Full sats shambles revealed
The full shambles of the Sats exam results meltdown across the Black Country and Staffordshire can today be revealed.
The full shambles of the Sats exam results meltdown across the Black Country and Staffordshire can today be revealed.
The Express & Star contacted more than 100 schools and found results were missing, delayed or riddled with mistakes, with one furious headteacher describing the level of incompetence as "breathtaking".
The shock findings include:
* More than 70 exam papers belonging to children at Wolverhampton's biggest primary school have been lost
* A school in Dudley sent back all its science tests as they were unmarked
* Scores of children who took the tests have been recorded by examiners as absent
* Pupils re-marking their own papers after teachers said they could "do a better job than the official markers".
Around one in five local primary schools broke up yesterday still waiting on pupils' all-important scores in English, maths and science.
Teachers, who are now calling for the tests to be scrapped, told how they were now facing a long summer of remarking.
Sally Lanni, head of the award-winning Villiers Primary in Bilston, said: "It is atrocious, absolutely terrible.
"It has been very stressful for all concerned and we actually believe all of our English papers have been lost.
"I called the examiners and they said they were having difficulty locating them. We have been given no advice and I just don't know what the next step will be."
The results, which were due to be released last week, are used by secondary schools to ensure children are in the correct classes for their ability.
Carroll McNally, headteacher at Wolverhampton's Holy Trinity Catholic Primary, said: "The level of incompetence is breathtaking. The children were so eager to know their results - they went through their own papers with a fine-tooth comb and did a better job than the official markers."
Dudley's St Edmund and St John CofE School has been forced to send all of its science tests back after they were returned to the school unmarked.
This year's papers were marked by American company ETS, which won the contract despite concerns about its performance overseas.
The Government, which has been swamped by calls for all 1.2 million tests to be remarked, has appointed Lord Sutherland to investigate.
See the Express & Star for the full report
