Dorset Eye is supporting the campaign against the factory testing of young people. We therefore support a one day boycott of all schools across the country on 3rd May to make the message clear that we want our kids to be kids again and enjoy learning for learning’s sake not for Ofsted results or league table figures. Bring back the creativity and the fun – say goodbye to repetition and boredom!
The Conservatives have lied again. In their manifesto of 2015 ( https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto) they stated …“we will turn every failing and coasting secondary school into an academy and deliver free schools for parents and communities that want them…Any school judged by Ofsted to be requiring improvement will be taken over by the best headteachers – backed by expert sponsors or high-performing neighbouring schools – unless it can demonstrate that it has a plan to improve rapidly. We will continue to allow all good schools to expand, whether they are maintained schools, academies, free schools or grammar schools.”
Now they are getting rid of that choice and imposing authoritarianism upon yet another aspect of our public life. They don’t believe in choice unless it is theirs.
With headteachers now informing the parents that they will be stepping out of the profession whilst this government destroy the experiences of the children in their care with academisation and testing we consider that it is up to all parents to make a stand against factory learning.
If you agree then the campaign has drafted a letter that all parents can send in their schools (below). If we don’t act then our children will suffer. See more at ‘Let Our Kids Be Kids’.
I am writing to explain why ___________________ will be absent from school on Friday 3rd May.
A great number of parents nationwide are growing extremely concerned by the attitude taken by the Government towards the education of our children. We feel strongly that initiatives such as constant and early testing and academisation are being implemented without due consideration for the implications, and that as a result our children face unnecessary testing and a curriculum that limits enjoyment and real understanding.
In particular we feel that the KS1 National Curriculum tests represent a needless pressure on children as young as 6, who in many cases are not yet ready educationally or emotionally for such testing. In many countries these children would not yet have started school; here we condemn them to tests that have the potential to convince them that they have already failed in their school career. The tests are too hard, given too early and seem to hold no value for the child. With the current concerns over the mental health of our teens, it seems amazing that our Government would encourage children to begin feeling the stress of exam pressure and results at such an early age.
It would seem that currently our children are seen merely as numbers to the government; data on a page to be assessed. But that is not the case. These are our children and they are individuals.
What we ask is that teachers be allowed the autonomy to teach our children in the way they know will develop an enthusiasm for learning, wonder of the world and a real, embedded understanding of the skills they will need in the future. We want our children to be allowed to enjoy learning and to develop a lifelong passion for it rather than feeling they are stifled and demotivated through continuous and unnecessary testing.
It seems that we have reached a point where action needs to be taken; we are aware that some teaching unions will be balloting members with a view to boycott the upcoming ‘SATS’ and hope that you and your colleagues will be a part of this – an action that would receive huge backing from parents across the UK. However, we also feel that it is time that parents join teachers in taking a stand. These are our children and we must stand up for their rights.
As such, a day of protest by parents, ‘LET OUR KIDS BE KIDS’, is supporting the actions of parents who choose to withdraw their children from school on Tuesday 3rd May 2016 for a day of ‘fun learning’ in opposition to the KS1 National Curriculum tests. This we hope will send a message to the Government about the serious concerns held by so many parents with regard to the prescriptive methods currently used to teach our children. This will likewise send the message that we are fully prepared to boycott the upcoming tests also.
We also hope that this will demonstrate to teachers the support available to them from parents across the country.
This is NOT an attack on teachers for whom we have the greatest respect; instead we want this protest to demonstrate the trust that we have in the teaching profession and our desire, surely the same as your own, that teachers be allowed to teach effectively and without constant constraint in order to embed a life-long love of learning in our children.
These exceptional circumstances I feel provide a worthy reason for _________________’s absence and one which I hope you feel able to endorse fully.
Best wishes,
Kind regards,
