Heads attack 'national register for brightest 11-year-olds' (26/04/06)
PA News
Published:
26 April 2006
Headteachers today attacked plans to draw up a national register of the brightest 11-year-olds.
Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said all secondary schools in England will be given the names of the children who came in the top 5% nationally in their primary school tests.
Headteachers will be told to make sure these children fulfil their potential in their GCSEs and top universities could be encouraged to target them from an early age.
But John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, criticised the plan.
"Secondary school leaders want bright but underachieving students from all backgrounds to have every chance to succeed," he said.
"However, the Government's latest scheme will not help to accomplish this, since it is based on the false assumption that Key Stage 2 (end of primary school) test results measure the potential of 11-year-olds. That is not true.
"That is why most secondary schools give 11-year-olds a test to assess their potential soon after they start in September."
But Ms Kelly said parents would want to know that their children are reaching their full potential.
"And a parent with a child with exceptional ability will want to know that that potential is being recognised and developed," she told the IPPR think tank in London.
"I want to see the brightest children from all backgrounds stretched."
Ms Kelly stressed that this had nothing to do with academic selection because schools would be given the details only after pupils had been given places.
The Department for Education said that universities would be able to gain access to information under the scheme to help them find more potentially bright students from working class backgrounds.
But Dr Dunford condemned the idea that the register could be linked to university entry.
"It would be deplorable if it were and would lead to immense pressure being placed on schools by parents anxious for the future of their children," he said.
