Howdy Tuesday Peeps!
Do you have a child in Year 2 or 6? Do you know one, teach one, run a club that includes these year groups??
Go easy on them. This week (or in the weeks to come) many of them will face the stress and exhaustion that comes with mock exams. For many of them, this will be their first experience of that pressure. They may well be tired, irritable and uncooperative…even those who are usually angelic.
The week after May Bank Holiday is the real thing. We always want them to do well, but keep the pressure to a minimum. If they don’t do chores or clubs that week, so what? While they should do some practice and revision, stress at home will not help them. They will do plenty of practice at school (to the point of being sick of hearing the word SATs) and there are 2 important things to remember:
- SATs are a measure of the school and teacher, not the child.
- If you get higher or lower on SATs than expected, the next school will figure it out.
If a child is expected to get 5s at the end of Junior school but panics on the day and only get 3s, their new school may use it to guide their set placements for September, but by Christmas, they’ll know if that child needs to move up a set or two. None of it is permanent.
They will also give you a target grade for GCSE based on those SATs scores. It is merely a guideline so they can see if a child is struggling (and needs help) or is exceeding expectations. It is not their actual grade and their lives should not be defined by it. I’ve been tutoring for 9 years now and I see time and time again that a child can go up a grade, or even 2, in their exam year! (Nevermind their whole school career with loads of time, literally in the last year.)
There is always time and there are always people and resources to help if a child wants to improve their future, but we can’t make them do it by adding pressure.
Please be extra kind and patient with your SATs takers over the next few weeks.
Anna x
A Peace of Life 