2nd September 2020
Slaves to the Algorithm: our four year olds are next in line
In a week in which the nation has responded with disbelief at statistics-obsessed ministers’ behaviour, the fact that this is also happening at the other end of education needs to be brought to the attention of the public. The government’s recent attempt to subject children to an algorithm has been an unmitigated disaster. Perhaps then, parents of three-year-olds might consider whether they want the government to subject their children to a similar experiment in Autumn 2021?
20th July 2020
The Phonics Screening Check – why all the fuss?
On 15th July the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) revealed proposals to make primary schools in England conduct the Phonics Screening Check (PSC) in the autumn term of Year 2, for children aged 6/7. The PSC is usually done in the summer term of Year 1, but these children missed the Check because of school closures.
1st July 2020
Parents call for government to Cancel SATs in 2021 and put children’s well-being first
Parents and children have not missed SATs and other government tests during the lockdown period and they are bottom of […]
30th April 2020
Reception Baseline Assessment: A Flawed and Inappropriate Test
Recently, Dr. Guy Roberts-Holmes, conducted research into the pilot of the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) which can be found here. He […]
16th April 2020
Calling for the immediate cancellation of plans to introduce Reception Baseline Assessment
Dear Mr Gibb We are writing to call for the immediate cancellation of plans for the introduction of Reception Baseline Assessment […]
17th March 2020
Letter to Chief Executive Standards and Testing Agency
Una Bennett Chief Executive Standards and Testing Agency Sanctuary Buildings Great Smith Street London SW1P 3BT 11 March 2020 Dear […]
16th March 2020
Campaign group calls on the government to Stop SATs 2020
Statement from Madeleine Holt from campaign group, More Than A Score: “The government should immediately call a halt to this […]
16th March 2020
MPs challenge government’s ‘big brother’ collection of data from four-year-olds
The government is introducing legislation which gives parents no right to object to the collection of data from four-year-olds when […]
26th February 2020
The government are condemning our children to a relentless programme of testing
Nancy Stewart from More Than A Score said: “The government’s decision to formally test four- and five-year-olds condemns our children […]
12th February 2020
Parents say no to testing four-year-olds
A significant majority of parents disagree with the government’s controversial plans to test children in English and maths when they […]
22nd January 2020
Too many tests for no good reason: parents stand against primary school testing
Our latest research demonstrates that the majority of parents disagree with the government’s policy of using SATs and other formal […]
20th January 2020
Great expectations: what should we expect from children at the end of Reception?
Boris Johnson has spoken about continuing to “raise standards” in schools. For some, that can mean a continual process of […]
26th September 2019
More Than A Score’s response to the phonics screening check results, September 2019
The DfE is choosing to ignore the fact that almost one in five 5- and 6-year-olds have been branded failures […]
21st September 2019
Primary heads condemn the negative effects of SATs across all school years
“In an ideal world I would not want to ever put a child through this.” A ‘strait-jacketed’ curriculum across the […]
2nd September 2019
Inappropriate, unhelpful and unnecessary: Heads deliver a damning verdict on the introduction of testing for four-year-olds
“Totally unnecessary”; “utter nonsense”; “a terrible idea”; “…one of the most poorly conceived ideas I have experienced in my 30+ […]
