August saw one of the education success stories of the year. You may have read about the Michaela Free School in London and its inspirational headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh recording GCSE results any grammar school would be proud of. Michaela, which is based in the deprived area of Brent, saw more than half (54%) of its students…
Primary schools up and down the country would have received this year’s SATs results yesterday and spent all day digesting the figures to see where they stand. And with predictable great timing, a survey of primary school teachers was published yesterday morning just as headteachers were crunching the headline figures. Low and behold, 97% of…
Right now Year 6 children across the country are sitting their SATs and every year it attracts a hue and cry from critics. Now the official opposition are saying this valuable measure to push up standards would be abolished if they came into power. And Ofsted has also announced that it will be taking less…
A survey of primary headteachers published today shows that an overwhelming majority of them think SATs as too stressful for teachers and the children. It doesn’t matter how many of them decry the use of SATs the fact is independent verification of how children are performing is essential if we’re to ensure young people reach…
Many congratulations to primary school teachers and pupils across the country on this year’s set of excellent SATs results – your hard work has paid off! It is also very rewarding indeed to see that the improved, knowledge-rich and more demanding curriculums in maths and English bear fruit. The new curriculums were designed to raise…