Bernadette Price, of Tudor Road, Newton Abbot, writes:

Am I the only retired primary school teacher who let out a great sigh and then metaphorically threw her toys out of the pram having heard the newest nonsense from the Secretary of State for Education?

If children are leaving primary school without the required level in Sats, they will resit them in secondary school.

Please, please, could somebody ell the powers that be that young children develop different skills at different times, sometimes reaching a plateau as in physical development and at other times surging on.

This is not only in academic terms but socially, spiritually and emotionally.

Young children are there to be nurtured, they do not 'belong' to the state, and if they are only valued as future earners it is no wonder that the rate of mental illness in children is rising.

Schools went back this week and I am sure that throughout the country children will be coached again and again to sit the Sats, because that's what the government wants and Ofsted demands.

Could we remember that these tests were testing schools, not individuals? It's like the days of the 11-plus where children were marked as plus or fail. Brave new world, I think not.