I understand your point but my main objection is that we are subjecting our kids to this testing at younger and younger ages. During primary years the rate at which kids develop differs very much. It levels out in high school.

It seems cruel to label somebody in year 3 as a thicko when they are probably just developing at a slower pace.

I always thought it was a bit like that as there is almost a year between puils in the same class. Not too bad at 15 but a big deal at 5!! My 2 boys were in this position as they are July born so did age 7 sats at 6 etc.. However I just used to keep it low profil...

You know " If you dont get a 3.3.3 at aged 5 then you are out!!!"

Not a pushy parent at all!!!

The QCA tests I was talking about are optional and a child that is clearly not able to cope with them is not usually made to do them. Sometimes in the interest of assessing progress, the slower paced children may be set a test at their level. Of course it is a different story with the SATs. But those are to judge a school's performance and not an assessment to set targets and allocate support.

we have always had exams, in my day they were called 11 plus, and i dont remember there being any pressure on us, the news this morning on tv has been about children being so scared, they are actually being sick, its such ashame

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE, you can only do your best

Of course the 11+ was for you brainy lot, my OH included, not for us thickies

and yes the SATS are apparently about the schools performance

maybe they should give us parents a questionaire instead and we could judge the schools performance that would shake them all up

They do that already as part of OFSTED.

Perhaps if it is sufficient to just ask parents how a school is doing academically, maybe they could also do all the teaching, target setting and support allocation and management? Then we could just get on with bringing them up like it seems we are expected to also do these days.

We live in an area that still has the 11 plus. In year 6 my son sat his SATS, the 11 plus AND a two paper entrance exam to get into his first choice school.

When I picked him up from the entrance exam, it was the day that the Play Station Portable - PSP - games console came out. They were sold out weeks in advance and were like gold dust (at £200).

As the boys came out into the school yard a footballers wifey type mum went trotting accross the playground in front of the other kids to her darling, carrying a Sony gift bag containing a PSP. Our local paper carries photos of kids with headings like "congratulations Keanu on passing your 11 plus. Mummy and uncle Terry are so proud". Even if you are a parent that tries to play it all down, you are fighting a losing battle against the Alpha mums.

My youngest son is in year 4 and his friend already has a tutor to get him ready for the 11 plus and entrance exam. We asked him to the park and tea after school and his mum openly said no, because he can't miss his tutor. What is more important when you are 8!!??!! When the time comes, that kid will be VERY good at sitting those types of papers, yet this does not mean that he will be any better academically.

My stepsons sitting his sats this week as well, and thankfully isn't too stressed about them. He's the youngest in his year (late August baby) so he's at an instant disadvantage even before you take the issues he had to deal with at age 5-7 into account. (one of the things we see as a bonus with Aus is that he effectively gets 6 months catch up with the start of their school year). Trouble is he's seen me sitting exams for the first 3 years of living with us, so he knows they matter, but at his age they shouldn't be the be all and end all.

Its one of the other reasons for us moving is that if someones not purely academic they have the more practical options available to them rather than pure exams, exams, exams and learning how to pass them rather than actually learning anything from them.

Best of luck to everyone sitting sats or 11/12+ this week.

My eldest son is also doing his sats this week but he broke his wrist on Saturday night - can you believe it! Trampoline accident!
Luckily, well not so much for him, it was his left wrist so he is able to still write.
I felt so sorry for him yesterday morning, his wrist is really painful and he was so drowsy from all the medicine he has had to take, his headmistress said unless he was dying he had to do them!
Can't see how they will be a true reflection of what he can or can't do under the circumstances.

He must be a good student then. I don't think they mind so much if the slower kids miss the tests. I wonder why

I put my younger son back a year when he joined his current school here, so he ended up doing the Y3 SATS in the UK and now has the NAPLAN tests here. When I explained what they were he said "oh, you mean the Tony Blair tests?" That's how his teacher had referred to them in the UK