I would like to add my pennyworth to your article reporting the complaints about the key stage 2 maths papers being too difficult (TES, May 26).
Nowhere does the national curriculum require 11-year-olds to work under severe time pressure to solve maths problems.
Yet all that was given were two 35-minute sessions to tackle a succession of quite demanding problems.
This resulted in children underachieving because they worked too quickly or failed to tackle work which they had already shown an understanding of in class work.
Why 35 minutes? Why not one hour or even longer?
Could it be that to fit all the tests into one week the priority was the management of the tests rather than the needs of the children?
ARTHUR WILLIAMS Immanuel St Andrew CE primary school Buckleigh Road London SW16
