Leading Peterborough primary may face action over invalid SATS results

Action could be taken against Peterborough's top performing primary school which had some of its SATS results declared invalid due to maladministration.
Eye C of E Primary School EMN-180314-175547009Eye C of E Primary School EMN-180314-175547009
Eye C of E Primary School EMN-180314-175547009

Head of education at Peterborough City Council Jonathan Lewis said he intends to meet with Eye C of E Primary’s chair of governors before deciding on a “course of action.”

Mr Lewis’ comments were made to a Peterborough resident who had emailed his concerns to the service director about the invalid English grammar, punctuation and spelling results in last year’s tests.

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The Peterborough Telegraph was copied into both the email sent to Mr Lewis and his response to the resident, where he added: “Please be assured I am taking this issue incredibly seriously and will act accordingly at the appropriate time.”

Local authorities cannot take disciplinary action against schools but can intervene by appointing additional governors, appointing an interim executive board or suspending the delegated budget.

They can also require a school’s governing body to collaborate with the governing body of another school or with a further education body, or they can make recommendations for a school to follow.

Mr Lewis said any action he takes will follow a discussion with the regional schools commissioner who has the power to intervene in maintained schools and academies.

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The invalid Key Stage 2 results were revealed by the PT last month after a letter was sent by Eye Primary to shocked parents.

The letter followed an investigation by the national testing agency and Peterborough City Council, but neither would confirm what the ‘maladministration’ was.

Eye Primary comfortably finished top of the Key Stage 2 tables in Peterborough last year with 94 per cent of its Year 6 pupils reaching the expected standards in reading, writing and maths.

The school did not respond to three requests for a comment before the PT published its original article.