Headteachers’ leaders have said they are “very concerned” by reports of the difficulty of the Sats reading paper this week and will be raising this with Ofqual.
Leaders have warned that the paper, which was sat by Year 6 yesterday, left even the most able pupils “broken” and in tears.
Sarah Hannafin, head of policy for school leaders’ union, the NAHT, said: “We are very concerned about reports from our members about the Sats reading paper.”
Ms Hannafin said members had told the union that the choice of texts was “not accessible for the wide range of experiences and backgrounds children have, and the difficulty was beyond previous tests, leaving children upset and with even staff struggling to understand the questions”.
The NAHT is now consulting with members about the paper.
Ms Hannafin added: ”We will definitely raise these concerns with STA (Standards and Testing Agency) and also the Ofqual national assessments team.”
Kerry Forrester, headteacher of Tarporley Church of England Primary School in Cheshire, wrote to her local MP yesterday after her pupils sat the paper.
“My Year 6 children, all capable readers who love reading, opened their reading test paper and were broken,” she said.
Sats 2023: ‘Tears flowed’ over reading paper
She added that “tears flowed” from the most capable pupils and “stress levels rose” among the children.
Simon Kidwell, the NAHT’s president-elect and a headteacher, told Tes that pupils at his school who have “always” finished the papers were left “upset” when they ran out of time.
He added that the sector hadn’t seen these “sorts of outcries” about the difficulties of the reading paper for several years.
Meanwhile, Year 6 teacher Emma Wood tweeted that she felt “broken” herself after the reading paper was sat, with “so many disheartened children that would normally finish not getting to the last page” and many asking “why it was so much harder than any before”.
And primary headteacher Vicky Harrison said her teaching team “were left trying to rebuild” pupils’ confidence.
The Department for Education has been approached for comment.
