Education chiefs have criticised parents who took their children out of school today as part of a national protest against SATS exams.

A number of parents across Suffolk provided their own education for the day as they joined the Let Our Kids Be Kids campaign, which says summary assessment tests (SATs) for six and seven-year-olds in Key Stage One put too much stress and pressure on pupils.

But both Essex and Suffolk county councils said that every day at school was important and regular attendance was vital for a child’s ongoing education.

A Suffolk County Council spokesman said: “Ensuring children attend school during term time is imperative in raising attainment.

“A child with a 90% school attendance record misses the equivalent to half a year of secondary school over five years.

“Young people really need to attend school and be in a learning environment every day.”

Ray Gooding, Essex county councillor for education, added: “We work very closely with Essex’s schools and firmly believe every lesson counts.

“We are aware of the national parent protest, however, it is for individual headteachers to consider whether or not to authorise the absences from school.”

The council chiefs’ views were backed by the government’s schools minister Nick Gibb, who said: “These tests are vital in helping schools to ensure young children are learning to read, write and add up well.

“The truth is if they don’t master literacy and numeracy early on, they risk being held behind and struggling for the rest of their lives.

“Children should only ever be taken out of school in exceptional circumstances and it simply isn’t fair on children to deprive them of a day of their education.”

Education secretary Nicky Morgan described the protest as “damaging”.

More than 40 parents of pupils at Bealings Primary School, near Ipswich, spent the day in Playford Woods, walking, sketching, discovering nature, cooking and singing.

Mum-of-three Natalie Hayter was part of a group of parents who took 12 children from three schools – Ilketshall St Lawrence Primary, Beccles, Woodton Primary, Bungay, and Ringsfield Primary – out of school yesterday for a day of wildlife and nature education at Dunwich Heath.

She said: “SATs reforms mean children have had to learn an additional two years of curriculum in less than six months, while trial schools had already seen the leaked spelling and grammar paper meaning the pass mark has been set artificially high.

“We believe this will result in many children not reaching the required level which will in turn see the current government declaring primary schools are failing in a bid to strengthen their resolve for full academisation of UK schools.

“To expect children as young as six to enthusiastically engage in five exams including work they have only briefly seen is leading to undue pressure at a young age.

“We have also said to the children when they do the test, ‘if you find it is too challenging, just simply turn the paper over and write down a list of all the things you would like to do for your seventh birthday’. We are quite happy with that.

“Our decision to strike is in no way an attack on the teaching teams and schools, more a strive to allow our experienced and qualified teachers to deliver a creative education that will allow all to thrive.

“Teachers already have vast records for each child’s progress and achievements, so to rely on an exam when they have spent so many hours observing, marking and updating these files is wrong.”

We asked our web site readers whether they supported the Let Our Kids Be Kids strike.

In total 59% of readers were in favour of the strike, while 41% opposed it.

Comments ranged from “a great idea” to parents being lambasted for “setting a terrible example” or being “pathetic”.

Parents could face a fine of £120 for each child taken out of school, but headteachers are thought likely to mark absences as educational rather than unauthorised.

Local education authorities – Suffolk and Essex county councils – can only taken action if a pupil’s absence is referred to them as unauthorised.

The total number of Suffolk and Essex pupils on strike is not known.

National picture

The Let Our Kids Be Kids campaign organised the day of action in protest at children being “over-tested, over-worked and in a school system that places more importance on test results and league tables than children’s happiness and joy of learning”.

More than 40,000 people nationally have signed a petition supporting a boycott of the Year Two SATs by teachers, which was handed into the Department for Education yesterday.

Children’s laureate Chris Riddell and his predecessor Michael Rosen added their voices to the protest, warning that youngsters are being tested on complicated grammar that risks crushing their love of learning.

The chief inspector of schools Sir Michael Wilshaw backed the exams, saying they are crucial in identifying children who are struggling and helping them improve.

He said: “Children who fall behind in the early years of their education struggle to catch up in later years.

“I understand testing can sometimes be stressful but I am also confident most schools do everything they can to minimise the stress children experience in preparing for and sitting these tests.”

Parents behind the campaign said they “represent the voice of parents across the country” and wrote in an open letter to the government: “Please take a long, hard look at this.

“Do you want your legacy to be the confident cancellation of unneeded and unnecessary SATs, showing you are listening to the teachers you claim to support, or the overseeing of a shambolic testing regime desperately unwanted by millions of people to the point that this country saw its first open parent revolt?

“You have the power to stop these tests. Now. Our children, our teachers and our schools deserve better than this.”