SATS firm sacked

The private company responsible for marking this year’s SATS papers has been sacked.

The American company ETS was stripped of its contract by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which appointed them in the first place. The announcement came after thousands of complaints from schools about delayed results and inadequate marking.

Results were so late that by the end of July some children still hadn’t received their marks. Some heads said SATS papers had been returned unmarked, with pupils marked as absent.

Heads reported problems with the system from early on. At one point, according to the BBC, ETS had 10,000 unopened emails from schools.