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SATs results wiped at second Harris academy

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Pupils at a second Harris academy have had their SATs results annulled by the Standards and Testing Agency, Schools Week can reveal.

Former year 6 pupils at the ‘outstanding’-rated Harris Primary Academy Kent House, in south London, have had some of their SATs results wiped after an STA maladministration investigation.

The Harris Federation would not confirm how many pupils are affected, or which exams for which results have been annulled.

It follows a separate investigation by the STA last month that found teachers at another Harris school – Harris Academy Philip Lane, in north London – had “overaided” pupils in their SATs papers, and several papers were annulled.

The trust, which runs 47 schools in and around the capital, has promised an investigation into both incidents.

An academy spokesperson also apologised to parents and stated it is “determined” to find out what happened.

“No stone will be left unturned by our investigation, and we will not hesitate to take the toughest possible action”.

The Department for Education stated that “several papers were annulled” at Harris Primary Academy Kent House.

But they added this will “not adversely affect any of the pupils as the school can provide teaching assessments to show their progress in these subjects”.

The STA has also advised the school on how to “avoid future maladministration”.

In relation to Harris Academy Philip Lane, the STA concluded last month that year 6 pupils were given too much help in their English reading and maths reasoning SATs papers.

Their scores in those papers were wiped and they only received scores for their grammar, punctuation and spelling tests.

The Harris Federation has repeatedly been lauded by ministers as a top-performing trust.

In 2015, chief executive Dan Moynihan was invited by schools minister Nick Gibb to explain how his takeover of Philip Lane academy had benefited pupils at public bill committee.

He responded that the number of children reaching secondary-ready standards in reading, writing and maths had improved dramatically, and they were “better prepared for secondary”.

It is not the only trust to have SATs results wiped over mispractice this summer.

Last month, the STA annulled the maths results for all pupils at St Matthew’s Church of England Primary School in north London. The school was rated ‘outstanding’ at its last Ofsted inspection in 2009.

A DfE spokesperson said: “Teachers and parents must have confidence in the integrity of the assessment system, which is why we take allegations such as this very seriously.”

The department stated it already provides schools with comprehensive statutory guidance on test administration.

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5 Comments

  1. John Connor

    An almost inevitable consequence of high stakes testing linked to league tables and an adversarial inspection regime which is way beyond its sell-by date. Coupled with the lack of transparency that bedevils the academy “system” (for want of a better word), this is almost bound to happen with woefully inadequate levels of oversight from the DfE. How many “flagship” academy chains have fallen into disrepute for various reasons? Time to take a good long hard look at all the things we said would go wrong in 2010, and have. How many more have got away with it? Once graded Outstanding they’re exempt from re-inspection, which is complete madness.

  2. David Neil Mitchell

    Who is surprised? Inevitably some of the squalid practices that abound in business have been discovered in education. BTW let’s get to the point and call it cheating rather than ‘maladministration’.

  3. Gerry Parker

    When a Harris spokesman said:

    “No stone will be left unturned by our investigation, and we will not hesitate to take the toughest possible action”.

    I think this typing error should read “No teacher will be left unturned by our investigation”

    Of course, if I have it all wrong you can bet the creepy crawlies underneath the rocks will still get their excessive salaries and perks anyway after taking no blame for excessive pressure.

    Ahhh ….. the privatisation culture …. you can’t beat it for making money for the minority.

  4. He responded that the number of children reaching secondary-ready standards in reading, writing and maths had improved dramatically, and they were “better prepared for secondary”.

    Have they?
    ‘way beyond its sell-by date.’
    select committee and NAO seem to think so.

    Chickens . Roost . Home?

    What is the ultimate desire from government policy here?

    Given another ten years years where will we be?