A headteacher in Yorkshire has been praised for allegedly reassuring pupils that their upcoming SATs exams were ‘useless’.
Shared to a Facebook page Mum in the Moment, an email that was sent out to Year 6 pupils by the headteacher of Parklands Primary School Chris Dyson, in Leeds. The post has since received thousands of reactions, with parents praising the headteacher for his kind words.
The email offered assurance to the students and read: “Dear Y6 children, whatever happens during SATs week does not shape your future one little bit.
“Just try your best, smile and look forward to climbing a tree, playing football, singing, dancing, cooking or reading when you get home.
“After all the disruption you have had over the past three years, my heart goes out to you sitting these useless exams.
“Sadly the Government say you have to do them so we have no choice. We can, as teachers, headteachers, be there for you if you feel anxious – so talking is good.”
Parents in the group praised the email with one person writing: “amazing… Couldn’t agree more… We should celebrate each child’s achievements what ever they are and stop making them feel bad when they don’t make the Sat’s grades. Let’s raise Happy healthy children.”
Another mum wrote: “They are useless my daughter got GCSE targets as F due to her SATS – yet this week we attended her Master’s Degree Graduation”.
This is the first set of SATs since before the pandemic in 2019. The government decided to hold the exams to ‘provide vital information to parents’ for the transition to secondary school and to identify where they need additional support to reach their targets.
Headteachers said last year at the annual conference of NAHT school leaders’ union that holding the SATs in 2022 would be “unfair”, “ridiculous” and “pointless”.
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