SCHOOLS in and around Haslemere could be waiting until September for results of national curriculum SATS tests after the national outcry over late and incorrect marking. Headteacher of Grayshott Primary School Jon Hills branded the fiasco surrounding the marking of the Key Stage Two SATS tests, for 10 to 11-year-old, year-six pupils, as "all a bit of a shambles". As criticism mounts over the marking of both Key Stage two and Key Stage three tests for 14-year- olds, American contractor ETS Europe is in the firing line and has received a barrage of complaints over the inconsistent marking and delays in publicising the results. Mr Hills said: "Basically pupils and staff have put all this time and effort into the tests and those people marking and people administering them don't see the urgency and importance of it. "Incorrectly marked papers are completely unacceptable and, what I gather from other colleagues, it's pretty wide spread. There is no consistency to the marking and we are asking for a quarter of our papers to be remarked," continued Mr Hills. While the SATS tests are always assessed when they are returned to schools, to enable staff to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of a particular year, before being passed onto feeder schools, Mr Hills said: "This year's results are unreliable and we have had to go through them with a fine tooth comb." Putting parents' minds at rest about the test results, as their children move onto secondary schools this September, Mr Hills continued: "Secondary schools are keen to have these results but we feel that teacher assessment is always more important and that's what we will be telling parents – concentrate on the teacher assessments and hold fire on making any judgement on the written tests." As the Herald went to press, children at St Bartholomew's Primary School were still waiting for their results in reading and writing. The results were first due on July 8, but then there was a delay, for all schools, until July 15. Though maths and science results had arrived. St Bartholomew's headteacher Paul Beach said: "It is very disappointing for our children. Unless the results arrive soon, we will have children leave without their full set of results." "St Bart's had already provided the senior schools with teacher assessments for those moving on in September. "When we get the results we will send them to the children, but it will not be the same as knowing how well they have worked over the years and celebrating with their friends." Headteacher at Shottermill Junior School Linda O'Boyle said she was less than impressed with the system this year. She said: "They sent all the papers to one central location and then sent them out again to the markers – they are normally sent straight to the markers – that is where the system has gone wrong this year I think." Although all the papers came back to the school marked and on time, there were no mark sheets with them, and there was a two week wait for the levels to be published online. She added: "It was then a nightmare to get logged on." Headteacher of the Woolmer Hill School technology college – where some of the primary year-six pupils are headed for in September – Sue Bullen said she suspected some Key Stage three results for 14- year-olds were inaccurate. "We are concerned about the transfer of our pupils from our feeder primaries in September. We use the key stage two data to set our pupils in the core subjects and we will not have this information. "We were delighted with our Key Stage Three results, our targets have been achieved in most of the core subjects and we are scrutinising carefully the scripts where there is a mismatch between the target grades and the results." She added: "It is a great pity that millions of pounds have been put into the administration of a system which tests pupils, rather than into schools for teaching pupils."
