Justine Greening promises to scrap plans for Year 7 Sats resits

Education secretary Justine Greening has revealed that she will no longer go ahead with plans for Year 7 Sats resits, and that there will be no new national tests or assessments until 2018-19.

Instead, Greening said, children would be offered support to catch up lost ground.

Greening also said in her written ministerial statement, that the spelling and grammar test for seven-year-olds introduced in 2015-16 is to remain non-compulsory for schools next year.

She also outlined plans to launch a new consultation "early in the new year" about the future of primary assessment.

These changes come after a controversial year over assessment. Teachers complained materials and information were slow to materialise and there were a number of leaks live test material. What’s more, teaching unions had threatened to boycott next year’s SATs in protest.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT headteachers’ union, said he was pleased that Ms Greening had listened to teachers' and school leaders' concerns. “In the short term, there are proposals to correct some of the difficulties we faced last year,” he said. “We will now present these changes to our members to seek their views. We will want to look closely at the proposals on accountability in particular.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “The recognition that there were problems with the 2015/16 data, and that because of this no schools should face harsh sanctions solely on the basis of that data, is a welcome step towards relieving the pressure and anxiety some schools have been experiencing.

“However, the government must now use the space it has created with today’s announcement on assessment to ensure that the outcome delivers real progress in reducing, not increasing, the already intense workload burdens on teachers and school leaders, whilst also ensuring that schools are judged on the right things in the right way.”