15th July 2016
Heptonstall
Junior, Infant and
Nursery School
letter
flood
Next week we say goodbye to our
Year 6 pupils. They have been a
“delightful dozen” and we wish
them all the very best as they take
the steps onwards in the next part
of life’s journey. A special leavers
assembly will be held next Friday
at 9.05m where the Year 6
children will share some
memories, sing some songs and
we can watch a video covering
their years at Heptonstall. All
parents are invited to this.
Our Year 6 have a “treat week”
next week. Tuesday sees them
rafting on Hollingworth Lake in the
morning followed by Bowling and
Lazerquest in Rochdale during the
afternoon. On Wednesday they
will go to Flamingo Land and on
Thursday it will be the traditional
Leavers Meal with staff too at Il
Mulino’s in Hebden Bridge. Watch
out for pictures of all this on the
final Newsletter of the school year
next week!
So, on this penultimate Newsletter,
get ready for my last “rant” of the
school year….
The Year 6 SAT results arrived in
school last week. This year for the first
time children were given one of two
results. Either “AS” (Pupil has
achieved the expected standard for
the test) or “NS” (Pupil has NOT
achieved the expected standard of the
test). This replaced the “Level 3/4/5
etc that pupils got under the previous
testing system.
When I first saw our school results I
was a little disappointed as in a couple
of subjects they are a little lower than
in previous years. However then the
Continued overleaf
Well done to all the boys and girls for 4 magnificent performances of the Wind In The
Willows this week. The performances started on Monday afternoon with the “Dress
Rehearsal” which we also performed to the Year 3 and 4 pupils from Hebden Royd
School. The 3 performances for Parents were really well attended (thank you!) and the
children responded magnificently. We just need to start thinking about next year
now…oh well -“No worries.” Lots more photos on the school website.
Website: www.heptonstallschool.org.uk
Email: [email protected]
Continued from Page 1
floods of emails started going around from Heads both in this authority and others asking what
on earth was going on.
As it transpires 47% of children across the country in Year 6 did not achieve the expected
levels in reading, writing and maths – or in other words “failed” the test. Under the old system
last year 80% of children nationally reached the “expected” Level 4.
This is a disgrace. Certainly not in terms of the teaching profession or children but by the
powers that be that have set tests at such over demanding levels. At any other time I am sure
there would have been more made of this by the media but with Brexit, the Tory Leadership
race and Labour seemingly imploding dominating headlines, then it has not really scratched the
surface. There were, however, some interesting quotes on the day of the SAT result release:
(Ex!) Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said lower results should not be interpreted as a
decline in performance by pupils.(“Thanks” for that Ms Morgan - who presumably would be
unenthusiastic about being seen as having presided over the biggest ever collapse in results.)
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the Government were "Treating students like lab rats
in their big ideological experiment. These SATs results show starkly that they are gambling the
futures of these young people on Michael Gove's misty-eyed world view where every school is a
prep or grammar school, students are robotic and teachers skip around teaching past
participles and antonyms by rote to seven-year-olds. It sounds more like an Enid Blyton book
than reality."
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "We are
appalled by the shambles of today's Key Stage 2 SATs results which just compounds the total
chaos the government has made of this year's SATs. Even the government must be worried
about the impact of the low scores because it's felt the need to explain the results to schools so
they know that all schools will have similarly low results."
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "We have
learned today that only 53% of children have met the new expected standard in reading,
writing and maths. The government has decided that nearly half of pupils have failed at the end
of their primary education. This is not representative of the quality of their education, nor of
the hard work that students have put in this year. It will be impossible for parents not to
compare this year's percentage with last year and not to worry that the new, higher
expectations mean that their children appear to have performed worse than children in
previous years."
This is not a political rant or bias from me. (I was just as critical of Ed Balls when under the
Labour Government he was Secretary of State for Education!) I just feel so sorry for, not just our
children and teachers, but all the children and teachers across England who have worked so
hard to then have such demoralising results.
Nationally the results were as follows:
 66% of pupils met the standard in reading
 70% in maths
 72% in grammar, punctuation and spelling
 74% in the teacher-assessed writing
At Heptonstall we had 100% of children meeting the standard in reading (one of only two
schools in Calderdale to achieve this) and 75% in the other 3 subject areas. 66.7% of our pupils
reached the standard across Reading, Writing and Maths combined.
I have been involved with SAT testing since it was first introduced in the mid-1990s. Never have
I been involved in a year such as this last one where there has been so much confusion, chaos
and general shambles. In my mind the results this year should never have been published.
The people responsible for this farce – whether they are in Government, the DfE or STA - need
to look very hard at themselves and realise they have nationally condemned half a cohort of 11
year olds as “failures”. I hope they feel “proud” of what they done. I will say it again disgraceful.
Our children deserve better.
Just a reminder, could you let us
know your childcare plans for
September so we can start
booking in sessions. It would be
best to book early in order to
secure your slot.
You can call us on 0781 736
6475 during the session, text us
any time or just drop in.
We will, of course, be thinking
about “Moving On” in our
assemblies next week. One of
the stories I will be reading the
children (with an obvious slant
to our Year 6 children) is “Oh,
The Places You will Go” by Dr
Seuss”.
I am going to “spoil you” this
week with two quotes (again
aimed at our Year 6). One from
the Dr Seuss story:
“You have brains in your head
You have feet in your shoes,
You can steer yourself in any
direction you choose”
And the In/Out song will be
“Dream High” by Doug Stone.
The chosen lyric here is:
If you're gonna dream, dream
high
Never let the fear of the
unknown be a reason not to try
While I live, let me learn to give
what's mine
And at the journey's end, know
the reason why
If you truly want to fly, dream
high
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=s3k7mE9yrxg