HUNDREDS of pupils across East Cambridgeshire left their primary schools for secondary education this week – without knowing the results of their SATS papers. Ten and 11-year-olds have started their summer holiday break as teachers have the task of siftin

HUNDREDS of pupils across East Cambridgeshire left their primary schools for secondary education this week - without knowing the results of their SATS papers.

Ten and 11-year-olds have started their summer holiday break as teachers have the task of sifting through the returned exam papers to check for errors and inconsistencies.

"The general feeling among heads in Cambridgeshire about the whole situations is very negative," said Dominic Sharp, headteacher at Robert Arkenstall Primary School in Haddenham.

He said that his staff were going through the returned papers and intend to send back and appeal the grades on some of their English papers.

Mr Sharpe said: "We are disputing some of our English SATS, particularly the writing exams, because we feel they were marked incorrectly.

"Unlike other schools, our papers were returned to us fully marked and on time, but the marking was inadequate.

"The deadline to appeal the results has been pushed back, so we're carefully going through the papers now.

"This is a big issue and hugely unfair for the pupils who have worked so hard for these exams."

Schools across the country are still waiting for the results of Key Stage 2 exams in English, maths and science, by marking company at Educational Testing Service Europe (ETS Europe) last week.

Sue Burry, head of Downham Feoffees School, told the Ely Standard her pupils had their results two days before the end of term - giving parents less than the required 10 day period to comment on their children's performance.

"What was disappointing was that some children were just one mark off the next level," she said. Six papers have been sent back for review.

It was their first time the marking body had been given the job of marking SATS exams in the UK and as many as one in four school children will now have their results reviewed.

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesman said that a "substantial" number of schools across the county have been affected by the fiasco in some way.

He said: "It is not just the delay of the marked papers which is frustrating, more importantly; it's the inaccuracy of some of the results.

"Children have a right to know how they have done in their SATS before the end of term. The whole situation is very unfair for them and their teachers."

Has your child been affected by the SATS fiasco? Write to the editor at: the Ely Standard, 38 Market Street, Ely, Cambs, CB7 4LS or email: editor@ely-standard.co.uk.