I've heard this morning that our Primary School headmaster has decided that the school is not going to be doing any SATS tests this year.
I don't have a big issue with this as I feel that the schools simply teach the kids how to do SATS and not much else. But I do feel slightly concerned that the headmaster can do this without consulting the parents.

Any thoughts?

Don't really have a clue, but as a professional perhaps the head is better suited to make these decisions?

Union led I think:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/10094998.stm

It's basically industrial action after a union ballot, parents wouldn't get consulted on a strike, they didn't on this.

SATS don't (shouldn't) mean anything to the kids anyway as they are supposed to just be a measure of teacher / school performance.

The problem is that the teachers focus SOOOO much on them and put the kids under huge amount of pressure to perform well – extra breakfast clubs for revision etc.

My lad is annoyed that his school is still doing them

"Union led I think"

I think the unions are responding to the concerns their members have rather than setting the agenda.

Having watched my son spend a year being 'taught the exam' I'm all for giving SATS the boot.

simply teach the kids how to do SATS and not much else.

Tick

Heads under a lot of pressure atm, our little ones Primary School headmaster has said no to SATS too.

No great loss if you ask me.

The problem is that the teachers focus SOOOO much on them and put the kids under huge amount of pressure to perform well

Yes, this seems daft and surely the time could be better spent. I didn't know about the union bit though.

as a professional perhaps the head is better suited to make these decisions?

I agree. I wasn't expecting to have say in whether the school did SATS or not, but I would have expected "We've decided not to do SATS this year for the following reasons…" type of comunication – maybe we'll get that later.

The sooner young children are free of SATS the better. As others are saying, they're being taught to the test requirements rather than things that will fire their imaginations and aspirations. That's not to say there aren't good teachers out there but they arebeing severely restricted in their lesson choices by hoop jumping.

my kids school is still doing them

I've noticed once the sats are done the teachers seem to give up teaching – for weeks they seem to be watching videos and having long play times (in my day that would just be the last day of term)

I don't mind kids having a bit of fun though – childhood should be fun, it would just be better if schools could concentrate on a balance of work and fun activities through the whole year – rather than just having a big build up to SATs

I always just tell my kids not to worry – that its a measure of the school and not them. They are too young to be getting stressed about exams

My daughter's school has announced that they won't be doing the SATS. However, as the children have worked so hard they will be sitting last year's SATS so it doesn't feel like all the hard work was for nothing. Not sure how I feel about this TBH. I am completely against SATS, but I can see where the teachers are coming from.

any school that spends more than a week "preparing" the kids for SATS is not teaching and arguably negligent

there was a very interesting programme on maths teaching in primary schools, root cause analysis (a SATS test) determined that the problem was that most of the teachers would fail the maths test the kids sat. They should test the teachers and not the kids.

IIRC I think you will find that your (non-selective) schools stream first year kids based on their SATS results

b-n-d
Carp!
The tests are so unlike the proscibed curriculum that they would be unrecognisable to the kids. Pressure from the dimwits that designed both mean that a school has to get a certain percentage AND improve on it. Without severe cramming it doesn't work.
be glad to see them gone mostly because it can hopefully be the thin end of the wedge to scrapping league tables. Blame the morons in power. Hopefully for about 12 more hours.
Having said that they are the same for all. OK some kids hate tests but others thrive on them. Whats fair for them?