SATS annulled

[Afiwo]

Hi there,
I have just found out that our number one choice of primary schools had a set of its SATS annulled due to 'administrative errors' (great news to receive a few days before the application deadline). The report has not been released yet so I don't know what the actual issue is.

Does anyone have any experience of this and can share their experiences? While I still believe this is a great school and it wasn't the results that swung it for me (there are many reasons it is top of our list) I'm worried about unforseen consequences that I may not have considered. Welcome any insights people can offer.

Thank you

I’ve seen this happen a few times. It’s always been because of maladministration. Always take Sats results with a pinch of salt.

What does that mean exactly?

Assuming you are considering this school for a current pre-school aged child, I wouldn't give SATs a second thought. So much can (and almost certainly will) change in the time before your child reaches Yr6. A change of school leadership, class teacher, the school may join / leave at Multi Academy Trust - it will be a different school in 7 years' time. Don't overthink this. Visit the school and if it feels good and you like the Early Years / KS1 provision, go for it.

This happened at ds’s school. It had a good ofsted report, then SATs annulled due to maladministstion. I never found out exactly what happened but something to do with the headteacher directly. She was quickly despatched, temp head came in and all went back to normal.

That's really helpful and basically what my friend said. I totally agree, just want to ensure I've considered the possible consequences of this particular issue, for example the head (who I really liked) leaving, or a mass exodus of teachers (who seemed great). Totally accept these things could happen anyway for any myriad of reasons. Thanks for your input, I'm feeling better about my gut feeling 😊

Ah so we may never find out what happened...

A school close to us had its results annulled. Allegedly the teacher told a pupil to change an answer on a reading paper.

Your suspicions that staff may leave (or be sacked) may be correct depending on what has happened. Options may include things like:
Papers not being stored securely
Guidelines not being followed e.g children not all sitting at the same time etc
Extra help that shouldn't have been given
Teachers changing answers
Opening the papers before the set time meaning content can be directly taught
Headteacher not following correct dates/schedules.

Worst case would be head would be sacked as it's on their shoulders at the end of the day. With it only coming out now it may be something that's been picked up in the checking/storing of papers or someone has reported something.

Thanks for all the input everyone, really helpful.