Guest peppa Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 hi need some advice again! we are planning to move to melbourne june 08. our eldest will be just finishing year 6. we first thought it best for him to sit his sats but we have now started to wonder is there any point! I mean the purpose of yr6 sats are to band them for high school, but if he will not be attending high school in the uk will these results mean anything in oz? This could mean a change of plan we could leave sooner! visa depending of course! any advice would be great thanks peppa. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest leanneandmark Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Just leave when your ready, he's got another year at primary when he gets to oz anyway, so i wouldn't wait for him to sit them, if your here then so be it! It doesn't really matter if he takes em or not, just that theres no pressure on achieving the right level, he may even do better without the worry of passing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wardy Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 In all honesty peppa, I wouldn't worry too much about year 6 sats. I have had 3 lads go through them all with different abilities who have gone on to do well at high school. The teachers I have spoken too dont like Sats because they say its just a way of putting the school into league tables. My 2 youngest sons have both taken them in last 3 years, from september on all they did was sats practice. I know of kids that have cried them selves to sleep over the sats and worrying about not passing. In year 7 theyhave to sit a load more new tests called "cats". If you get the visa I would go as soon as. In my humble opinion they will gain more from the adventure of Australia than taking their Sats. Kaye x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peppa Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 just what i wanted to hear thanks so much. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peppa Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 hi kaye great advice many thanks. peppa. x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mandy1 Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Hi I'm definately with Wardy on this one. The SATS are just a way of assessing the schools and are of no benefit to the children. I wouldn't worry whether he sits them or not. Mandy x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kdal Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Hi Peppa There is no point I can see at all in your child sitting these SATS, they are a complete waste of time to the child and only benefit the school to see how they as a school rank in the league tables!! In fact it has been the talk of the government for the last 2 years to ban them completely as it puts small children under an enormous amount of pressure. In theory they do not either benefit the child when they go to secondary school as with most secondary schools (in the UK) the children are not graded until they go into year 8, where they are then put in Maths and Science sets and for this they have an end of year test in year 7. So don't hold out purely on the SATS, they will not mean much in Oz anyway! Gd Luck P.s. sorry just gone through and read Wardy's post and this is completely right - sorry Wardy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brucestobrisbane Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Hi, I agree with everyone but a little more info which may help too? My son is quite a clever boy, and has just taken his year 6 sats and is waiting for the results. His teacher has told us that although he got a level 5 for some of them last year, he WILL NOT be given higher than a level 5 this year even if his work merits it!!! Apparently they don't mark them higher than a level 5 in primary school!!! So his results will show that he hasn't learnt anything for his last 12 months at primary.... great! They really aren't worth the effort. Good luck. Nicky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Macd Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Couldnt agree more that SATS are just for the school not the kids. Use to think the primary school I had chosen for my two was a really good school, but with a new headmistress and priest, who have cancelled the summer and christmas fairs which the children/families and parishoners really enjoyed, all it seems to be is SATS, SATS, SATS. The amount of homework Mikey gets and he is only 4 is unbelieveable, so we choose together which pieces to do, I've told his teacher this. Tracey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kdal Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Couldnt agree more that SATS are just for the school not the kids. Use to think the primary school I had chosen for my two was a really good school, but with a new headmistress and priest, who have cancelled the summer and christmas fairs which the children/families and parishoners really enjoyed, all it seems to be is SATS, SATS, SATS. The amount of homework Mikey gets and he is only 4 is unbelieveable, so we choose together which pieces to do, I've told his teacher this. Tracey .......... Funny enough Tracie, our kids Primary School (at seconday school now though) had also cancelled the School Christmas fair too!! What a shame, unfortunately in England we are focusing too much in one direction and not on good tradional values which us as well as the children enjoy, its work work and no play and no fun time anymore! I'm quite pleased that Oz is a good few years behind us hopefully school Christmas plays and bazaars etc are still there to be enjoyed! Let children be children!! Gd luck all Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Broughtons Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Okay people, gonna put my teacher hat on for a minute now so bear with me. I have taught in year 6 for the last 8 years. SATs are pretty much a huge waste of time. We spend virtually two and a half terms teaching the children how to sit a test. Technically the tests are supposed to see the progress from year 2 to year 6 but the whole system is daft. Year 2 sats are teacher assessed and Year 6 are sent away to be marked like proper exam papers. Yes they show where the school lies on a league table and send the secondary school a level for the children but a lot of secondary schools feel that the levelling is wrong anyway. (Don't go there - I could rant for a long time) In my professional opinion you will be doing your child a favour if you get them out of year 6 before the sats tests. OMG I actually typed that out loud!!! Go me - I must be rebelling against the system. Felicity:wubclub: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Broughtons Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Hi, I agree with everyone but a little more info which may help too? My son is quite a clever boy, and has just taken his year 6 sats and is waiting for the results. His teacher has told us that although he got a level 5 for some of them last year, he WILL NOT be given higher than a level 5 this year even if his work merits it!!! Apparently they don't mark them higher than a level 5 in primary school!!! So his results will show that he hasn't learnt anything for his last 12 months at primary.... great! They really aren't worth the effort. Good luck. Nicky. I'm afraid your child won't be levelled any higher in the KS2 tests because supposedly children don't achieve level 6 any more. The marking criteria for the tests stops at the level descriptors for a level 5 (the level 6 extension paper was abolished 5 or 6 years ago and children had to get a certain number of questions right on the normal paper before the marker would look at the level 6 paper) Very few children that I have taught have actually met any of the level 6 criteria, it is very rare. With regard level 5, a lot of secondary schools will also argue that there is a difference between a primary school level 5 and a secondary school level 5! Sorry - teacher me came out again. Hope this helps a little - if it doesn't make sense I apologise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trall Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Totally agree - the SATs in year 6 are a waste of time and put the kids under too much pressure, it for the school &teacher and not for the benefit of our children. They are tought how to pass the test and more often than not don't understand. Secondary schools generally ingnore them as they knhow this to be true and get the kids to sit CATs which are a more accurate identifier of the their ability. Do what you think is right.... your mum, you know best... good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brucestobrisbane Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Thanks for the info, actually it does make sense!! Still, IMHO it kind of confirms to me what a waste of time they are.....for him anyway, but he will be over the moon that you describe him as rare :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Broughtons Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 How ironic that today is the day my school sats results come back too! I have spent the day number crunching and looking at test data and although I really am against the testing thing I am sooooooo proud of my children and the results that they have managed to get. No we don't get the highest levels in the area but hey ho our kids work bloomin' hard. Still wish they didn't have to do them though. And that rare level 6 thing - finally found one in my class! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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