Kentish Express Ashford & District
‘Suspend this year’s grammar test’
Education chiefs are facing calls to suspend this autumn’s 11-plus exams as schools remain closed amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both KCC and Medway Council are currently planning to go-ahead with the grammar school entry tests in September despite what one MP describes as “a time of heightened anxiety”.
Canterbury’s Rosie Duffield (Lab) is urging the authorities to reschedule them as pupils will have had only “a few weeks of schooling in the five months” leading up to the assessments.
Conservative MPs across the county have also written to both councils asking them to delay the tests by “a month or so”.
Ms Duffield – a long-term critic of the exams – believes the impact on children’s schooling will be greater on those from households which cannot provide tutoring.
Ms Duffield continued: “Many of these children will only have had a few weeks of schooling in the five months that precede September and thus extra advantage will be given to those who grow up in households able to tutor and assist their children in preparation for the test.
“The Kent Test should be suspended for the autumn, or other plans - possibly teacher-led assessments - put in place.
“It is not right that at a time of heightened anxiety for all children, another pressure is placed on them.” The entry exams are due to be taken by children in Year 5 – those currently aged nine or 10.
They are not among pupils set to restart school next month, with Boris Johnson giving priority to those in reception classes,
Year 1 and Year 6.
Maidstone and The Weald MP Helen Grant was among the Conservatives to write to the councils about the 11-plus.
“We appreciate and share the concerns of parents and pupils at this challenging time and so asked for it to be delayed by a month or so in order to provide some certainty and reassurance to those involved,” she said.
“I do not believe that a suspension of the Kent Test would be beneficial to pupils, parents or teachers because it is crucial that we recognise the hard work they have all put in to prepare for it.”
Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch added: “It is important we recognise all the hard work of Year 5 pupils and their teachers around the county in preparation for the test in the autumn.”
KCC is in discussions with the Department for Education and will update schools and parents or carers as soon as a decision is made. Registration for the test will open in June.
Ashford MP Damian Green commented on a possible postponement, saying: “It’s a suggestion I, along with other MPs, have made to the government.
“We’re trying to do it fairly so those who want to go to grammar can try on an equal footing.
“There are other obvious ways to do it, delay it for a month or so to catch up with the schoolwork.
“We’ve got to balance that with having the tests marking and appeals processes all done on time.”