Last week was SATS week - quite bloomin’ obvious, particularly if you’re in the nail-biting, stress-inducing environment that is Year 6 or you’re a headteacher with the LA breathing down your neck. Not fun. 

But what’s really not fun is the toll it takes on children’s mental health. Something I’ve experienced first-hand, both as a Year 6 teacher and later as a deputy head. I can still remember one boy opening the reading test, sighing and then putting his pencil down - a single tear snaking its way down his cheek and then dropping onto his test paper. 

Silent tears of defeat. It broke my heart. 

Indeed, in my first year as a Year 6 teacher in 2010, my headteacher joined a campaign to boycott SATS altogether, claiming she couldn’t support something that was in such desperate need of change. It was touch and go for a time as to whether we’d sit them. Eventually, she caved in to pressure from the local authority, and my class did them anyway. 

Nothing much has changed since those days - if anything, things have worsened. And despite no longer being in the classroom, I’m still very aware of ‘SATS week’, and my heart sinks at the thought of children still being forced to do something that just isn’t fit for purpose.

And I’m not the only one. 

Last week, after a challenging reading paper, the National Association of Head Teachers said it planned to raise the SATS issue with the exams team at schools regulator Ofqual.

Head of Policy, Sarah Hannafin, said: “We are very concerned about reports from our members about the Sats reading paper.” She also went on to say that the paper left some pupils “in tears” and damaged their “mental health and wellbeing.”

Surely, surely, there must be a better way of measuring progress? How can a test, taken on one day in a child’s life, reflect everything they’ve learned over four years? It comes down to a lack of trust in the teaching profession - but let’s not go down that road today, or you may still be reading this at midnight…

Supporting pupils’ mental health 

Until change happens at the top - and Rishi stops thinking up more ludicrous ideas like studying maths until 18 - we’re pretty stuffed. 

More children will weep. More Y5/Y6 teachers will struggle under the pressure of an expectant head. More heads will have no choice but to pile on said pressure under the weight of the local authority. It’s a vicious circle. 

The only thing we can do is equip the children to handle it as best they can. Not only to protect their mental health but to give them the skills to face whatever life throws at them, be it SATS, a job interview, or a family crisis. 

If we can start equipping them as early as possible, we stand a better chance of resilient kids tackling these challenges with a toolkit they can dip into time and time again. And to do this, it needs to be embedded in school culture. It needs to be part and parcel of school life, from EYFS to KS2. Something everyone truly believes in, rather than something we pay lip service to or usher in at the start of Year 6 and hope for the best.

Because life will continue to throw challenges at the younger generations - as it has to us, and as much as we want to protect our children from the reality of ‘adulting’, they’ll have to face it sooner or later. As teachers, it’s our job not to shy away from talking about it but to look for learning opportunities with children in every situation. Reflecting on what we could do next time we’re facing long division or fronted adverbials. Or a pile of marking on a Sunday…

Changing perspective

I won’t attempt to lecture you on growth mindset. You know what it’s about. But seeing challenges as opportunities can make all the difference. Changing perspectives can work wonders. It’s all too easy to talk about SATS in those strained tones and remind children continuously that they are on the horizon. So perhaps the change needs to start there.

No, of course, it won’t always be easy. And yes, there will be times when their toolkit doesn’t entirely fix the problem in the way the children hoped, but it’s about learning to pick themselves up again, brushing themselves down and trying again with renewed confidence and determination. Realising that all these things are skills to learn and practise… continuously.

Never underestimate what a bit of power posing or a positive mantra shouted at the top of their lungs can do to change their physical state, thus changing their mental attitude and approach.

And where else can they learn these skills? They can undoubtedly learn them through our Happy-Centred Schools programme or our ‘Don’t Sweat It’ workshop, but they will mainly learn them from the role models in their life. Role models like you. 

Someone who champions the children’s mental health and wellbeing and their ability to learn from mistakes and improve. Someone who believes they can tackle SATS when the time comes. Someone who shares their own mistakes and what they learned from them. Or things they found hard but overcame.

Because if you have an unshakeable belief they can, chances are they’ll have an unshakeable belief they can too. And once those kids get a grip on the idea that they can do whatever they put their minds to, the sky really is the limit. 

And SATS? Pfft! Bring them on. 

If you’d like further information about our ‘Don’t Sweat It’ workshop or any other workshop for that matter, get in touch with our Doug - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  He may even do a power pose if you ask him nicely, but beware; he’ll probably wear a cape too.