Parents across south Bucks are taking their children out of school today in protest against assessments which “sets children up to fail”, according to a campaign group.

More than 40,000 parents across the UK have signed a petition calling for a boycott of primary school ‘Sats’ tests, which are taken by children as young as seven.

The nationwide protest, which has been set up by the Let Our Kids Be Kids campaign, was branded “damaging” and “harmful” by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.

Parents from High Wycombe, Stokenchurch, Chesham and Haddenham have signed up to the protest, choosing instead to take part in wider educational activities including looking for garden wildlife and rubbish collecting.

A statement from the Let Our Kids Be Kids group said: “Our schools are fantastic and are trying daily to implement a flawed curriculum whilst still struggling to engage our children and develop a love of learning.

“This campaign is about showing support for our teachers. It is about finding ways to teach our children that will help them to develop a life-long love of learning, rather than the skills to pass a specific test.

“We are not advocating a lack of any form of assessment, what we are against is unnecessary testing that is not age appropriate.

“What we are asking for is an education system that understands the demands we are placing on young people and that aims to help children grow to be confident, imaginative and exploratory learners.

“We don’t want an education system that teaches our children merely to remember key terms, instead of embedding their use. We don’t want education system that sets our children up to fail.”

Addressing the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) annual conference on Saturday, Mrs Morgan said: “To get primary assessment right we have to make sure teachers have the time and resources to prepare, so we appreciate that we have to make primary assessment run more smoothly, with as much support as possible.

“But I don’t accept the claim from some outside this hall, that the higher expectations embodied in the new national curriculum are somehow ‘inappropriate’. Virtually all children have the potential to become properly literate and numerate and I am unwilling, as I know you are, to settle for anything less.

“These new key stage 2 assessments give a better picture of whether a pupil has the reading and mathematical ability, to prosper at secondary school. Because literacy and numeracy are not just 2 subjects among many, they are the foundation on which all other subjects rest.

“The campaign being led by some of those who do not think we should set high expectations, who want to ‘keep their children home for a day’, is damaging.

“Keeping children home - even for a day - is harmful to their education and I think it undermines how hard you as heads are working.

“I urge those running these campaigns to reconsider their actions.”

A Bucks County Council spokeswoman said of the boycott: "We are aware of the issue and would encourage any parents who have concerns about these tests to speak directly to their school governors and headteacher."

Have you taken your child out of school today? What are you doing with them instead? Get in touch at william.burton@london.newsquest.co.uk.