Parents of children with SEND will today (Tuesday 18 November) deliver an open letter to Bridget Phillipson MP, calling for her to change course on primary exams. The letter has been signed by actor Anna Maxwell Martin and 22 parent groups and campaigners.
Describing SATs and other primary assessments as causing “active harm” to their children, the parents highlight the negative effects of the system. In 2025, 76% of pupils with SEND and 91% of children with an EHCP did not reach the expected standard in the year 6 exams, an outcome which the parents describe as “leaving primary school with a badge of failure for all their efforts”.
Meanwhile, new research from Omnisis, commissioned by campaign group More Than A Score, confirms the parents’ concerns. The survey questioned parents whose children with SEND did not reach the expected standard in year 6 SATs. As the government prioritises school attendance, two-thirds of parents (67%) believe the results negatively impacted their child wanting to go to school. Children’s mental health was also affected: 50% of parents say the results damaged their child’s self-esteem while the same number believe their child’s SATs results will have a lasting negative impact on their child.
Anna Maxwell Martin comments, “The government needs to look much harder at how to make things better for children in schools, particularly children with SEND. I think we need an inclusive approach, one that recognises that children’s mental health, self-worth and individual needs are vitally important in their ability to thrive and achieve. This is a systemic failing within our assessment system, not the fault of any individual teacher or headteacher.”
The open letter to Bridget Phillipson details the effects of preparing for SATs on children with SEND. “Children who already face huge challenges at school spend their entire year 6 convinced they are not clever enough. They feel they don’t belong. They try harder every day, but the odds are so stacked against them that the weight of it all eventually breaks them.”
While preparing for SATs in year 6, over a third of parents of year 6 SEND pupils reported that their child did not want to go to school; 88% said that their child was worried about taking the tests with over a third (35%) not sleeping well.
The government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review recommended only minor amendments to primary assessments. Its only recommendations for children with SEND around primary assessment amounted to improving accessibility so that more children could take the Phonics Screening Check in year 1 and the Multiplication Tables Check in year 4.
The parents’ letter concludes: “An assessment system that narrows the curriculum, encourages teaching to the test, piles pressure onto young shoulders, and destroys a love of learning fails all children—and fails children with SEND the most.
“We urge you to take our concerns seriously and change course before yet another generation of primary school children is let down.”
Kirsti Hadley from Generation Alphabet comments, “Ahead of the Schools White Paper, Bridget Phillipson has said she wants to listen to parents, especially parents of children with SEND. So, we are saying loud and clear: think again about SATs. Forcing children into a system that actively harms them is not the answer. Changing the system so that our children want to attend school is.”
Alison Ali, spokesperson for More Than A Score comments, “A system which prioritises data collection and cramming for narrow tests ahead of children’s wellbeing and love of learning is inevitably going to harm those kids who most need extra support.
“There is still time for Bridget Phillipson and the government to think again about primary exams. The system fails all children but it fails those with SEND the most. High standards should mean giving all children the chance to shine, not giving them a badge of failure despite all their efforts. “
