AN OXFORD headteacher has welcomed a decision to scrap Sats exams for seven-year-olds and praised parents for fighting against them.

The Education Secretary Justine Greening yesterday announced plans to axe national curriculum tests for seven-year-olds by 2019.

In May last year parents across the city, including at Windmill Primary School in Headington, took their children out of school instead of sitting the exams.

Windmill headteacher Lynn Knapp said it was the parents’ campaign - supported by thousands nationwide - which made the difference.

She said: “I’m delighted, it’s absolutely brilliant news.

“We are constantly assessing children while they are at school anyway and the SATS were just so formal and created pressure on them.

“By sitting them on their own in silence in exam conditions at that age you often didn’t even get accurate results.”

She added: “We have been arguing against them for years but I think the actions of parents last year are the reason for the Government’s decision.

“I said to our parents - who felt very strongly about this - that they are much more likely to make a difference than us professionals and it’s fantastic to see it has worked.”

The exams will be replaced by teacher assessment of four and five-year-olds.