Get rid of SATs in North Tyneside schools

We teach our children, both at home and at school, to act against things which are wrong and damaging.

SATs are wrong and damaging. Our children are More Than A Score.

Previous campaigns have resulted in the Government announcing that from 2020, children entering school will not complete Yr 2 SATs. We think it is time for Yr6 SATs to go as well!

To download letters to send to North Tyneside Education Authority, your local MP and to your child's head, click below. There is also a letter to school governors to show support for your school and explaining why you need them to support this campaign.

PLEASE DO SEND LETTERS! We need as many as possible to go! Remember you do NOT have to be a parent to have concerns - teachers/grandparents/concerned citizens - adapt and send letters too!
https://letthekidsbekids.wordpress.com/year-6-sats/

We are aware of the constantly growing discussion surrounding the many issues linked to SATs:

• Mental health – of both students and staff due to unnecessary pressure.
• A restricted curriculum which limits learning and wider knowledge and understanding, focussing disproportionately on Maths and English.
• Outdoor break time and some practical lessons become lost due to extra English and Maths preparation.
• Most secondary schools re-test in Yr7 due to the inaccurate and over-inflated nature of many KS2 results.
• Secondary teachers tell us that many children now reach secondary school ill-equipped in terms of the necessary skills required. This is due to a lack of real embedded learning and age inappropriate subject content.
• Secondary school student targets frequently are based upon KS2 SATs results and the expected progress made. They do not take into account the many other factors involved. All subject areas have targets based on results in English and Maths in Yr 6. This is ridiculous.
• Schools’ Progress 8 targets are set based on frequently inflated SATs results due to cramming – as a result these targets are unrealistic and practically impossible to meet in many cases.
• Ofsted, many teaching unions, heads, teachers and politicians have expressed deep concerns about the current system and have recommended a complete overhaul. This has been reinforced by Education Select Committees and numerous pieces of research and is reflected in the new proposed Ofsted framework.

On the basis of the above, we ask: Are SATs the best thing for our children? Do SATs benefit our children in any way, or is this merely a data collection exercise on behalf of the government which can potentially damage our children's education in the future? If so, are we doing the right thing by making our children sit the SATs?

We believe that SATs are NOT the best thing for our children OR the education system and feel strongly that we should be working together as parents and teachers ( from primary, middle and secondary schools) and with support from the local authority to forge an alternative.

Particularly within our local authority, where middle schools are common, it seems a largely pointless exercise for students to be judged at the end of Yr6 when they still have two more years to complete in the same school; such a data target would not be beneficial to setting or provide any additional information to teachers who already know that child and their abilities well. It would benefit the child in no way.

Our response to SATs is not in any way a reflection on our children’s schools, which we feel to be doing a fantastic job, and we fully support the headteachers and staff.

This is a response to a broken and damaging system which we feel strongly is failing both the children and the staff who struggle within it.
As a local authority, whose role it is to oversee and support our education system, we feel that you have an important part to play in recognising the inadequacies within the system and a responsibility to help address these whilst supporting the heads, teachers and children they affect.

To fail to act against a broken system is to be complicit in the damage inflicted.

SATs do NOT work and they need to GO.

Please take action! Download letters now (below) to send to North Tyneside Education Authority and to your child's headteacher to share your concerns.
Letters - https://letthekidsbekids.wordpress.com/year-6-sats/

For more info, please contact us at [email protected]

https://letthekidsbekids.wordpress.com/year-6-sats/
https://www.morethanascore.org.uk/what-we-do/sats/
https://reclaimingschools.org/2018/03/18/protecting-children-from-primary-school-tests/?fbclid=IwAR07H8OuCMiIoh8Hxua-mH8Tt03AOj43jXQ-yUm-TK9-otGTduLy2Bw4Sas