A HEADTEACHER has accused the government of turning schools into 'exam factories.'

Amanda Hulme, head of Claypool primary in Horwich, has hit out at plans to introduce more rigorous tests for seven-year-olds as part of an overhaul of primary school education.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan wants to re-introduce national tests for seven-year-olds and move away from current teacher assessments.

Under the plans, children who do not reach the required level in their SATs exams in year six – the final year of primary school – could be forced to resit at secondary school.

The consultation could lead to a shakeup of national evaluations at key stage one (KS1), where pupils aged seven are assessed on literacy, writing, maths and science by their own teachers and schools. In her speech, Mrs Morgan also announce the launch of a national teachers service, designed to encourage teachers to work in areas that struggle to recruit staff.

Mrs Hulme said: “The key stage SAT results do not identify gaps in children’s learning, it is a score that is given to secondary school.

“We are hearing that the resists may include parts of the year seven curriculum, it is ridiculous. For the government tests are the be all and end all.

“At present, the key stage two SATS tests are sent away and all we get is a score. That score is passed on to the secondary schools and that is all the secondary schools get, and they don’t know where the gaps are in the children’s learning. They have to then reassess the children and look for those gaps."

Mrs Hulme, whose school Ofsted described as good with outstanding features, appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain show this week to talk about the issue.

She added: “I went into teaching to make a different to children’s lives not to test children. We teach high standards of English and maths but also need to teach children to be resilient, being a citizen. We want the government to sit down with us.

“These exams are sent to an external agencies and I would rather see the public money used to pay for lots of pieces of paper to be given to schools where budgets are tight for more resources.”

Mrs Hulme said that schools were already working together, sharing good practice and sending teachers to support other schools.