Please read the letter below to the Education Secretary from frustrated mum Kelly Hodgson. Be warned it is very emotional, but the sheer fact that you are 1 of our 13,000 supporters, tells me that you will want to read it. I know from the hundreds of comments I have read that you share her passion and her pain. Once you have read it, please leave a comment below and share this petition in every way you can. We have rallied 7.5 supporters in 11 months...so how powerful is it, that in this week alone, the figure has almost doubled. What has caused this surge? It's you. All of you together, talking, sharing and deciding enough is enough. We have parents, grandparent, carers, practitioners, headteachers, advisors, academics, psychologists, researchers, occupational therapists and many more in support of us. We ARE the experts. WE have experience. We know what works... our current Government are not listening and they need to. You might also be interested to read MP Nick Gibb's (Schools Minister) latest speech on teacher-led instruction is the way to go...interesting that the evidence he draws on is heavily test related, tests that many believe are soon to be hitting our shores for 5 year olds. This is what we are fighting against, so please keep standing with us. Together we are stronger. Enough from me. Over to Kelly and sincerest thanks to her for letting me share this... Dear Education Secretary, Please find attached two photographs. The first is of my son Aiden when he was born on the 07/06/2010. He was born weighing a very impressive 8lb13oz, 8 days overdue. Due to breathing difficulties he spent a day in NICU before being discharged from hospital at 3 days old. The second is Aiden aged 6yrs 7months old. In those 6years 7months Aiden has grown fantastically, meeting milestones with great joy and overcoming many challenges to achieve amazing goals, well to us anyway. Let me fill you in. At 6 weeks old Aiden smiled for the first time. He tried his first food, a pear, at 19 weeks old after lurching forward on to my pear as I held him. At 7 months old he got his first tooth and lost his first tooth at 6years 7 months. He took his first steps aged 10 months. At exactly 1 year old he had his first trip on an aeroplane for a family holiday to Tenerife. He slept through the night at 13months. He broke his arm at 18months whilst helping to make dinner and was amazingly brave whilst his cast was applied and found new ways to achieve things whilst using only one arm. At 23.5months he had his last breast feed At 2years 3 months he was toilet trained. Aged 3years and 3 months Aiden rode a pedal bike for the first time with no stabilisers. At 3years 3 months on the 26th September, Aiden started nursery school. He loved every second of it, spending the majority of his nursery time playing and learning outside. At 3years 4months Aiden was ecstatic to move in to his very own big boys bedroom, with a big boys bed to match. At 3years and 5months Aiden became a big brother. He was overjoyed to have a little brother to call his own. Aged 4, Aiden swam the length of a swimming pool for the first time. He had his first lesson aged 9 weeks old. In August 2014, at 4years 2months Aiden started Reception (a different school to nursery), he loved it. Shy at first, but soon came out of his shell, forming some firm friendships which still stand today. He spent a year playing and learning, again spending much of the year outside. In January 2016 aged 5years 7 months, we unfortunately learned that Aiden, along with many of his classmates, had not made the progress he should have at school. So we made a decision to move him to a new school. It was in actual fact, a move back to his old school and so on the 19th January 2016 I waved Aiden goodbye on his first day to start a new venture. Aged 6years 1 week in June 2016, Aiden took the phonics screening test. He scored 27/40. That's ok we said, we know you tried your best. Sad though that at just turned 6, he is deemed a failure given that it is a pass or fail grade. Throughout this last year, Aiden has come on leaps to reach targets, progressing well in reading and maths, a little slower for writing (we will let that slide, he is a left handed, summer born boy). We are proud of each and every step he has made. Such a shame though, that because of targets, he still isn't deemed at 'age appropriate level'. Aiden is a kind, loving and caring boy. He is a fun loving, thrillseeker. He tests the boundaries and has a real attitude, he is 6 after all. He loves swimming, football, diving, beavers, playing with his toys and friends. He loves cheese, chocolate and sausages. He loves being outside playing football, on his bike performing stunts and walks in the woods. In a few months time, still aged 6 when 90% of his class will already be 7 years old, Aiden like many other year 2 children will be sitting SATs. He has to read 700-900 (on the easiest part of the test) and then answer questions, all in 30 minutes. I think, even I may struggle with that. Such formal tests at such a young age. Some of the youngest around the world that take such formal tests. Because, despite reams and reams of research in to the benefits of play and learning, Scandinavian countries don't start until 7 years old with amazing results, the UK are still failing to see how this could be the way forward. My only hope is that when our youngest son turns 6, that you will have seen sense about these unnecessary tests and scrap them altogether. It is too late for Aiden, given that his tests are sadly fast approaching, but hopefully not too are for the youngsters coming up through the early years. I work in a school in Reception. I have an Early Years Foundation Degree. I have studied and understand the importance of play and outdoors and children's learning. I have worked with children for 18 years. I see how children thrive l given the opportunity to play. Only today I observed quietly as a group of children made an obstacle course with tyres, crates, wooden bricks and logs. In the 5 minutes I observed them, they worked as a team, problem solved, developed turn taking and listening skills, negotiated with each other, developed gross and fine motor skills, used mathematical language and number, used differentiation, as well as a number of other ways of developing. I wonder at what point in a lesson they could develop so broadly. 10 months ago Aiden said he didn't really like school. I get that, alot of 5 year old might say that. I asked why he didn't like school. 'Because it's all learning and no playing and we hardly go outside'. I find it soul destroying that a child aged 5, has already come to this conclusion about school. I love the fact that in my reception classes at school, they are wrapped in a bubble of learning through play, before they are thrown to an education system that is far too driven on test papers, targets and pass marks. However, even that is being tarnished with focused activities and year one readiness. When did play become so overlooked and children became just another cog in the machine. When was it deemed ok to put 1000s of children, my son included, through tests of no significance to them on things that many adults would need to look up first. My son learns at school, things I know I didn't learn until middle school, so when I was aged 9+. It stood me in good stead, I still got a good education and came out in to the adult world with a great work ethic and a foundation degree. I played for a lot of my first school years. I didn't do year 6 SATs let alone in year 2. I call on you, as Education Secretary to rethink the way in which our children's childhood is being lost and swallowed up by an education system that is failing them. Yours sincerely Kelly Hodgson Proud mother of Aiden Hodgson.