Confident of improvements at Honiton Primary School

THE headteacher of Honiton Primary School has said they are disappointed with the English scores that were recorded in the latest league tables.

THE headteacher of Honiton Primary School has said they are disappointed with the English scores that were recorded in the latest league tables.

Andrea Brown said that although they had appealed against the marking, which they said was not a true reflection of the key stage two pupils attainment, it had not been revised.

The results relate to the percentage of the pupils eligible to take the tests who achieved Level 4 or above - the standard expected for their age,

Mrs Brown said: "Unfortunately, the league tables do not tell the full story. Our children's performance in maths and science was broadly in line with what's expected nationally and markedly above for the percentage of children attaining the higher level five grades.

"As a school, we were disappointed with our English results, in particular the writing and don't feel that they are a true reflection of our pupils' attainment. The Local Authority confirmed that our teacher assessment judgements were correct and that our children appear to have underperformed in the SATs writing test.

"We appealed against the SATs writing marks but, as was the case for other local schools, no adjustments to the marking were made.

"Our current year six children are on track to achieve similar high level five grades and we are confident our writing will be a more accurate reflection of our children's abilities.

"We, therefore, expect to see a further improvement in our league table performance in 2010."

In Devon, generally, primary schools have enjoyed another year of sustained exam results which has seen them rise up the national performance tables.

The county's primary schools now stand at joint 49th out of 151 local authorities, compared to joint 60th last year.

Devon's cabinet member for schools and skills, Christine Channon, said she was pleased that the county's schools were continuing to deliver sustained exam performance and improve their national standing, despite poor Government funding.

"I would like to congratulate all of the primary schools whose good work has been highlighted in the various tables published by the DCFS," she said.

"The best results are always achieved through a partnership between heads, teachers, school support staff and children, with the active support of their families and our own education staff. I would like to pay tribute to their hard work.