SATS Stress

In May over 60,000 Year 6 children (age 10 to 11) took the new SATS exams. In total each child had a minimum of 3 hours and 10 minutes of silent examination time, with some randomly selected schools taking part in an additional 1 hour and 15 minutes of extra science exams.

With this pressure in mind and with many of her friends feeling the strain, Lily aged 10 from Milton Abbott primary school, took it upon herself to write to David Cameron, Prime Minister, to see if he could answer her questions as to why these tougher SATS were necessary.  She was happy to receive a written response from the Prime Minister’s Correspondence Officer who stated:  ‘Because the Department for Education is best placed to respond to the matters you raise, he (Mr Cameron) has asked me to forward your letter to the Department so that they may reply directly’.

Although we are told these examinations should be dropped into a normal curriculum and children should not feel pressure from them, the reality is rather different to both pupils and the teachers.   This year extra pressure has been put on all involved through the governments explicit warning of the SATS being ‘significantly toughened up’ to keep in-line with the new curriculum. With some secondary schools using the results to place pupils into ability groups and all schools being judged by the quality of the results, many schools, pupils and parents feel an emphasis on practice being the key.

For more information see the governments website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/standards-and-testing-agency