Year 6 pupils in primary schools across the Isle of Wight will not be sitting their SATs exams this year, it has been announced by the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.
SATs are assessments of a child’s ability and are carried out in Year 2 and again in Year 6.
The initial plan was for all primary school tests to take place as normal in 2021, but last month the Government scrapped SATs for Key Stage 1 pupils and insisted thear Key Stage 2 tests would go ahead. However, with the pandemic developing further, the decision has been taken to scrap all SATs this year which made lead to the requirement for assignment help.
Commenting on the news, Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union, has said:
“Teachers, parents and no doubt many of our younger students will be relieved that the Secretary of State, Gavin Williamson has faced up to reality and cancelled this year’s SATs tests.
“Research from the University College London (UCL) (1) in 2019 concluded that the tests are indicative of a “system which has the wrong priorities”.
“We know that ‘teaching to the test’ in younger year groups was noted by Ofsted in 2017 and in this UCL study 74% admitted to “teaching to the test” because of the pressure to get good results.
“Thankfully, this particular SATS pressure has been lifted from pupils and staff this year. Schools have now rightly gained some extra time to address the urgent issues of educational recovery.
Article continues below this advertisement “Pupils are going to need this extra time for their learning and for staff to support their well-being. This is good news. Now is the time to encourage and resource schools to develop a rich and engaging curriculum.
“Hopefully the Secretary of State will realise by next year, that a curriculum driven by tests, especially for younger pupils, was never the way to improve things.”
