Ashfield MP says Labour will stop intense testing of young school pupils

We all know the stress that exams can cause but we know that exams such as GCSEs and A levels are an essential part of our education system.

The same can’t be said about SATS for young children in key stages one and two.

England’s school children are among the most tested in the world and this is causing unacceptable stress.

Instead of gaining the knowledge and skills they need for both the rest of their education and life beyond it, kids are simply learning how to pass a specific test.

At the recent National Education Union conference, Labour vowed to abolish key stage one and two SATS and develop a system that will have fairer, broader, more useful measures of attainment.

A new form of primary school assessment will be brought in instead, which will encourage teaching a broad and balanced curriculum.

We will consult with teachers, parents and education experts from home and abroad to find the best way of effectively assessing children’s attainment while reducing the pressure on them.

It is time that pupils were given the knowledge and skills they will need throughout their lives rather than just learning to pass a test.

A story in last week’s Chad talked about rising homelessness in Ashfield, with this area showing the most significant rise over the last ten years in mid-Nottinghamshire.

Some 700 households are thought to be at risk and in the last ten years the number of people sleeping rough is up from 30 to 123.

Nationally, the number of people sleeping rough has more than doubled since 2010 and 120,000 children are without proper homes.

All this has happened since the last time there was a Labour Government.

Labour has a plan to improve the housing situation, building over a million affordable homes over a ten-year period, and investing £100 million in emergency winter accommodation for rough sleepers.