01553 816086New data published has indicated that three quarters of children in England that make a slow start in the “Three R’s” at primary school, fail to catch up by the time they leave school.
The data, collated for the Department of Education presents the performance of over 14,000 primary schools in England in their Sats results.
It also found that a third of pupils who initially make a bright start, were no longer achieving advances levels by the time they left.
The data demonstrates that only 25% of children, who at age 7, are classed as having low attainment, managed to achieve the expected level of Level 4 in English and Maths when they leave primary school, compared with the 99% of those classed as high achieving of the same age, who achieve the expected level in English and Maths.
Of these 99% however, only 61% go on to achieve Level 5, at the time of leaving school, which has prompted many to ask why schools don’t realise the academic potential of some of their brighter pupils, and what can be done to improve current attainment levels.
It has been suggested by some that the government should put the Pupil Premium to greater use with the goal of improving literacy and numeracy amongst pupils through providing guidance on how best to use the resources, and monitoring the impact of funding.
However others have suggested that it is down to parents to prepare their children sufficiently for primary school, by engaging them through reading books, thus giving the teachers the best possible opportunities to teach their children.
We’d love to know your thoughts on this topic and how to raise attainment levels, please just comment below.
Inage Credit: quacktaculous @ Flickr
