Headmaster altered pupils’ SATS answers

A HEADMASTER desperate to maintain his school’s “outstanding” Ofsted rating changed pupils’ answers in a SATS paper behind an examiner’s back, a disciplinary panel heard yesterday.

Alan Prince, 50, who had worked at the Wistaston Church Lane School in Crewe for 18 years, submitted the Key Stage 2 mental maths papers in May 2015.

However, the Standards and Testing Agency found that 26 test papers had been changed outside of controlled testing conditions.

An investigation was then launched into suspected maladministration, resulting in several Year 6 students having their results voided.

Prince originally denied any involvement, but later admitted to changing the papers and was suspended by the board of governors. He resigned in July 2016.

A subsequent Ofsted inspection downgraded the school’s rating from outstanding to “requiring improvement”, with inspectors finding that a “considerable turbulence” in leadership had seen a “sharp decline” in pupils’ achievement.

In a written testimony heard yesterday by a National College of Teaching and Leadership disciplinary panel, Prince admitted that he had altered the papers after asking an exam administrator for access to them to see how his pupils had fared.

Prince was found to have acted dishonestly and found guilty of unacceptable conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

He was struck off indefinitely, with a review of his teaching ban set for Aug 24 2019.