Star date: 18th March 2021

'ANOTHER KICK IN THE TEETH' - ST MARK'S PRIMARY SCHOOL PARENTS

Parents of children with Special Educational Needs, or SEN, who go to St Mark's CE Primary in Worsley are worried that too much pressure is being put on them to help with catch-up work following the re-opening of the school.

Key Stage 1 pupils have two homework books, which parents are expected to mark, plus a reading book, and spelling and times tables to learn for tests. After all the home schooling one mother of an SEN pupil told the Salford Star "we feel this is just another kick in the teeth".

Full details here...

Last week, a letter was sent to parents from the Deputy Head Teacher at St Mark's CE Primary School in Worsley outlining the catch up plan for the rest of the academic year.

Pupils in Key Stage 1 "will receive two CGP homework books" it states "English is the 'Comprehension Targeted Question Book' and maths is the 'Targeted Study and Question Book'. Children will be expected to complete one reading comprehension and one maths unit (e.g. place value, usually 1 page of explanation and 1 page of questions) per week. We are asking parents to please mark the work at home. The answers are in the middle of the book for the CGP maths/comprehension books and they can only be accessed online. We will still be expecting key stage 1 children to read their individual reading book at least three per week, learn their spellings and times tables to be tested the following week..."

It is more or less the same for pupils in Key Stage 2, and parents of children with Special Educational Needs, or SEN, at the school are not happy that the onus appears to be falling on them to make their kids 'catch up'...

"Discussing this matter with other mothers, especially those of us with SEN children we feel this is just another kick in the teeth" one mum told the Salford Star "Many of the children who attend this school are in the privileged position of their families being able to afford extra tuition, and many have been studying to attend the private Bridgewater school their whole school career. This leaves the very few of us who are not in this financial position being left to pick up the pieces of our children's education."

The letter to parents does state that teachers will be assessing pupils for learning 'gaps' and that "they'll [sic] be extra support in class and one-to-one interventions for any children who we identify as requiring this" writes the Deputy Head, Mr Noblet...

"I must make it clear that not every child will need this and it is likely the majority won't" he adds "On the whole, children have been regularly attending our daily lessons and completing the daily work so they haven't taken a 'career break' from education as some parts of the media have portrayed..."

But a mum hit back..."Although the letter states that children who are furthest behind will get extra support we have found the support for SEN children at the school to be poor to say the least, leaving us with more worry as to how this will be achieved.

"One mother was told that it may be best to send her child to a school that can provide more support when she raised concerns as to how school were managing the needs of her child" she alleges "With issues like these arising regularly, it is no wonder that parents are feeling deflated, anxious and worried about their children's education. Especially those of us who have SEN children attending the school."

The letter home from school and its sentiments hasn't placated parents..."We will do our very best to make sure no child is left behind and we will be working on the best strategies do this based on the need of the individual" the Deputy Head states "Will be using what we know as teachers, what we know about the particular need of our children at St. Mark's and Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF) research to inform our strategies..."

The Salford Star did try to contact Mr Noblet for a comment but no response was received...