The SATs effect #3

11 May 2016 29 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: , , , , , , , , ,


So, SPaG is done. That is Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar for those of you who are unfamiliar with the jargon.

Thankfully it was more or less in line with the types of work and practice papers that the children have been doing the last few months.

As before, I sent him in with that encouraging whisper.

I was away for most of the day on a course in London, so I didn’t see him until 7.30pm, and I really didn’t want to make a big deal of it, so I just asked him quickly, how he found it.

Having seen some of the teaching staff before leaving from my course, I was aware that the test hasn’t been harder than expected. Hard, yes. But hopefully not to an extent that tears were flowing.

“It was hard mummy. Harder than others. And the spelling was tough, for me, too.”

He’s like me. He is not good under pressure, tests and exams brought the worst out in me. Ask me a question in the light of day and I can be as verbose as you like… But ask me the same under the darkness of exam pressure and I clam up.

Oh well. They are half way through. For him the ‘easy’ ones are done. Now comes the toughies of Maths. Again, he is like me, maths isn’t my strongest subject, and he struggles too. But  we need to keep a growth mindset with these things.

We try to encourage him, to just try his best. It’ll click one day!

And hey, if it doesn’t, there are always calculators!

I’m sitting here at 7am with my son who may or may not pass these SATs. He may be labelled as an underachiever in the eyes of some idiots up in the bubble they call government. 

But right now he is watching history videos, increasing his knowledge in other ways. Now, if you people want to test him in the humanities, he migh have had a chance. On sports? His music abilities? There would have been no worries. But no. Just Literacy and Numeracy.

Oh and he loves writing, you know. (Maybe another aspect where he is like me!) I just hope that these tests don’t strip that love of reading and writing from him. If that was to happen, I would not forgive those in authority right now.

Right time to go educate the little masses! I’ll keep you up to date in the mathematical journey tomorrow morning!

#letourkidsbekids

29 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. elementhealing
    May 13, 2016 @ 05:07:50

    Good Luck!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. jacquelineobyikocha
    May 11, 2016 @ 15:24:11

    When did only English and Numeracy become the benchmark for knowledge? I would have thought that in this time and age we knew better than that.

    Like

    Reply

  3. Charles Yallowitz
    May 11, 2016 @ 11:45:40

    Love that hashtag. Frustrating that those in the bubble look at our kids as numbers instead of living creatures. One of the confusing things I was talking to someone about yesterday is that it’s ALL English and Math. Whatever happened to Science and History?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Ritu
      May 11, 2016 @ 12:25:39

      It’s true Charles humanities, Art and music… all disappearing.
      The hash tag was coined by a parent group here who are against the SATS for 7 and 11 year old. ..

      Like

      Reply

      • Charles Yallowitz
        May 11, 2016 @ 12:36:58

        I heard a week or two ago that somebody in government suggested that ‘The Arts’ are important too. Don’t think they got very far with that since nothing is changing. I really do wonder if part of what’s going on here is to create generations of drones. I keep saying ‘cookie cutter system’, but it feels like everything is geared toward uniform thought.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Ritu
        May 11, 2016 @ 16:15:07

        I feel the same way Charles!

        Like

  4. Chris White
    May 11, 2016 @ 08:43:45

    What are the educationalists and politicians doing to our children ?
    It defies belief. I often think that no child should be tested apart from having medical tests when they need them. If you fail those then you get help. But when 7 or 10 year olds get tested and pass … well they don’t seem to benefit at all.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. Erika Kind
    May 11, 2016 @ 08:01:07

    He is so brave… also like his mom! He will make his way – either way – and he will be able to do exactly what his assets are. It is a shame, that the system doesn’t get more flexible but actually becomes more ignorant regarding supporting the abilities and skills the kids carry inside them. They all have to fulfill a certain picture. If you are not able to paint it, you are not part of it. It is a step back!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. tam
    May 11, 2016 @ 07:37:39

    Bless him. The spag paper was leaked online prior to the test, so the marks might not end up counting anyway. It wasn’t too bad. He would only need half the mark to scrape a pass by the old standards but now they have changed it all God knows what they want 😧 here we go for Maths, let’s hope that paper ain’t leaked 😑

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Ritu
      May 11, 2016 @ 07:54:28

      It is truly frustrating, not best fit policy, but a sheet that has to be covered, no individuality or creativity allowed… Will our kids be robots? We might as well stop having babies, and let labs create the future population, if our kids are not good enough academically for the government…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. Judy Martin
    May 11, 2016 @ 07:36:54

    Poor little thing. It does sound as though many kids are struggling this year with it all, and it is so unnecessary!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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