HEAD teachers in Southampton have blasted “unfair” changes to exams sat by the city’s youngsters.

In a letter sent to parents of primary school children, they say there are “major problems” with the new Sats exams after results showed children in the city were either in line with or behind the national average.

However Justice Secretary Nicky Morgan, pictured, says it is “no surprise” results looked different the first time children have had to tackle the “more rigorous” system, adding that youngsters must “master” the basics of reading, writing and mathematics early.

This year’s results are the first since the new, tougher Sats curriculum for Year 6 pupils was introduced in 2014.

In overall reading, writing and maths, Southampton is in line with the national pass rate of 53 per cent of students, with students in line with the average on maths and better in writing.

However they were behind the national average in reading and grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Now the letter from the Southampton Primary Head Teachers’ Conference will be sent to all parents of primary school children in the city explaining how the school leaders believe there are “major problems with the design and implementation” of this year’s assessments.

The letter, signed by the leaders of the conference which has Sholing Junior’s Marc Parnell as chairman and Bitterne CE Primary’s Andy Peterson as vice chairman, says that the results and outcomes for children “will be statistically invalid”.

Analysing the tests from Year R up to Year 6, it says: “As school leaders, we believe that there are major problems with the design and implementation of this year’s government assessments in schools.”

They added: “We look forward to working with our professional bodies and the government to arrive at a more straightforward, easily understood and, above all, fairer system next year. We would welcome your support as parents on this.”

With regards to the Year 6 tests, the letter says: “The new style of assessment means that your child must tick off every single one of a large range of criteria in order to be working at the standard – in effect, teacher assessment has now become a pass or fail system, where the pass mark is 100 per cent.

“The government has said that this is because standards must be raised, but it has undoubtedly narrowed the curriculum in some areas, and added to children’s stress as they take the new tests and try to meet the new teacher assessment criteria in class.”

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said children should “master” reading, writing and mathematics early.

“The simple truth is that if they don’t, they’ll be left playing catch up for the rest of their lives,” she said.

“This is the first year we have assessed pupils under the new more rigorous system and it is no surprise that this year’s results look different to previous years, but despite that the majority of pupils have achieved above and beyond the new expected standard.”