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It's time again for the dreaded and stresses inducing SATS. Teachers and students alike are stressing. The principal or head teacher wants to look good on the national league tables. The teachers want everyone to know that they're the best. As for the students, they've heard so much about these tests that they're terrified of failing, or at least not doing their best.
There are some children who excel at tests and love them. At the other end of the spectrum are those who become completely stressed over exams. Most kids could live just as well without them. If your child stresses to the extreme, how can you help?
Actually the SATS were created to assess schools and not students. The government wanted to know two things: how well are children doing as a whole, and how well is each school
performing? In hopes of finding these answers, children are tested when they are 7 in order to get a baseline score. When they reach 11, they are tested again. The difference between both scores is supposed to show how much the children have learned in the four years. This score is called the "value added". The goal is to enhance the educational level of eleven year olds, and SATS give that measurement.
Most likely your question as a parent is "How does this score apply to my child? » Actually, it doesn't. The SATS don't relate to individual children. When your child moves into secondary school, that school will do its own assessment. They don't even use the SATS in their teaching plans. The SATS levels (scores) are very broad and don't really address how well your child is or isn't doing. Let's assume that your 11 year-old child scores a 4, which is average. You still don't know if it's a high or low average. You probably won't be surprised if he scores higher or lower. Parents and teachers generally know without the SATS if a child is ahead or behind his classmates. In other words his SATS scores won't have any bearing on his education.
So what do you do if your child is worrying about the SATS? Do explain all this to her. Be quite clear that it is the school that is being tested, not her, and that the results she gets really do not matter! Encourage her to do her best, but don't be pushing her to practice or revise for them. There are enough exams in life to get worked up about without also worrying about these.
If you don't convince her, then talk to her teacher. Find out how she explains the SATS to her class. You can work together to reassure your child that she doesn't need to worry.
Any time that you are worried about how your child is performing in school, always talk to the instructor or even the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) or head teacher. There is no point in worrying without taking steps to allay your fears.
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