Bognor Regis MP promises to review SATs paper so difficult it brought students to 'tears'

Schools minister Mr Gibb reassured concerned parents and teachers during a school visit, The Guardian reported. Although he had not seen the paper, her acknowledged widespread worries that the paper was too difficult, promising to look over it once it became available.

According to The National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), the paper – which Year Six students sat last Wednesday – was so difficult that some teachers struggled to understand the question and claimed it was stressful enough to damage some students’ wellbeing.

"Members have told us that the choice of texts was not accessible for the wide range of experiences and backgrounds children have and the difficulty was beyond previous tests, leaving children upset, and with even staff struggling to understand the questions,” Sarah Hannafin NAHT's head of policy said.

Speaking to parents and teachers, Mr Gibb said exam papers are carefully checked to ensure they are appropriate for a range of abilities, while admitting they should not be too difficult for children.

He said: “I will certainly look at this, because I know that there has been concern expressed by some schools. They do have to test a range of ability to make sure we can show what proportion of children are exceeding the standards and so on. But we don’t want these tests to be too hard for children. That’s not the purpose. The purpose is to test the range of ability and the Standards and Testing Agency is charged with making sure that these tests are appropriate for this age group.”

The Department for Education website explains that Sats are supposed to measure school performance and ensure individual pupils have the necessary support as they move into secondary school.

A statement sent to The Guardian reads: “Our test development process is extremely rigorous and includes reviews by a large number of education and inclusion experts and professionals including teachers, and we trial tests with hundreds of pupils over several years to ensure that all tests are appropriate.”

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