School league tables to show if primaries have passed test

PRIMARY schools will discover today whether they have met new minimum standards being set by Ministers when league tables are published.

The Government expects all schools to get 60 per cent of their 11-year-old pupils to achieve basic standards in both English and maths and keep pace with the average level of progress made nationally by all pupils from the age of seven. The Department for Education will publish tables today showing how pupils performed in their Standard Assessment Tests (SATS) in English and maths at the end of primary school.

The results will, however, be affected by this year's test boycott, led by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the National Union of Teachers. Almost 650 schools across Yorkshire refused to take part.

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The industrial action meant more than 20,000 pupils in the region went untested and the Government was unable to produce figures earlier this year for 20 education authorities across the country – including Bradford, Calderdale, North Lincolnshire and Wakefield. The NAHT agreed not to boycott next year's SATS after the Government agreed to an independent review of primary school testing.

General secretary Russell Hobby said: "We firmly believe that every parent has a right to good-quality information on their child's learning and the quality of their local schools. The current system of league tables provides neither.

"They say nothing about the quality of teaching and downplay the fantastic work of many schools in the most challenging circumstances. League tables paint a hugely misleading picture."

He said an international study which had seen English schools being overtaken by other countries showed the nation's testing system doesn't work. Mr Hobby added: "We firmly hope and expect that this is the last year of an inadequate system which is failing to meet the needs of pupils, parents or schools. We look forward to a system based firmly on progress and on providing rich and meaningful data to local families."

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The Yorkshire Post revealed last week that in last year's tests 300 primary schools across the region fell short of the new Government target of getting 60 per cent of pupils to achieve level four – an average standard expected of the age group – in both English and maths.

In nine different education authorities, at least one-in-five schools did not meet the target.

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