This is a bit out of date now as my petition has received over 32,000 signatures in less than a week!!! But this is still relevant:
Dear Mr Hall,
As a constituent of Thornbury and Yate I feel I should contact you about a very pressing issue: The Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs that are to be held in May.
I am a primary school teacher at Horton CE VA Primary School and I currently teach Y6. These children have only had a diet of the new curriculum since September 2014 and while it has increased in rigour and includes some content, particularly in maths which was only previously covered under the secondary school curriculum, they were on track to do well at the end of this year.
However, all that changed when the exemplification materials and interim assessment frameworks came out. These children have now been set up to fail. What we are supposed to do, as teachers, with three months notice is to get a minimum of 65% of these children to the expected standard. A standard which is out of reach for most of them. Under the old curriculum the required standard was a 4b. Most of my year 6 children would have reached this standard easily in all subjects and I would have had several attaining level 5 and even level 6- showing outstanding attainment and outstanding progress- something for the county and the dept of education to be proud of. Now, they and we as teachers have no idea what the thresholds are in the new reading and maths papers, or how on earth these results are going to impact their future or that of our school.
I urge you to raise this issue with Nicky Morgan immediately. I have no problem with raising standards and welcome some of the changes that have been made to the national curriculum. But to test children on this new curriculum now makes the assumption that these children have been taught from this new curriculum for 6 years when you take into account the cumulative effect of KS1 and KS2 programmes of study. These are bright children that would have done well if assessed against the old curriculum standards- or even a phased in combination of the two. These children are being set up to fail; it is not right and it is not fair. Their future is at stake- for what? So that I can be held accountable? So that my school can be judged? Bring it on- come and judge. See how I teach, look in my books, through my planning, my assessment folders. Ask me about every single one of the children in my class and I will tell you something good, something outstanding- that they are all superstars. And these little superstars are working their socks off because they want to do well. It breaks my heart a little bit that these children want to do so well because I know what it is really all about.
These children are being experimented on because the DfE and the STA have not thought their plans through- even the current arrangements are only interim and could change again next year. The real experts: the teachers, the parents, the head teachers, the teaching assistants and the children could come up with a much better, more rigorous, fairer system- if Nicky Morgan would only listen to us.
I have started a petition to cancel the end of key stage 2 SATs in May. It has already gained 759 signatures in the last few hours. I know that you presented the transport secretary with a petition recently that had 1100 signatures requesting junction 18a on the M4. I think it is only fair and in the best interests of all the y6 children in your constituency that you do the same with my petition and hand it directly to Nicky Morgan.
I have contacted you on previous cases regarding other issues and I don't believe I received a reply. I would very much like to hear your views on this and to know what action you intend on taking.
Kind regards
Dawn Wootton
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