'Over-Tested' Children Strike Over Exams

Children are striking for the first time in protest at being "over-tested" and "over-worked" by what parents say is an exam-dominated school curriculum.

More than 40,000 parents have signed up to the action, describing the "testing regime" for SATs as "shambolic".

The Key Stage 1 testing for six and seven-year-olds has been made tougher this year in an attempt to drive up standards.

Some parents are keeping their children off school for "a day of educational fun instead" and a website run by the Let Our Kids Be Kids campaign includes posts from hundreds of groups of parents who say their children are taking part in another activity rather than attending classes.

The campaign, which is coordinating the kids' strike, has written to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan calling for an "end to SATs now".

The letter said: "Do you want your legacy to be the confident cancellation of unneeded and unnecessary SATs, showing you are listening to your electorate and the teachers you claim to support ... or the overseeing of a shambolic testing regime desperately unwanted by millions of people to the point that this country saw its first open parent revolt?

"You have the power to stop these tests. Now. Our children, our teachers and our schools deserve better than this."

Parent Nupur Verma has kept her daughter away from school today.

She told Sky News she fully supports today's strike action.

"The new SATs are destroying our children's love of learning, it's having a negative impact on their emotional wellbeing and we feel the government is setting our children, our schools and our teachers up to fail to push through an academy agenda.

"We know these new SATs are developmentally inappropriate for our children, and because teachers are having to teach to the test this is stressing our children out.

"Children are coming home worried about the test, their love of learning is fading away and they don't really want to go to school.

"They shouldn't be dragging their feet to school because it's a joyless experience.

"We are not objecting to children being tested but this is a system which is age inappropriate."

Concerns have been raised about the tougher SATs, including those from head teachers who say they will see thousands of schools failing to make the grade.

Katie Ivens, Vice-Chair of the Campaign for Real Education, told Sky News she is in favour of SATs.

"The tests are needed, not because they test the children as such, but they actually test whether the teachers have taught the children, that's what they are there for.

"Unfortunately, we have had recent history that goes over several decades in which primary school teachers haven't been teaching children the basics of reading, spelling, grammar and so on.

"Any stress the teachers may be feeling about this should not be offloaded on to the children.

"There is absolutely no reason why children shouldn't enjoy doing little tests."

Speaking at the National Association of Head Teachers' annual conference at the weekend, Ms Morgan urged those in charge of the "kids' strike" to think again - telling the conference that keeping children home was "damaging".

She said: "Keeping children home - even for a day - is harmful to their education and I think it undermines how hard you as heads are working."

She added "more rigorous" tests of young children would help to address the achievement gap in functional literacy between England and Korea, Singapore and Ireland.

Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell said she did not condone the strike but said that ministers had "ridden roughshod" over teachers' and parents' concerns.

She added: "Ongoing assessment is really important to help teachers and parents support their children's education and to close any gaps in knowledge so all children can do well at school.

"However, the way this government has handled the assessment regime means that parents and teachers are lacking confidence in school tests and the assessment system is being undermined."