Head blasts test markers

The headteacher of a Telford school which faces closure unless its results improve today blasted examiners after almost a third of his 14-year-olds’ SATs exams were returned unmarked.John Sullivan, headteacher of The Lord Silkin School in Stirchley, said he, his staff, and the pupils were working hard to turn things around, but it did not help if their efforts were apparently not even being looked at.

The company behind the marking today pledged to launch an investigation into the error.

The Lord Silkin was one of seven Shropshire schools - six of them in Telford - warned by the Government last month to improve or face closure because fewer than 30 per cent of their pupils achieved at least five good GCSE grades, including English and maths, in 2007.

The seven are among 638 failing schools nationally being offered a tailored package under the National Challenge programme to help them reach the 30 per cent benchmark pass rate by 2011.

Mr Sullivan said 112 Year 9 pupils, aged 13 to 14, took SATs - Standard Assessment Tests - this year, but when the papers were returned 30 of them had not been marked.

“We spent three years working extremely hard with Year 9 students,” he said. “Our results with the Key Stage 3 were some of the best in the authority last year. The English results were, in fact, the best.

“We are fairly distraught all the hard work and effort appears to be not adequately appreciated or judged.”

Councillor Stephen Burrell, Telford & Wrekin Council’s lead member for children and young people, said there had been a number of issues with the markers.

He said: “We are working closely with all of our schools to find solutions to the problems raised and we will be raising our schools’ concerns with the National Assessment Agency.”

The responsibility for marking SATs lies with the Hertfordshire-based private company ETS Europe, which specialises in educational research and performance assessment.

By Simon Hardy