Rethink over tests for pupils aged seven

Tests for seven-year-olds will be scrapped in thousands of schools this summer in a move which could pave the way for a rethink across the country.

Instead of taking tests in English, maths and science in one sitting in the summer, teachers will choose from a range of tests to set their pupils at any time during the year.

The new arrangements are being piloted this year by 150,000 pupils in 4,000 schools. Results will form only one part of a teacher's judgment about the progress children are making.

Senior officials at the Qualification and Curriculum Authority, the Government's exams watchdog, believe the change will remove the sense of "sudden death failure" which characterises Standard Assessment Tests (SATs).