Of all the things Dom and I have achieved since we were made redundant from teaching (same month, totally out of the blue) the SATs Stars project is one of which I am most proud. If you have time you can see the whole story here: http://mrsbeesemporium.blogspot.co.uk/2016/
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What ARE SATs Stars?
Essentially, as ex Teachers, Senior Leaders in secondary schools and Governors in a primary school, Dom and I were well placed to see how unfair and unpopular the SATs tests are with teachers, parents and, most importantly, children. Shit runs downhill, as they say - right from the government to your individual child. There are an awful lot of young children who are feeling under incredible pressure right now, and that sucks - teacher's too, whose success is judged on these results and which affect an entire school career, no exceptions made. It is the antithesis of what we, personally, believe a good education should be. We wanted to support our core customer base as they navigated this difficult time. We are not anti assessment, but there are far better, and less damaging ways to collect information about a child's progress.
The SATs Stars were never intended to be a money making venture for us (we started Mrs Bee's Emporium to be able to survive financially and thrive emotionally in our sudden post-teaching world - we have 3 kids of our own, too. It's been a bit up and down at times, I won't lie, it's not as secure as teaching, but we are happy to have left the profession as it currently is.)
We invested as much money as we could afford as a family in the SATs Star Project and gave away free hand sized star plushes, with a handwritten letter of encouragement, to as many children as we could. We simply asked parents to cover the cost of postage - we paid for the materials and labour. We also asked nicely if they would sign up to our email newsletter (and, hopefully, think of us when they were buying teacher gifts at the end of term, you know how these things work, but there is/was no obligation whatsoever...)
We were INUNDATED. Like, we both got RSI. We loved it - we cried tears of sadness and joy as we read the stories of stress and concern, and we loved all the photos we received - we sent letters of encouragement to teachers, and we even had PTAs buy whole class sets for year 6 leavers. It's been an absolute joy.
We did the same thing again last year, but tweaked it a bit. We upgraded the letters and sold the plush stars, and gave away wrist bands, again with a letter of encouragement. We needed to find a way to cover our costs financially (again, we're not aiming to make a profit with SATs stars) so we gave away 200 and sold the rest. Again, we were inundated. It was brilliant and we loved it. So much joy.
I hope these faces show you why. A little good luck trinket to take with you, in your pocket or on your wrist, to remind you of the letter that explains, very clearly, why you individually are awesome, and why your value cannot be measured by tests alone. The letters are a-political, supportive of schools and teachers and focused very much on the achievements of the child, that the parent tells us about behind the scenes. Exam cheerleading, if you will.
I have had several requests via social media about SATs Stars this year. However, we're in a tricky position.
1) We have just moved house, therefore:
2) We only had the internet installed yesterday (FOUR WEEKS! I ask you! But that's another story...) so the shops have been offline for a month
3) The house and studio is a renovation project. It's damp. We've had a new damp course fitted so we've had floors up, walls down, plaster stripped from all the walls downstairs - nightmare.
4) Our machines are all in storage
5) Our stuff is split between here and a container, 15 miles away.
6) I am on day 3 of norovirus. Bleurgh.
This is a long blog post, and I hope the photos will help you to see our position.
We don't want to let this year's children down!
WE ARE ON IT! None of the above is insurmountable, it will just take us a bit of time to sort. Bad timing (we agreed the house sale and purchase on Halloween, so it's just how the housing market goes...)
***There WILL be SATs Stars this year, but they will be seriously limited in number***
We are trying to find ways to support this year's SATs stars, cover our costs (which you know, I'm a bit embarrassed about to keep harping on about, but we're one family of 5 and there is a cost to this sort of thing, and we do have to think about where the money comes from.)
We do, however, wish to support as many of this year's year 2 and 6 children as we possibly can.
Bear with us. I hope to have some tangible things to show you in the next day or two. It might be a tad different to the past 2 years, and I hope that is OK with you. I'm sorry it's cutting it tight with dates. I hope you can understand.
Thanks for reading, and much love and hugs to all of you going through this difficult time,
PS We want to reach as many SATs children - and their teachers - as possible, so please tweet, FB, Pin, Insta, share share share and use the hashtag #satsstars and #mrsbeesemporium. Thank you <3
