Do We Push Our Children Too Much Academically?

I recently heard two parents bemoaning the lack of after school revision classes for year 6 SATs tests.  My initial reaction was one of horror and pity for the children involved, who were clearly being worked hard at home to achieve good SATs results.  The concern seemed to be that if their child didn’t get a level 5 or better in their SATs, then they would end up in lower groups at secondary school with less able or more disruptive children.  These children were achieving good, strong level 4s, but their parents wanted to push them up a level for the test.  There seemed to be less concern about the children’s level of attainment on a day to day basis and more with how they did on an individual day.Many schools don’t stream on the basis of SATs anyway, as they prefer to do their own tests when the children start in September, so their concern may have been unnecessary (and I believe it was for the schools they were transferring to).
Clearly, as parents we all want our children to achieve their full potential and we want them to develop good academic skills and a wide ranging knowledge of the world.  The SATs, at their best, are a way of measuring that progress.  There’s also a value in teaching exam techniques early before there is too much riding on the results.  But, do we really need to spend large chucks of year 6 doing pass papers and piling on the homework.  I really question whether it is our children’s best interest to spend long hours, outside of the school day, practising for SATs or indeed grammar school entrance exams. Children need down time too, time to run around, play and even just do nothing at all.