Stephen Mitchell

The system in UK primary schools is, in my opinion, broken.

This week, I have watched our staff and learners navigate the demands of the KS2 SATs: a statutory process that all state schools must complete. While the children, on the whole, approached the week with confidence, resilience, and a good deal of humour, I found myself questioning: why do we subject such young children to this?

As a Headteacher, I am regularly reminded of the importance of offering a broad and balanced curriculum – one that promotes creativity, curiosity, and wellbeing. Yet, alongside this, I am expected to ensure that 10 and 11 year olds are thoroughly prepared to sit formal assessments under high-stakes exam conditions. It’s a contradiction that leaves me and many others questioning the very purpose of these tests.

Year 6 children are assessed in reading, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and maths. Their performance is reduced to scaled scores which, while supposedly objective, become the definitive measure of school effectiveness. These numbers are used to judge not only pupils, but teachers, school leaders, and by extension the entire value of a child’s primary education. They feed league tables, drive accountability pressures, and serve political narratives that crave measurable outcomes, no matter how reductive.

Of course, we want children to leave primary school literate, numerate, and prepared for the next stage of their learning. We want high expectations. But the current system reduces the rich, human process of education to a mechanical exercise in data collection. It narrows the curriculum and compels schools to dedicate disproportionate time to drilling skills which, while necessary, are no substitute for deeper, meaningful learning.

And then there’s the process itself… one that borders on the absurd. As Headteacher, I’m responsible for ensuring test papers are locked away in secure storage, with access recorded and witnessed. Test packs must be unsealed in front of pupils, administered precisely, and then scripts double-counted, bagged according to colour-coded guidance, sealed, signed, and returned to a locked cupboard. All of this is carefully witnessed, logged and documented, in case of a government or local authority investigation. It is a level of bureaucracy more suited to classified state secrets rather than 10 year olds’ spelling tests. I dread to think what the total administrative cost of the SATs system is but I suspect it could be spent more wisely.

This burden is felt most acutely by Year 6 teachers. Talented, compassionate professionals who have invested in their pupils’ academic and emotional growth all year find themselves reduced to data technicians: filling gaps, mapping scores, second-guessing thresholds. All in the name of accountability. What gets lost is time: time to reflect, innovate, and reconnect with the joy and purpose of learning. Too often, this system pulls teachers away from the heart of their vocation.  None of our teachers got into teaching because they want to prepare children for Year 6 SATs.

And it’s not just a question of why we assess in this way – it’s a question of fairness.

Not all schools have the same starting point. Some support high numbers of children with English as an additional language. Others, like ours, have a large proportion of pupils with SEND or face significant socio-economic disadvantage. We serve families who may not have the resources for private tuition, practice books, or additional support. Yet we are all judged on the same metric, with no room for context or nuance. That’s not just flawed, it’s fundamentally unjust.

At King’s Cross Academy, we are not afraid of high standards and we can clearly articulate our improvement priorities (without the help of SATs!). But let’s not pretend we’re all playing the same game with the same equipment. The system rewards raw outcomes over progress. It favours privilege over potential. And it disproportionally punishes schools that serve the communities with the greatest need.

That’s why I’ve made a conscious decision: I will not allow the experience of the children in my care to be reduced to a scaled score. They deserve better.

Our pupils deserve to find their talents, to explore their interests, to discover their voice and grow in confidence without the shadow of a test defining their worth. It has taken time, and experience, to arrive at this perspective.  In a past life, I was a Year 6 teacher and loved getting children prepped for SATs. But it was only when I began working with an inner city, mixed cohort of learners (IDACI 92%+) that I fully understood my responsibility as a Headteacher: not to produce data, but to nurture well-rounded, thoughtful, joyful learners who feel seen and valued.

What do I want children to remember about their time at primary school? Not revision packs or a week of silent testing; but drama, music, art, friendships, and discovery because that is what cultivates a lifelong love of learning.

SATs may remain a fixture of the system for now. But they will not define the children or the staff at my school.