Primary pupils show lack of progress in basic skills

From The Guardian


The government was accused of complacency yesterday after revealing that writing standards among seven-year-olds had fallen for the second year in a row. The statistics, released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, also showed no improvements in other core areas, such as maths and science.
The results follow recent evidence of poor progress among 11- and 14-year-olds.

While ministers insisted they were maintaining "high standards at this crucial stage of education", the Conservatives attacked their "complacency" and the Liberal Democrats claimed the whole primary school programme had lost momentum.