Teaching Union Slams Ofsted 'Bright Kids' Report

By Daniel Lynch

The National Union of Teachers has criticised the findings of an Ofsted report which claims England’s state schools are letting down the country’s brightest pupils.

Ian Murch, Executive Member of the National Union of Teachers, told BCB that the report was based on an "absolutely tiny amount of evidence".

The study claims that two thirds of pupils failed to maintain the standard of results between primary and GCSE level. Nationally, 65,000 pupils failed to get an A or A* in GCSE maths or English despite achieving level 5 in primary school tests.

Ofsted claim that teachers and parents had too “readily accepted” the low performance levels of pupils who had scored highly in primary school tests.

Mr Murch said that teachers shouldn’t be blamed for Government policy which measures the success of schools on the number of students who achieve a C grade at GCSE rather than taking all results into account.

He said: “I’m afraid teachers and many involved in education don’t trust Michael Wilshaw and Ofsted.”

Women Remember Bradford Sex Workers

Up to 100 women gathered in Bradford city centre late on Friday to commemorate three women feared to have been murdered whilst operating as sex workers in the district.

Body parts identified as belonging to Suzanne Blamires and Shelley Armitage have been found in the River Aire near Bradford.

There has been no trace of Susan Rushworth since she disappeared in June 2009.

40 year old Stephen Griffiths, a criminology student from Bradford University, has been charged with their murders.

Those attending the women-only commemoration event, which council officials moved from Centenary Square to a location at the end of Market Street, were asked to wear black and to carry signs in support of other sex workers abused in the course of their profession.

Photo: Lauren Layfield Report: Lauren Layfield & Richard Horsman