Children taken out of school for the day in protest of new Sats tests

They claim the new tests were harming children by asking them to learn concepts that could be beyond their capacity, putting unnecessary pressure on them to achieve.

In protest they removed their children from school for the day on Tuesday. The move was supported by around 40,000 parents nationally.

The drastic measure has received some sympathy from Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown who said: “Whilst nobody can condone parents wilfully withholding their children from school and it is imperative that we continue to raise educational standards to equip our students for the 21st century, it is clear that the fact parents and teachers are prepared to go to these extreme lengths reflects the strength of feeling around this issue, and I hope the government will take notice and learn some lessons for the future.”

The tests are taken by children aged six or seven in Year Two and then again in Year Six, aged 10 or 11, before a third set in Year Nine, aged 13 or 14. They have the backing of the chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, who says they are crucial in identifying children who are struggling.

These new tests have been drawn up to assess children's grasp of the recently introduced primary school national curriculum, which is widely considered to be harder than the previous one.

Blockley parent Kirsty Derson, a former primary school teacher and mother of three children at Blockley Primary School was one of several parents who had kept their children away from school as part of the Let Our Kids Be Kids campaign.

She said: "We took part in the campaign to boycott school for a day in opposition to the current testing policy in schools. We wanted to show that we care about our schools and our children's education. I have three children at Blockley Primary School, which is a great school with hard-working teachers who care about our children reaching their full potential, but they are forced to follow the national curriculum and the associated testing. This year the Sats tests for children in Year 6 will be harder than ever before, putting teachers and our children under a huge amount of pressure to achieve targets that were previously set for much older children.

"As parents we have little say over what happens to our children during their education. We hand them over to the educational system and have to trust that the best is being done by them. Currently we are watching our children struggle to cope with unrealistic expectations placed upon them by government policy where it seems that the individual child is no longer important. Instead of the narrow, prescriptive teaching that the Sats demands we would like to see the wonder and joy return to our children's learning, they need the space to flourish and grow at their own pace and abilities."

However, Sir Michael said: "As I have long argued, children who fall behind in the early years of their education struggle to catch up in later years.

"If by the age of seven, a child has not mastered the basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics, the odds will be stacked against them for the rest of their lives. This is especially the case for poorer children.

"All the evidence shows that social mobility does not start at the age of 16 or even 11 but at a much earlier age. That is why it is so critical to lay solid foundations from the start of a child's education."