ABSTRACT
I initially became aware of the Manchester and Salford Schools Consortium in September 1997 when I, Anne-Marie Roberts, arrived in Manchester to take up my new position as the Deputy Headteacher in St Chad’s RC Primary School. The Headteacher ‘invited’ my participation, with the words: ‘It won’t mean any more work, and it’s a good way of getting to know people …’
The school had been involved in the bidding process from April 1997, although the focus for the project was not confirmed until June when we received the results of the National Tests. The science results gave considerable cause for concern: only 29 per cent of pupils achieved Level 4 or above at Key Stage 2. Our results for science in Key Stage 1 still remained good and we wanted to find reasons for, and address, the slump in performance from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2. As well as my role on the Senior Management Team at the school I was Science Coordinator and in addition had responsibility for Key Stage 2. It did seem that the role of research coordinator had my name written large upon it!
