school children writing

Letter: Don’t feel judged by ‘poorly planned’ SATs

We always welcome a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below. This from Leader of the Isle of Wight Green party, Vix Lowthion. Ed


The national picture just released is that 53% of 11 year olds achieved the ‘expected standard’ in reading, writing and maths.

I don’t know what the Isle of Wight results are, but I urge pupils, parents, teachers to not feel judged by these poorly planned & implemented tests.

Our Conservative government’s hastily put together education policy has led to 47% of pupils being told they have ‘failed’.

What a terrible start to their time in secondary school – to be labelled a failure.

Government responsible
The responsibility for these damning results lies not with the schools and the children but with the government.

They put them together in a slapdash fashion with inadequate consultation, advice and training. Teachers were unsure of the detail of the standards needed to be attained – and these results are a clear indicator that the government has failed to prepare schools and children appropriately.

The tests are not fit for purpose.

Article edits
Typos corrected.

Image: tabor-roeder under CC BY 2.0