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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Joe Middleton

Sats exams ‘designed to be challenging’, DfE tells aggrieved parents and teachers

Sats DfE Kerry Forrester Ofqual
Year 6 children doing exams
Reports said the Standard Assessment Tests had left some pupils ‘in tears’. Photograph: Bubbles Photolibrary/Alamy

Ministers have said that tests for year 6 pupils in England are “designed to be challenging” after concerns from a headteachers’ union that this week’s Sats exams had left some pupils “in tears”.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said some staff struggled to understand the questions and it planned to raise concerns about Wednesday’s reading exam for 10- and 11-year-olds with the schools regulator, Ofqual.

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