I wonder how many middle-school teachers, like myself, made the connection between two articles in your June 11 issue: on “panic test cramming” in primary schools and on the closure of middle schools (“Parents defend the middle ground”).
Middle schools are under threat because they are deemed to be failing in KS2 Sats, compared to primary schools.
But middle schools like ours have a secondary-style broad and balanced curriculum. Meanwhile primaries, as your article confirms, are devoting a disproportionate amount of time to ensuring success in KS2 Sats.
The comparison of KS2 results between middle and primary schools is unfair.
Local education authorities should not be closing middle schools on this basis.
Primaries should not be ignoring the rest of the curriculum to satisfy the number-crunchers in Whitehall. Once again, teachers are trapped in the middle of demands for results and the desire to fully educate their pupils.
Guess which side is winning?
Margaret Knight Head of English Emmanuel middle school Howe Lane Verwood Dorset
