Leeds pupils '˜not affected' by exam paper loss

The Government has pledged that children whose exam papers were lost after being collected from school will not be 'adversely affected' following the admin blunder.
PIC: Simon HulmePIC: Simon Hulme
PIC: Simon Hulme

As reported by the YEP yesterday, leaders at Middleton Primary School called an emergency meeting on Friday, when parents were told that Key Stage 2 mathematics SATs test papers had gone missing.

It is understood that children from two year six classes at the school, who had been awaiting results after sitting the maths SATs exams in May, had been affected.

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The national curriculum SATs tests help measure pupils’ progress, identify if they need extra support and are also used to assess school performance.

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA), the government agency that administers SATs, wrote to the school to confirm they were “unable to locate” the papers.

Parents this week told the YEP that they feared their children will “incur fails” as a result the blunder.

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A spokesman for the Department for Education, of which the STA is an executive agency, said it had apologised to the school for the debacle.

“Following the incident with Middleton Primary School, the school has received a formal apology on the issue,” he said.

“No pupil will be adversely affected regarding their move in the autumn onto secondary school as a result of this issue.”

Samantha Williams, headteacher at Middleton Primary School, spoke earlier this week about her “extreme” disappointment over the blunder.

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She also revealed that school leaders had written back to the STA, requesting a more a “complete explanation” regarding the circumstances and pressing them on what it meant for pupils.

Parents told the YEP that the school had provided courier receipts, showing the papers had been collected.

One parent said this week: “I’m gutted for the kids and school teachers, they’ve all done after school SATs clubs,”

“The kids worked really hard, and the school gets scored on how well they do in SATs and now that’s going to be affected.”