Stalybridge school send inspirational letter ahead of SATs
Students at a Stalybridge School were this week surprised and delighted to receive a very positive letter ahead of their upcoming SATs exams.
Exam time can be a scary time for any pupil so staff at Buckton Vale Primary decided to do something special for their Year 6 students. Instead of focusing on results, staff sought to assure their students that they were much more than the exams could ever tell them and decided to share an inspirational letter, originally written by Mary Ginley in 1999, to their students. The letter stated;
"The SATs test does not assess all what makes each of you special and unique. The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you in the way that we do and certainly not in the way your familes do."
The letter went on to highlight that examiners wouldn't know what unique and interesting talents students had and that the exams may be important and indicate something but that "there are many ways of being smart."
The thoughtful and inspirational letter ended with a quote from Aristotle;
"Educating the mind without eductating the heart is no education at all."
Parents took to Facebook to express their joy at the letter and how the teachers had offered words of advice to students that they could take with them past the exams and through their school life. Buckton Vale Primary posted on their Facebook page that they are overwhelmed with the response to the letter and wanted to state that the original author was Mary Ginley back in 1999 and have been shared before by schools and will hopefully be shared for many more years.
Read the full letter below: