Bristol school children score well in 'detrimental' tests

Children in Bristol are achieving their best ever Sats test results, showing continuing levels of improvement in English, Maths and Science.

The tests, controversial with some parents show that Bristol children are improving significantly faster than the national rate.

Leader of Bristol City Council, Cllr Barbara Janke said: “Bristol is now closing the gap with comparable cities when it comes to achievement at primary school.  Parents should be very encouraged by this set of results and children and teachers congratulated for their hard work.

“The future is looking bright for our primary schools. Currently, none are in special measures and we are welcoming 30 new headteachers to fill all vacant posts in September.  Our expansion and refurbishment programme will see around £22.3m spent in the new school year on improving buildings, work starting on a brand new primary school in Bishopston and four new primary schools opening following amalgamations.”

In April 2009, Schools secretary, Ed Balls, indicated that the current system of Sats tests may be scrapped but that some form of test at the end of primary school will stay.

Commenting on the National Test results, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Europe’s largest teaching union said; “The publication of the National Test results will lead to the usual recriminations about standards. The truth is that anyone trying to get a true picture of primary school achievement from these results will have a very hard job.

“There are fundamental questions about the validity of some of the tests such as writing. The reality is that standards in primary schools are the best they have ever been.

“The marginal shifts in percentages paint a picture of the vagaries of test questions rather than any change in standards. Teachers know from their own assessment that a minority of children need intensive support such as one to one tuition; they don’t need irrelevant tests to tell them that.

“These league tables must be the last. The national curriculum testing arrangements are long past their sell by date. They have been proved to be detrimental to children’s learning and narrow the curriculum. Teachers in primary schools are no longer prepared to allow the damage they cause to continue.”