Tory plan for primary school resits
Updated on 02 September 2007
Children could be forced to resit their final year at primary school if they are not up to scratch, under radical new Tory plans.
David Cameron said the move could form part of a "genuine schools" revolution to drive up standards of literacy and numeracy, and improve discipline.
He also suggested schools could get up to £6,000 for each pupil they take from a disadvantaged background.
Mr Cameron made his grab for the education agenda as Schools Secretary Ed Balls admitted Labour could do better.
Mr Balls said there was "still some way to go to deliver a world-class education", and is writing to all headteachers asking them to redouble efforts to enforce discipline and ensure children get basic skills.
But he insisted that voting for Labour was the only way to ensure things kept getting better.
"We are delivering on our promises of higher standards, more teachers, better classrooms and better science and sport facilities," he said.
"David Cameron would put all this at risk with the cuts in public services he has pledged to pay for the tax cuts his own Tory policy commissions are demanding."
Mr Cameron called for a "bonfire of controls" to free teachers from bureaucracy and targets which make them "glorified form fillers".
That would lead to pupils of varying ages being taught together far more frequently than in the current arrangements.
The Tory leader promised to "look carefully" at the possibility of the worst performers in year six being made to either catch up at summer classes or repeat the whole academic year.
The measure is already used in the US and some European countries,
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