Writing standards fall at KS1

Writing standards among seven-year-olds in England have fallen for the second year in a row, the latest figures show. Some 80% of children reached Level 2 in school writing tests - a fall of one percentage point on 2006.
There was no change in maths, science or reading this year, with some 90% achieving the required level in maths, 89% in science and 84% in reading.
Schools minister Andrew Adonis said he was pleased with the results but called for more efforts to drive up standards. He congratulated pupils and teachers for their hard work.
He added: "We know that children who reach the expected level in reading, writing and maths at seven years old have a much better chance of leaving primary school with a solid foundation in literacy and numeracy skills. While there has been real progress over the last 10 years, we need to continue to push for year-on-year improvement because it is vital that all children gain a thorough understanding of the basics. That is why we are doing much more to support early reading, writing and maths."

In all subjects a higher proportion of girls than boys reached the expected level. In writing particularly, girls were further ahead with 86% achieving the writing standard compared to 75% of boys. And among seven-year-old boys, 84% were judged to be on track in speaking and listening, while girls were ahead with 90%. Lord Adonis said that from September phonics would be central to the teaching of early reading for all children.

Liberal Democrat education spokesman David Laws said it was a national disgrace that "one in four boys don't even have the most basic writing skills aged seven. These figures will be very disappointing for ministers as boys continue to perform far worse than girls, and improvement overall has stalled or in some cases is even going backwards. Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb said the results revealed a lack of progress in raising standards in the "three Rs" which was "hugely concerning".

Isn't it wonderful when an 'education spokesman' describes the children's efforts as a 'national disgrace' and 'hugely concerning' without ever offering any suggestions as to how this could be improved. Children and teachers deserve a pat on the back for continually striving to raise standards.

Class Displays.co.uk

I recently contibuted some photos to Steven Moore's Class Displays.co.uk website which shows photographs of displays in each subject and in each year group. It's a very useful site and I have used to gain ideas for a French display which I'm going in to school to set up tomorrow. The site is well worth a look! Just think what could happen if every teacher sent in just one photo...

Resource Websites

Over the next school year I plan to collect links to websites for different subjects. Please send in your ideas so I can add them to the Year Six Teacher Delicious site. I plan to publish a list of sites at the end of each month.

The focus for September is Art.

The Lost A-Team

I found this video on YouTube. I really want to watch Lost!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

What a great ending to the series. I have loved reading the Harry Potter stories and I think this was a great way for the stories to end.

I wasn't too keen on the '19 year later' ending. I think it would have been nicer for the reader to imagine what happens next. But I thought the battle was incredible. I can't wait to see what this looks like in the film. It will surely put Lord of the Rings to shame.

Fantastic!

Rhys Jones

Whilst we were away we saw the news about the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones from Liverpool. I felt sick when I heard. Poor Rhys was the same age as the children we teach in Year Six. He was just about to start in his new school. I can't even begin to imagine how his parents, family, friends and his teachers must feel. It churned my insides to think what if it happened to a child I have taught...

The evil person behind this wicked murder must be caught, and I think we can count on the people of Liverpool to make sure this happens.

My heart goes out to Rhys' family and friends.

Palma Nova

I have just returned from Palma Nova where I've had a brilliant week with my partner, Lisa. each year our holiday is the one week where I switch off and do absolutely nothing!

Palma Nova has some good beaches where we spent a lot of our time. We arrived on Saturday and had the rest of the day to spend on the beach. I was able to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows... (more on that later). In the evenings we usually went to a place called Stadium where we saw some good tribute acts (Rod Stewart and Queen). We visited Golf Fantasia where we played 54 holes. This is well worth a visit. The Western Water Park was good but the queues were really annoying. Best of all was the Pirates Adventure. We went to see the Uncut version. If you ever have chance to see the Pirates show then go! Apparently it is going to be touring the UK soon.

The weather wasn't always good but we really enjoyed ourselves and it was great to relax!

Mojorca

In a couple of hours I'm off to Majorca for a week! Speak to you in 7 days!

KS3 SATs Results

There is quite a debate going on at Primary Teacher UK about KS3 SATs results.

There has been a lot of focus in the news about the KS2 finally hitting the SATs targets that were set for 2002. Well the BBC today writes about the KS3 results.

The proportion of 14-year-olds in England reaching the required standard in maths tests fell slightly this year. 76% reached Level 5 or above, against 77% in 2006 after a three-point rise over the previous year.

There was an increase of one percentage point in the proportions of pupils meeting English and science standards, to 74% and 73%. But the government had set a target of 85% reaching Level 5 in English and in mathematics by this year.

Within the English results, there was a six percentage point increase in the share of boys meeting the required standards for reading but a drop of two percentage points in writing.

Some 65% of boys met the standards for reading compared to 78% of girls, while 80% of girls met the standards for writing compared with 67% of boys. Boys' writing was highlighted as a particular concern when the primary school results for 11-year-olds were published last week. In English overall, 80% of girls made the grade compared with 67% of boys.

In fact girls out-performed boys in each of the core subjects. Some 76% of girls and 75% of boys met the mathematics standard, and 73% of girls and 72% of boys meeting science standard.

In information and communication technology (ICT) 74% of pupils met or exceeded Level 5.

Whilst the news about the KS3 results sounds like a mixed bag, what amazes me about the whole report is the statement, "the government had set a target of 85% reaching Level 5 in English and in mathematics by this year." If targets are being set at 85% to be Level 4 in English and Maths in Year 6, why is it that pupils are only expected to improve by 1 level in the next three years? Something just isn't right here. Year 2: Level 2, Year 6: Level 4 and Year 9: Level 5? The average rate of progress should be to improve by 2/3 of a level each year. In my book this means that the target at Year 9 ought to be at least Level 6.

Can anyone shed any light on this issue?

QCA ICT Schemes of Work

I have prepared an overview of the QCA ICT Schemes of Work at my resources website. Hopefully it is accurate, but let me know if it isn't.

As you know, I am not a fan of the QCA scheme at all because I think it is at least 5 years out of date. Here are some of the things that the scheme doesn't include: Instant messaging, blogging, Wikipedia, social networking, podcasting, web page design, transferring music to MP3 player, editing photos (Photoshop), Windows Movie Maker, Flash animating and Photo Story. The Internet is barely mentioned in the QCA scheme.

Does anyone have a new scheme of work they would recommend? Has anyone already addressed these omissions in school?

It is my plan this year to begin to create a new scheme of work in ICT which is more up-to-date. Help would be really appreciated!

Walk to school... or else!

The BBC explains that a report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy is suggesting that Exclusion zones should be set up around schools to force parents and children to walk to class.

The report blames over-use of cars for fuelling the "twin crises" of global warming and an obesity epidemic. Researchers found the amount of walking fell from two hours a week to just one when households started using a car. They say banning cars around schools would instil good habits early on and call for "concerted action". The IEEP study says that if people walked one more hour a week - the typical difference between those who own a car and those who do not - it could mean a reduction in average weight of up to two stone in a decade. And the additional walking could displace at least 11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from cars.

As long as the ban doesn't apply to staff then I'm wholeheartedly in agreement with this!!

Let parents buy bargain uniforms

The Daily Mail reports today that schools have been warned to scrap exclusive deals uniform suppliers or face prospecution. Children's Minister Kevin Brennan said that get-tough policy was to ensure poorer pupils are not prived out of places at certain schools because they require an expensive uniform.

Mr Brennan said schools should allow parents to take advantage of high street offers by scrapping requirements for clothing to carry a specific logo or trim which must be bought from more expensive suppliers.

He warned that schools which continue to sign exclusive contracts with selected outfitters could find themselves under threat of prosecution by the Office of Fair Trading. Government guidance would be published in the autumn which will make it clear that uniforms must be affordable and sold in a range of outlets.

New car

Thought I would treat myself to a new car! A Renault Megane. Should be picking it up on Thursday. Can't wait!!

Absolutely Del.icio.us

I know I am very late in catching on with this but I've been exploring Technorati, Digg and Del.icio.us today to see if I can attract extra visitors and increase the amount of comments left at Year Six Teacher.

This Del.icio.us thing looks good - I will try to add links to useful and interesting websites to this.

Heroes

Wow! I am really getting in to Heroes, the new TV programme on BBC2. As you will be aware I am a crazy Lost fan. I needed something to replace it. It turns out that Heroes is that programme.

We are now up to episode 4. Hiro and Aldo spent the episode cheating their way to winning money in Las Vegas. Until Hiro reappeared at the end to meet Peter Petrelli. A brilliant ending. We see more about Niki's alter-ego who meets up some bloke in a lift. She was forced to seduce Nathan Petrelli in order to get out of debt with Linderman. Claire's father spent the episode being creepy and hanging around with some mysterious guy who is told to 'go deep' as he touched a screaming Matt's head. Claire wakes up on the autopsy table, closes her rib cage and makes a run for it. After learning that the lad who tried to rape her in Episode 3 has done this before to another girl, she takes him for a drive and crashes into a wall on purposes. After waking up with Simone, Peter Petrelli went to visit Mohinder who wasn't altogether convinced that Peter was there with a genuine unusual ability. Peter says he only has powers around other people with special powers - Nathan and Isaac. He goes to visit Isaac but Isaac is high on drugs and painting more creepy pictures of the future.

Next week I will watch the BBC2 and the BBC3 episodes so that I don't miss out when we go to Majorca the week after next. I can't wait! (for the holiday and Heroes!)

Four in ten 11-year-olds don't make the grade in three Rs

Four in ten children leave primary school without a basic grasp of the three Rs, national test results have revealed.

Official results published yesterday showed a slight rise in the proportion of pupils making the grade in reading, maths and science.
This year, 80 per cent of pupils made the grade in English - reading and writing combined - and 77 per cent in maths. But this still means nearly a quarter of a million pupils will move up to secondary school next month without having mastered the skills of reading, writing and maths. Ministers were forced to admit they had "further to go" as it emerged just 60 per cent of all pupils - and 56 per cent of boys - reached the expected level for their age in the three Rs combined.

As teachers' leaders demanded the scrapping of national testing and targets, Schools Minister Lord Adonis insisted the regime was here to stay. However, he revealed the Government was reviewing the current target for 85 per cent of pupils to reach expected levels in English and Maths."We are in discussions at the moment about where we go next on targets," said Lord Adonis. "No conclusions have been reached yet but we do expect to see year-on-year progress." He hailed the "best ever" set of results for state schools.

Meanwhile, Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The national test results conceal the downside of tests, targets and tables. "We surely must be able to come up with a better system than one which encourages the hot-house pressures of teaching to the test at the expense of the rest of the curriculum and unrealistic national targets."

Isn't it great - the results improve and yet people still aren't happy.

Very funny!

Worth watching!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAVVVMcTShQ

Pupils should supervise lunches

A recent reports suggests that older pupils should become paid dinner supervisors in school canteens and lunchtimes should be made longer not shorter. The School Food Trust suggests that lengthening the daily lunch break would allow pupils to relax, eat properly and recuperate for the afternoon's lessons. It also says that teachers should sit among pupils and communicate using coloured cards to avoid having to shout.

The booklet 'A Fresh Look at the School Meal Experience' is really interesting and it has lots of practical ideas for making lunch times a positive experience for everyone!