Tag: Primary

Poorer children four times more likely to go to substandard primary schools

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thousands of parents wait to hear where their children will be allocated a place at their preferred primary school Dan Kenyon Poorer families are four times more likely to send their children to “inadequate” or “failing” schools, official figures have revealed. As thousands of parents find out at which school their child will be allocated a place, a charity has warned that children from wealthier backgrounds have a much better chance of securing a place at desirable schools. Imran Hussain, Director of Policy for Child Poverty Action Group, said: “It is simply unacceptable low-income…

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Primary schools accused of ‘social segregation’ by rejecting poorer pupils in favour of children from richer homes

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Places at church schools are highly competitive Getty Primary schools in England have been accused of “social segregation” after a report showed more than 1,500 schools were turning away disadvantaged pupils in favour of children from higher-income families. A report from the Sutton Trust found some of the most popular primary schools – particularly faith schools – had complicated oversubscription criteria that actively discouraged parents of poorer children and allowed the schools to be selective about which pupils were granted a place. The findings have raised concerns about a lack of equity in access to primary…

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One primary teacher’s open letter to the government: ‘The standards expected are now untenable’

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The publication of the new primary assessment materials was the straw that broke the camel’s back for this English coordinator. She decided she had to write an open letter to education secretary Nicky Morgan Dear Nicky Morgan I have been considering writing to you for some time and have decided, in the light of thepublication of the exemplification materials by the Department for Education that I cannot leave it any longer. I am writing to complain about the standards now expected of Year 6 pupils at the end of key stage 2.…

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‘The government owes primary teachers an apology’

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The National Curriculum now requires that children in Years 5 and 6 be taught to “propose changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning”. The Department for Education would have done well to follow this directive when publishing its recent complaint, in which it accused teachers and union leaders of being ‘disingenuous’ when complaining that the department seemed not to know what they were doing. If their intention was to calm the waters, then the effect fell far from that aim. The word that springs to…

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100 fiction books all children should read before leaving primary school – according to teachers

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TES and the National Association for the Teaching of English ran a survey to find teachers’ top 100 fiction books all children should read before leaving primary school. Here are the results. 1          Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 2          Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian 3          Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 4          Matilda by Roald Dahl 5          The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson 6          The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis 7          The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle 8          We’re Going on a Bear Hunt…

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Primary test deadline moved back to June

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The government has pushed back the deadline for schools to submit writing assessments for 11-year-olds, after bringing the date forward a month ago. Teachers’ unions in England had complained that the timescale would not give schools enough time to prepare. “It will take time for teachers to understand the detail,” said schools minister Nick Gibb in a letter to the National Association of Head Teachers. Labour said the changes were causing “chaos” in schools. Since the mid 1990s, the tests, often known as sats, have been taken by primary pupils…

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