What does that even mean? How does a kid do ‘well’ at school. To me, a kid is doing well, if it’s having a great time, having lots of fun, being happy, that sort of thing so what do parents mean when they say their kid is doing well at school.
Just my immediate thoughts 😊. Great discussion. Keep them coming 👍🏽
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Hi Neikka, I really enjoyed reading your response. I agree with you on a lot that you have written. Last night I was thinking about the ‘Teachers not to blame’ and I said to my partner, ‘actually the school I moved my children to was very different to most other schools and everything there was about fun and happy individuals, and both my children thrived as they were treated as individual people’
I use a quote from a Mr. Andy Shaw when it comes to teaching, when teachers say my children just don’t get it
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So you’re saying that the problem isn’t with SATS themselves but with the teachers? That makes sense.
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The whole system is wrong. I’m having conversations with so many people on this subject. I don’t agree that children should be sitting tests at the beginning and end of each term, or at such a young age. There are parent’s who put the pressure on children. Then there are parent’s who put no pressure on and yet children are getting very stressed. So, where is the pressure coming from? If it is not the parent, it must be the teachers.
A child is in the bottom set for a subject and having spoken to the teacher, I was stunned to hear they have no material to teach the bottom set so they give them the top set SATS, and wonder why the children perform so badly?
A child is top of his class in all his subjects until it comes to sitting exams.
He is unsuccessful in exams. The teacher claims “He just doesn’t do well in this type of testing” So, that child fails in that system.
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Absolutely agree, the age for testing and amount of pressure mounting on children as young as four, is terrible.
Looking forward to reading more!
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Thank you Upgrader. There is far too much damage being done to the upcoming generations, There are a lot of groups out there that need to come together.
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Where is the pressure coming from? Just curious
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