Thousands Support First School Kids' Strike

Parents will stage the first ever "kids' strike" tomorrow in protest at the "shambolic testing regime" of SATs.

Nearly 40,000 people have signed up in support of the action what parents claim is "over-testing" at the expense of children’s happiness.

Parents, heads and teachers are opposed to the Key Stage 1 testing for six and seven year olds, standards for which have been made tougher this year in an attempt to drive up standards.

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

The letter said: "Please take a long, hard look at this.

"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."

The campaign says its petition has been signed by 37,486 parents.

The reception baseline test was ditched recently because experts found it was unfair.

The National Union of Teachers has also written to Ms Morgan saying that scrapping those tests had not "lessened the dissatisfaction of teacher with an untrialled system whose effects seem, even now, not to have been grasped by those who have introduced it".

Head teachers claimed the introduction of harder tests would lead to thousands of schools failing to make the grade.

Speaking at the National Association of Head Teachers' annual conference at the weekend, Ms Morgan attempted to allay fears saying no more schools would fail.

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.

"I urge those running these campaigns to reconsider their actions."

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.