Sats Results

From the BBC Website


The company behind the late delivery of England's school test results faces penalties that could cost it "tens of millions", the exams watchdog has said.
Giving evidence to MPs, Ken Boston of the QCA, revealed that at one point there were 10,000 e-mail enquiries from markers unanswered by ETS Europe.
Some 70 staff from the National Assessment Agency (NAA) went in to help and a second call centre was set up.
ETS has apologised already and says the situation will not be repeated.
Dr Boston told the children, schools and families select committee that there had been weekly meetings involving the NAA and ETS since last September and daily meetings since the beginning of May.
But ETS repeatedly assured the regulator that it would deliver the results by the 8 July deadline, despite the widespread anecdotal evidence that all was not well.
It was not until 26 June that it had formally notified him that it would not do so, he said.
Onscreen marking
A concern now was next year's test series.
"And the clock is ticking - it's a two-and-a-half year development cycle," he said.
He suggested the answer was on-screen marking, now used for more than half of GCSE examinations and many of the A-levels - but not these "key stage" tests.
"We need to move as quickly as possible to on-screen marking for key stage tests: fast, reliable, secure."
This was the one aspect of what he famously described on his appointment as the "cottage industry" of England's exam system that had not changed in recent years.
But it would not be possible to implement this for 2009.
He stressed that ETS had been responsible for the logistics of the operation.
The people doing the marking were essentially the same as in previous years and there was no reason at the moment to believe the quality of the marking was in doubt "despite the stories and fears that are abroad".
Bidders
The watchdog was asked whether it was true that the reason many of the big exam boards had not bid for the test contract was that they regarded it as having been badly drawn up - and had written to tell him so.
He said he would have to look back over his correspondence from 2006.
But there had been five "very solid" bidders, shortlisted to three from which ETS had been selected after a highly thorough procurement process.
Dr Boston chose his words carefully but said there were "very significant penalty clauses" in the contract and the QCA would be seeking commercial and legal remedies from ETS.
He said there was "reputational damage" in relation to "a failure at this level" that would concern any large company.
"That probably is as significant as the financial penalties which could run into the tens of millions," he said.
Ultimately ETS could lose the three-year contract, he said, but the QCA's approach at present was to work with it to solve the problems.
The committee also asked Dr Boston to send it his own contract of employment.
Blame
He was asked by the committee chair, Barry Sheerman, whether he was saying the blame for what had happened lay with the private sector company's shortcomings.
Dr Boston said there were three parties involved:
The government, which in 2006 had determined what it wanted from the tests
The QCA may well have made mistakes too which might have caused problems
ETS may also have made some very significant mistakes
He said his staff had been "very hands on" in dealing with problems as they had unearthed them.
All these matters would be investigated by the inquiry into the failure, to be led by former Ofsted chief Lord Sutherland.
The marking of the Key Stage 2 tests (taken by 11-year-olds) was complete, he said, and almost all results would be published on Tuesday.
The Key Stage 3 results (14-year-olds) were substantially complete in maths and science but English took longer to mark and it could be into the school summer holidays before all are available.

Reception Year Words

Sometimes called High Frequency Years Words. Numeracy and Literacy are vial skills which every child needs to learn properly. The National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy is at the heart of the drive to raise standards in schools. If your child is coming to the end of their first year in school, they should be albe to recognise the 45 High Frequency Words. Avialable in 2 sizes, standard or large from our website or as a free download that will be emialed to you. Knowing these word will help your child as they progress into their next year at school.

SATs, Revision and homework help

My daughter has recently done her year 6 Sat's. As parents we were keen to give her as much help and encouragement as we could. Her school provided us with some workbooks that she completed as part of her homework. We found them very helpful and have contacted the company to see if they would supply us with their range. We are now in the process of stocking this range. The range is very large and I am keen to find out what help other parents feel they need to help their children. Here is a link to the site of workbooks we will be stocking very soon. Please let us know what you would find helpful, what you are more interested in and just your general thought on this range of workbooks. In the meantime we do have in stock Jolly Phonics Workbooks and also The At Home range from Oxford Reading Tree

Awards Update

Well we didn't make it through to the next round of The North East Digital Awards. But we had lots of support from all our customers. So I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone that voted for us. It did help with getting our name know and we did get hits to the website, which is good news. So it just leaves me one thing to say, I'll be doing it all again next year so watch out!!

Starting School

Is your child starting school in September. Are you getting a little anxious, does the thought fill you with dread? Remember these fellings are normal and you won't be on your own. Most of the other parents at the school gate will be having the same worries. We have put together a list of things you can do to help your child settle into school as pain free as possible and also help you with the transition.

• Plan Ahead - Get organised with uniform, don't leave it till the last week in August, sizes will be getting short and the shops will be crowded with other parents doing the same thing.
• Find out the school terms for the year ahead, you don't want to find out that you have booked a holiday when your child should be starting school.
• Talk to your child about starting school. Tell them what they will be doing, making new friends, playing with exciting new toys and learning lots of new things.
• Most schools offer a transition day, make the most of this. Show your child where to hang their coat, which will be their classroom and where the toilets and playground are.
• Encourage your child to get into a good routine by setting a bedtime. The first few weeks they may be very tired.
• Get organised with everything they will need the night before they start. Lay out their clothes, encourage them to help with this.

These are only a few things you can do to help your child in the first few days of their school life. There is lots more information on the internet. We have listed a few sites for you.

1. Parentscentre - helping you to help your child
2. Raisingkids - if it's about raising kids it here
3. Directgov - public service all in one place

Enjoy your childs first years at school, it goes by so quickly.

Fun Cubes From Zoobookoo

Fun Activities with a difference

We have now uploaded our new stock from Zoobookoo. Is it a book or is it a cube? You decide. Available in Time Tables, Human Body, Word Forming, Addition & Subtraction, Numbers & Alphabet. They make a great gift and keep children entertained, ideal for car journeys and getting them away from the television.

Jolly Phonics Hand Puppets & Jolly Stories

Jolly Phonics Hand Puppets

Jolly Phonics Puppets are plush, soft, full-size, hand-puppets of the main characters in Jolly Phonics, to bring life to the teaching. Inky who teaches her friends how to read and write. Snake who is quick to learn and always hungry and Bee who finds reading very hard but keeps on trying.

Jolly Phonics Jolly Stories

Join the adventures of Inky Mouse and her friends. Follow them through seven stories as they learn the 42 letter sounds. This beautifully illustrated board book has 40 spreads, each covering one or two letter sounds. A large letter is embossed on each spread, so that formation can be felt by little fingers. Each spread has a number of words for reading and for spelling, along with the Jolly Phonics action.