A blog entry re Sats

[Fuschia]

http://notsoordinarydiary.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/testing-times/

Worth reading

'And in that bookshop, at the back and in the corner, I gave myself a talking to. As a teacher and a mother. I reminded myself of the decision I made, back when I was stuck in the maternity unit, waiting to be told that I could take my baby home. Back when Sam was only a few days old I realised that I didn?t have a baby so that he could reflect well on me. I didn?t have children so that I could live vicariously through them, or bask in their reflected glory. It was, and is, my privilege, and my responsibility to bring them up, to give them the foundations so that they can go on and live an independent life. The rest is up to them. My worth as a parent is, perhaps, only going to be known when they are parents themselves.

And I reminded myself that I am not a failure if my kids don?t live up to some arbitrary standard set up by someone else. I am not a failure, either mother or teacher, because the children don?t have the right number of chromosomes, or the ?right? letter or number following their names on a school tracking system. All I can do is my best, and sometimes, with no reference to me, other things happen.'