Waterlooville special educational needs parent supports calls for reform of primary SATS
Motherland star, Anna Maxwell Martin and a group of parents are delivering an open letter to Bridget Phillipson today
A Waterlooville parent of special educational needs children is supporting calls for the reform of primary SATS.
It comes as Motherland star, Anna Maxwell Martin and a group of parents are delivering an open letter to Bridget Phillipson today which says the current SATS system "actively harms" children with SEND.
Aimee Bradley's a campaigner and parent to three children with SEND.
She said: "I think across the board they should be scrapped.
"I feel personally, as a representative for SEND parents and as a parent myself, that they serve no purpose.
"Parents are literally watching their children almost fade away before their eyes.
"They're crying, having meltdowns, shutdowns, all because they are fighting for their lives just trying to revise for something that will mean nothing going forward."
The Government said last week, in its response to the curriculum review, that it had "no plans to radically change the shape" of primary tests.
It would make some changes to how writing was assessed, and grammar and punctuation. There would be more support for children with Send to access phonics in year 1 to improve their reading, but only minor amendments were suggested to year 6 Sats.
The letter signatories said the current Sats system narrowed the curriculum and encouraged teaching to the test.
Polling of 520 Send parents whose children did not reach the expected standard in Sats by Omnisis for campaign group More Than A Score found two-thirds (67%) said Sats results negatively impacted their child wanting to go to school.
Half also said their child's self-esteem was damaged, and that they believed Sats would have a lasting negative impact.
Ms Bradley told us her daughter's experience with SATS.
She said: "She spent nights and nights crying.
"She struggles in school anyway so to then have her SATS?
"It was horrific.
"We had meltdowns, she'd cry, she didn't want to go to school.
"There was school resistance and avoidance, and when it came to the time of the exam, she was feeling sick.
"It was really affecting her mentally.
"She was going into a downward spiral."