Preparations pay off for Sats-test youngsters

Primary schools in the area are celebrating another successful set of results in the annual maths and English tests.

The results, released by the Department for Education, are based on the 2009 Key Stage Two National Curriculum tests, known as Sats, taken by ten and 11 year-olds.

Coddington Primary School had the joint highest number of pupils in the Advertiser area — 96% — gaining level four or above in maths and English, the average standard for their age group.

Teacher Mrs Elaine Bedford said: “We are really proud of them. It was a team effort.”

This year seven schools locally chose not to take the tests as part of a national boycott.

Mrs Bedford said Coddington pupils worked hard to prepare and they thought it fair to let them have a go.

She said the absence of tests in science for the first time meant they could do more practical work in the subject rather than purely knowledge-based study.

East Bridgford Primary School scored the highest in the area for both average points per pupil, 32.3 out of a maximum 33, and the value added score, which measures how much progress pupils have made.

Its value added score of 103 indicates that pupils have made three term’s more progress than the national average.

The head, Mr David Maddison, said the result showed their children were exceeding expectations.

He said: “It is a reward and validation of the whole opportunity-driven culture of the school.

“While it is brilliant to get good Sats results, we also want to have a school that offers our young people every possible opportunity to learn and grow and find themselves as people.

“If you get that right it motivates them to do well with the more boring stuff like sitting down and doing a test.”

The Mount Primary School, Newark, is another school with a good value added score, achieving 101, or one term’s more progress than average.

The school’s joint acting head, Mrs Gill Kent, said: “It just shows the hard work that goes in at the school by pupils and the teaching staff to make sure that the pupils can achieve the best they can.

“It is one of the highest scores in the country, which is fantastic for the school.”

Mrs Kent said a lot of children started at the school with no English at all and they had a good proportion of pupils with English as a second language.

For each school's results, see tomorrow's Advertiser.