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Term Dates for all schools until July 2013
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Dates when Year 6 pupils will sit the papers during 2011/12
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Find out which catchment school your child will go to
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Secondary/Post 16/All-age Schools
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Your guide to Higher Education funding
Media Statement re Primary Assessments
As previously advised, the Education Board is holding a series of workshops to discuss examination performance in our schools and other attainment and progress information. With two new Board members it is important that they are fully informed and have time to consider the issues. This programme of workshops is still ongoing and Board Members have not yet had the opportunity to discuss attainment and progress in the primary sector.
The Department also hosts two Headteachers' Conferences annually during which colleagues discuss issues of common interest such as new developments in teaching and learning and general performance data.
As advised to the media on many occasions in the past, Bailiwick primary schools do not use the National Curriculum tests or SATs to assess the progress of pupils at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Instead the Department uses a system of moderated teacher assessment which better allows individual pupils' attainment and progress to be tracked. The National Curriculum tests provide only a narrow measure of a pupil's achievement.
These assessments look at the performance of schools across a range of benchmarks and indicate the proportion of pupils achieving the expected level of attainment for their age and also the progress they have made. It is worth noting that each year group will have a different ability profile.
Assessment data for end of Key Stage 2 for the last academic year shows a mixed picture in comparison to 2010 data.
- There has been a slight increase in the percentage of pupils achieving the expected level or above in Science.
- Attainment in Maths remains stable with a slight increase in the percentage achieving the higher levels.
- Attainment in English is slightly lower than 2010.
As always, the Education Department in partnership with schools uses this information to inform where new strategies or resources need to be focused to continue the drive to improve standards.
Further information about primary school performance will be included in the Department's Annual Report which will be published once the Education Board has completed its series of workshops and the final data has been collated and validated.
