Comparisons can be useful, of course they can – does this pair of shoes fit better than that pair? But children aren’t shoes and comparing children is totally different ballgame.

I use twitter, usually under my own ID but occasionally I use the EKT identity. Twitter has been on fire – hotter than the weather. As you might expect, a lot of the tweets have been about politics and/or the World Cup. But there has been another theme than has dominated my feed. SATs reports.

One of the big bug bears has been the wording of results feedback for those who haven’t yet reached  the Government’s set standards, varying from ‘working towards expected’ to ‘standard not attained.’ Technically these mean the same; little Jimmy needs a bit more time and help to get to where the Government deems he should be, but look at the difference in the wording. One emphasises the fact that the child is working towards something, they are trying and making progress. The other implies ‘Failed’.

These results come at a time when children are getting ready for their new schools. In our area that means saying goodbye to some of their friends as they go to different types of schools. They’ve already been labelled Grammar/Wide Ability, and whilst most of them have come to terms with their labels, there will be some for whom the label doesn’t quite fit – the ones who absolutely deserve to be at Grammar but had a bad attack of nerves/were ill/the dog died/dad lost his job/didn’t have a tutor, or parents who could teach them the bits of the test that don’t come up in the curriculum, and on the day they didn’t perform at their best. The Grammars were all heavily subscribed and appeals weren’t as successful as some years. Then there are the ones who knew they couldn’t do the test, they ‘weren’t good enough’.

Along come the SATs, which, let us remind ourselves, were introduced to moderate schools’ performance, not to judge children. Except now we tell the children ‘standard not achieved.’

I remember administering SATs many years ago. I watched a little chap, who really struggled with his learning, tackle a maths paper with determination, showing his working out and giving it his all. He didn’t achieve the level 4 which was required, back in the day, but he achieved a sense of dignity and confidence that he had made his teachers enormously proud. it was one of the days when I cried with the sheer joy of seeing how a child had grown emotionally. That, is what we should focus on ; effort, resilience, determination.

I also remember being a parent watching others open their children’s reports in the playground, listening to some boasting about their children’s performance, watching others walk away, disappointment written all over their faces. I opened mine at home. My children consistently did brilliantly but they were always told not to brag about success because some people would be sad about their results.

So if your children did well – congratulations, it’s great knowing the world thinks your child is brilliant.

If they are still ‘working towards’ look at how wonderful and unique they are, praise them for effort and for their art/music/kindness/sense of humour – because they all shine at something.

And above all – don’t compare them with others.